Professional Windows® Embedded CE 6.0

Chapter 13. Native-Code Applications

An application written in native code is compiled into a binary executable consisting of CPU instructions native to the hardware's processor, and it cannot run on a different type of processor. A native-code application's binary is compiled to run on the ARMV4I processor and cannot run on an x86 platform.

For the general application developer, Visual C++ with the Visual Studio 2005 IDE is the platform of choice when it comes to developing native-code applications for the CE target device.

While the Platform Builder tool itself is a plug-in for the Visual Studio 2005 IDE, the Platform Builder IDE provides its own environment in which to develop native-code applications.

Embedded Visual C++ is another IDE created by Microsoft to develop such native applications for earlier versions of CE. Support for the Embedded Visual C++ is being phased out. If you are new to the CE environment and are planning to develop a new application, the Embedded Visual C++ is not a recommended option and is not covered in this book.

In this chapter, we're going to go over the native-code application development environment and create two native-code applications, a Visual C++ 2005 application and one created with the Platform Builder IDE, to cover the following actions:

• Configure an OS design, build the runtime image, and generate an SDK to support native-code applications.

• Establish a connection between the target device and the native-code development IDE.

• Deploy the native-code ...