An SDK will automatically correspond to your OS design so that the developers can only use those features that are actually available. The SDK includes features that are present in the OS design so that application developers do not accidentally create code that fails to run at run time due to an unsupported API.
After this lesson, you will be able to:
¦ Identify the purpose of an SDK.
¦ Generate an SDK.
¦ Localize SDK files on your hard drive.
¦ Use an SDK.
Estimated lesson time: 20 minutes.
Software Development Kit Overview
In order to compile and create valid applications for your OS design, developers need to include the necessary header files and link to the correct libraries in their development projects. You must ensure that the SDK for your OS design contains all required header files and libraries, including headers and libraries for any custom components you want to provide to application developers. Platform Builder for Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R2 enables you to create SDKs for your OS designs by exporting all the required header files and libraries.
SDK Generation
It is generally the task of the OS design creator to generate and distribute customized SDKs. Platform Builder provides an SDK export feature for this purpose. The SDK export feature creates the customized SDK for your OS design, along with a .msi file that includes the SDK Setup Wizard.
Configuring and Generating an SDK
To create and configure an SDK by using the SDK export feature of Platform Builder, follow these steps:
1. Configure your OS design and build it at least once in the Release configuration.
2. Display Solution Explorer, right-click SDKs, and select Add New to display the SDK Property Pages dialog box.
3. In the SDK Property Pages dialog box, configure the Install properties of the SDK and define the MSI Folder Path, MSI File Name, and Locale, as illustrated in Figure 1-7. You can also specify a number of custom settings.
4. To include additional files, select the Additional Folders node in the SDK Property Pages dialog box.
5. Click OK.
Figure 1-7 SDK Property Pages dialog box
Adding New Files to an SDK
You can add files to an SDK manually by either using the Additional Folders option in the SDK property pages or by copying them into the SDK directory for your OS design, typically in %_WINCEROOT%OSDesigns <
Make sure you copy the files into the following SDK subdirectories:
¦ Inc Contains the header files included in the SDK.
¦ Lib<
Installing an SDK
After completing the SDK build process, you can find the .msi file in the SDK subdirectory of your OS design folder. This is typically %_WINCEROOT%OSDesigns<
You can install this MSI package on any computer with Visual Studio 2005 and use it to develop Windows Embedded CE applications for your target device. On a computer with the SDK installed, you can find the files under %PROGRAMFILES%Windows Embedded CE ToolsWCE600.
Lesson Summary
Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R2 is a componentized operating system, which implies that application developers require a customized SDK that corresponds to your OS design in order to develop applications that will work on your target device. The custom SDK should not only include the required Windows Embedded CE components, but also the headers and libraries for any custom components that you included in the OS design, to avoid problems due to missing files or libraries at build and run time. Platform Builder provides an SDK export feature to generate SDKs and to create an MSI package for convenient SDK deployment on application development computers by means of an SDK Setup Wizard.
Lab 1: Creating, Configuring, and Building an OS Design
In this lab, you create an OS design, and then customize that design by adding components from the catalog. It is important to complete all the procedures in this lab, because it provides the foundation for subsequent exercises in other chapters of this Microsoft Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R2 Exam Preparation Kit.
