Deploying Your Application
You can get your application onto the HPC device in one of two ways, both of which are equally as easy. For one-off installation you can simply copy the application and its data files to the HPC using the Mobile Devices folder. The Mobile Devices folder works in the same way as Windows Explorer, and you can drag-and-drop files as well as create folders and shortcuts. You can also access your HPC device directly through Windows Explorer. Before copying your application you will need to compile it using the Make option, just as with a regular Visual Basic application. There are no optimization options because the compiled program is rather like a P-Code executable. The compiled application has a PVB file extension. If you are using any custom controls, you will need to install these onto the device using the Control Manager, and you will need to register ActiveX components using the REGSVRCE.EXE program (the Windows CE equivalent of REGSVR32.EXE).
For a more formal installation, you will need to use the Application Install Wizard (available from the Windows CE menu), which works in a similar way to the Setup Wizard in other versions of Visual Basic. Installation programs for Windows CE applications follow the same format. When installing from a setup program, the setup checks the status of your device and then prompts you to select the components you want to install. The application's setup files are extracted to a temporary storage area on the HPC. At this point, the PC's work is all but done and you are prompted to check your device for further messages. As soon as the PC has finished the copy process, the HPC starts installing the files. This is normally a fairly quick process; your application is then ready to run.