eVB blues

One of the biggest challenges for me with the H/PC is getting .vb apps to work properly in H/PC 2000. Right now I'm struggling with a couple of problems:

1) While I've been able to get .vb apps working fully on my ARM Jornada 728 and my MIPS NEC "890," I still can't get working menus in any .vb apps on my NEC 790 (even though the "890" has the same ROM) or my Intermec 6651. What I get on the 6651 is what appears to be a fully functional menu bar, with the full menus popping up when I tap on a heading, but which do nothing at all after I select anything in the popup menu. On the 790 it's even worse - a dummy menu bar that doesn't respond at all (no popup menus). On both devices, I notice that there is a small downward-pointing triangle next to each menu heading (looks kinda like the little triangle that is next to menu headings in Palm OS). Of course, these little triangles don't appear on the working menu bars in other apps. I've tried installing the VB runtime files for MIPS H/PC 2000 (from http://www.hpcfactor.com/developer), I've tried VB Repair and VBRegFix, and I've tried manually registering VB-related DLLs (including MSCE DLLs) using regsvrce, but nothing changes.

2) I've tried installing the Pocket PC version of Villanova Software 1st Aid on my 728, which requires NSBasic runtime (included in the install) and MFC (I added the Pocket PC MFC/OLE and doclist DLLs). When I try to open the app, I get an error message: "Microsoft VBScript runtime error - line 36, char 0 File not found." I tap OK and am left with a blank screen (I have to Alt-tap on the app name on the taskbar to close). What does this mean, and how can I solve it? (I noticed the identical error when I installed the Palm-size PC version on my Casio E-105 - particularly weird considering that I had successfully installed it in the past on that device, and had it working fully until something unrelated forced me to hard reset the device.)

Edited by CE Geek 2006-11-12 3:40 AM

Check the aygshell you are using.

Other than cosmetic platform GUI differences like fullscreen dialogs for Pocket PC and windowed dialogs for H/PC there are really only a few slight differences between the functionality of the Pocket PC eVB runtimes/controls and the H/PC versions. The main difference is Pocket PC has one additional "MSCEMenubar.dll" ActiveX control which is basicly just an eVB interface for Aygshell.dll and the core pvbform runtimes have a few additional Pocket PC related functions such as support for showing/hiding the Soft Input Panel. Most Pocket PC eVB apps will actually run just fine with the eVB runtimes that come with HPC2000 and the PPC MSCEMenubar control. Sometimes they may also need the Pocket PC version of the core eVB runtime but not often... If you install a Pocket PC eVB app with the runtimes included in the cab, I suggest you choose NOT to overwrite the eVB dlls/exe in ROM when the installer asks you to. If you can live with confirming the occasional error related to missing form functionality(only a few apps), its not such a big deal to just stick with the ROM runtimes and save over a MB of space in RAM.

Anyway... Just try different aygshells. One of them is should hopefully fix the issue. Make sure to check the \Windows directory for the aygshell you are going to replace as I assume your eVB dlls are in \Windows. The way you describe your issue, it sounds like you are using Hou Ming's aygshell. Give Dic's CEMenu (the 16kb/18kb ARM, 22kb or so MIPS one) a try instead. I hope this helps.

Edited by TFGBD 2006-11-16 7:59 AM

I always select "No" when asked if I want to overwrite the VB runtime files in ROM, cuz I know that at best that'll probably make one app work fully and the others not at all.

I haven't tried adding aygshells because I didn't think it would make a difference, since I couldn't find calls for aygshell in the .vb files. I actually thought that the runtime files themselves controlled the VB app interface and controls in some way different from C-based apps. I'll give it a shot though - couldn't hurt.

Boy, talk about not seeing the forest for the trees!

That fixed the problem. Yes, the CEMenu aygshell works. You're right - I had put the older version of Hou Ming's aygshell (11k) in \Windows a long time ago. Now Dic's 22k one is there and all is well.

Now on to the second problem above with NSBasic. Any ideas?

Edited by CE Geek 2006-11-17 1:15 AM

I should note that part of my confusion stems from the fact that VB apps are not really apps in and of themselves, but rather forms that are run by the eVB runtime files. Since these runtime files are in \Windows, they apparently don't look for the necessary DLLs in the app folder, so the DLLs have to be placed in \Windows. (I'm now having vague recollections of trying an aygshell or two in the app folders in the past, and it's now clear why that didn't have any effect.)

Edited by CE Geek 2006-11-17 4:43 PM

It is possible to have the eVB runtime dlls/exe install to any location you want. (Even a CF card.) I'm making a universal installer that, includes all runtimes for all OS versions (CE 2.0-CE 3.0+ ) and all Windows CE supported processors (ARM, MIPS, SH3, SH4, x86, Power PC) that will install the runtimes anywhere you want and also include the Pocket PC specficic dlls for the H/PC2000 version. I just keep putting it off or something... ;P Wish me luck.

Thanx for your help, TFGBD.