Multimedia and Graphics for Windows CE .NET with Vibren Technologies

Posted March 13, 2003

Chat Date: February 19, 2003

Please note: Portions of this transcript have been edited for clarity

Chat Participants:

• Richard Lee: Software Architect, Vibren Technologies
• Ray Shapiro: Software Architect, Vibren Technologies
• Murtuza Naguthanawala: Program Manager, Windows CE Graphics team
• Michael Fosmire: Community Program Manager

Moderator: Mike Fos (Microsoft)
Welcome to today's Chat. Our topic today is Multimedia and Graphics for Windows CE .NET. We're grateful to have Richard Lee and Ray Shapiro of Vibren Technologies with us today. Questions, comments, and suggestions are welcome.

Moderator: Mike Fos (Microsoft)
The Participants Room (below) is where you can enter questions for our Hosts today. We will read them and select questions to answer.

Moderator: Mike Fos (Microsoft)
The questions and answers will be posted in this room, the Experts Room.

Moderator: Mike Fos (Microsoft)
We will make an effort to answer as many questions as we can. There may be times when a question may be asked that we do not have an immediate answer for or cannot get to. We encourage you to post any of these questions in the newsgroups.

Moderator: Mike Fos (Microsoft)
Let’s introduce our hosts for today.

Host: Murtuza (Microsoft)
Hi, My name is Murtuza Naguthanawala, Program manager for Windows CE Graphics. I am responsible for 2D Graphics ( DDraw, GDI) and GWES in Windows CE.NET

Host: Richard (Vibren)

Richard Lee, Software Architect at Vibren Technologies, Embedded MVP Engaged in embedded system development for over 20 years, and Windows CE for about 6 years.

Host: Ray (Vibren)

Ray Shapiro - Hi, I'm a software architect at Vibren Technologies. I have been working on graphics for most of my career, and have worked on CE graphics technologies for 6+ years.

Moderator: Mike Fos (Microsoft)
Welcome everyone, let’s get started! Please feel free to begin posting your questions in the room below. Please begin your questions with a Q: this will help us quickly identify the questions.

Host: Murtuza (Microsoft)
Q: I recently saw a demo of the Smart Display technologies, which run on CE .NET. I thought these would make great gaming pads if the RDP technology supported DirectX. What are your thoughts on this concept?

A: Smart display team is currently investigating the possibility of supporting DirectX technologies. CE.NET has been shipping DDraw and D3D through Platform builder Smart display team is currently investigating the possibility of supporting DirectX tech

Host: Richard (Vibren)

Q: Is the IAMMultiMediaStream interface supported on CE, or more specifically, will CoCreateInstance(CLSID_AMMultiMediaStream, ...) succeed on CE?

A: The IAMMultiMediaStream interface is part of DirectX 8.1. Many parts of DirectX did make it into CE 4.x, but I am not aware that this interface made the cut. You may want to post this question on the newsgroups for a more crisp answer.

Host: Richard (Vibren)

Q: Should CoCreateInstance throw an access violation if given a valid but unsupported CLSID?

A: No. But I think that is a concrete proof of non support.

Host: Murtuza (Microsoft)
Q: Do you guys have any pointers for writing streaming video code for eVC?

A: The sample code for windows media player app ships in Platform builder, it handles streaming video code.

Host: Richard (Vibren)

Q: Are there any third parties working on managed wrappers for GAPI, etc?

A: Odyssey Software (www.odyseysoftware.com) has a nice COM wrapper for managed code. I do not think they have a specific GAPI wrap, but may be able to help you with the array of interfaces you need.

Host: Murtuza (Microsoft)
Q: What DirectX version is supported on CE 3.0? Can I use the DirectX 9.0 SDK

A: For DDraw we support DX6.1 and for D3D we support DX8, no you cannot use DX9 SDK

Host: Ray (Vibren)

Q: I'm curious whether multimedia i/o is supported on Windows CE 3.0. mmioOpen, for example.

A: No, I the mmio interface is not supported under CE.

Host: Richard (Vibren)

Q: What advice/pointers would you give someone looking into games programming for CE .NET?

A: CE supports DirectDraw, D3D, and DirectSound. There is support for no DInput.

Host: Murtuza (Microsoft)
Q: Where can I find information on how to capture pictures from a camera attached to the PDA?

A: Currently we don't have a defined API set to talk to the cameras. The camera IHV generally has his own interface defined in the driver which apps developers talk. Going forward we are looking into developing an API set to facilitate ISVs and come up a driver model for IHVs

Moderator: Mike Fos (Microsoft)
Q: How long until the transcripts for this chat are posted? I have some colleagues I would have read through it.

A: The transcript should be posted in a couple of days.

Host: Richard (Vibren)

Q: Does Windows CE .NET support the AMMultiMediaStream interface? Is the IAMMultiMediaStream interface supported on CE?

A: I stand corrected. The object is defined in PUBLIC\DIRECTX\SDK\INC\amstream.h, Make sure the project sets SYSGEN_DSHOW_WMT_MMS=1, so that the correct server gets included. Also, make sure that you are using the CE CLSID for this interface; it may be different than the XP value.

Host: Richard (Vibren)

Q: Can any body tell me how to include DirectX into my eVC project?

A: You must be building against an SDK which includes DirectX. One solution would be to get Platform Builder and create an SDK which supports DirectX. I am told that DirectX is not included on the PocketPC, so you would not be able to use that SDK.

Host: Murtuza (Microsoft)
Q: Also is there any way to load a GIF or JPG and convert to an HBITMAP on WindowsCE.NET in C/C++? I've noticed that OleLoadPicturePath and OleCreatePictureIndirect are not supported

A: Currently we don't have a standard imaging codec solution available in Windows CE.NEt. We are considering adding this feature for the next release

Host: Ray (Vibren)

Q: I'm creating an application that allows video to run on a DirectDraw surface using the IDDrawExclusive mode on the overlay mixer filter. When I release the graph, the DirectDraw surfaces are destroyed. I do not want to recreate my surfaces each time I want to play a new video. Suggestions?

A: I believe you can get the surface from the mixer and hide it, rather than releasing the graph.

Host: Ray (Vibren)

Q: Does anyone know how to implement DVD-Audio support on a device with CE.NET? MS provides support for DVD-Video API but not DVD-Audio. What needs to be done to implement DVD- Audio support?

A: DVD audio requires a license for Dolby

Moderator: Mike Fos (Microsoft)
Q: I've seen some sample code which activates the voice recorder app. Is it possible to programmatically control the voice recorder without having the GUI popping up?

A: It is possible to do this. There's a sample in the works on this, but our subject matter experts aren't immediately sure how to handle this. If you could post your question in the newsgroups, you'll hit a broader audience.

Host: Murtuza (Microsoft)
Q: Can hand held WinCE 3.0 support directshow application development? if it can. Which version and SDK should we use

A: Yes 3.0 does support Dshow application development. however I am not sure if Pocket PC does, you should post your question on the pocket PC newsgroup for DShow support in Pocket PC

Moderator: Mike Fos (Microsoft)
Thanks for joining us today and thanks for the questions. I’d also like to thank Richard, Ray and Murtuza for hosting today.

Moderator: Mike Fos (Microsoft)
It's time for us to go. You'll be able to find the transcript of this chat soon on the MSDN Web site at <https://msdn.microsoft.com/chats/recent.asp> Please see the chats schedule for upcoming topics.

For further information on this topic please visit the following:

Newsgroups: Mobile and embedded application development topics

Embedded Transcripts: Read the archive

Website: Visit the Mobile & Embedded Developer Center

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