Software Development Kit Customization

Article
06/30/2006

The IDE combines a series of modules and components to create a software platform that runs on a custom hardware device. These modules and components include core operating system (OS) features, OEM adaptation layer (OAL) components, and other run-time libraries. Many of these features, such as the run-time libraries for Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC) for Microsoft® Windows® CE, contain application-programming interfaces (APIs) that developers can use to gain access to the capabilities of your target platform.

Windows CE is an extensible operating system made up of components, so each platform can contain a unique set of APIs.

A software development kit (SDK) is a set of headers, libraries, Help documentation, Platform Manager files, run-time files, and platform extensions that developers use to write applications for a specific platform. The SDK allows developers to create and debug an application on your target platform.

You can use Platform Builder to build a software development kit (SDK) based on your custom platform, and then export the SDK to another development workstation for future installation. This process allows other developers to use your SDK in conjunction with Microsoft eMbedded Visual C++® 4.0 and Microsoft Visual Studio® .NET to create, debug, and run custom applications.

Microsoft eMbedded Visual C++ and Visual Studio .NET use the SDK to determine which menus, files, and debugging applications to display to a developer who is creating software for your target platform. These tools also use the Platform Manager components to determine how to transfer information from the computer to the target platform through the transport layer.

The following illustration shows the relationship between Platform Builder, your SDK, and Microsoft development software.

Because Platform Builder tracks the core OS modules that belong to a given platform, you do not need to describe the modules that the associated SDK should support. Instead, Platform Builder automatically incorporates into your SDK the necessary headers and libraries for the modules that make up your platform.

**Note **If you attempt to include a technology in your SDK that your platform does not support, a run-time error will occur when someone attempts to access that technology in the integrated development environment (IDE).

When you create an SDK, the Export SDK Wizard automatically creates and includes a platform-specific Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) Help file. This file contains documentation showing which APIs are supported by your newly created platform.

When the SDK is installed in eMbedded Visual C++, this documentation appears in Help beneath a node with the same name as the platform from which the SDK was exported. When the SDK is installed in Visual Studio .NET, this documentation does not appear in the table of contents, but is installed on the developer's hard drive.

You can also include custom documentation in your SDK. Custom documentation appears under the node called Microsoft Windows CE in the Table of Contents for the eMbedded Visual C++ Help files.

The result of the export SDK process is a Microsoft® Windows® Installer (.msi) file containing the SDK for your target platform. A developer can run the .msi file to install the SDK on another development workstation.

Software Development Kit Customization

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