Creating Pocket PC kiosk programs for enterprise market

Introduction

There is a tendency of Pocket PCs being used as special devices in a very restricted way with many functions disabled and with only one application executed - this is called kiosk mode. A lot of vertical market applications require kiosk mode. For example, it can disable all games and other entertainment programs on Pocket PC. This article describes how to create kiosk applications for Pocket PC using Spb Kiosk Engine.

What You Need

• Spb Kiosk Engine (trial version is available)
• Spb Kiosk Explorer (trial version is available)
• Spb Kiosk Terminal (trial version is available)

Life Story

Here's a fictional story of an average enterprise Pocket PC user that rings true on many levels:

"It's already been three months that I've been working at this real estate agency. The first day on the job I was given a little computer called a Pocket PC. They taught me the ABCs of using it, and especially the main program I was supposed to use. It wasn't difficult to learn - it's a program that really helps me in my contact with clients. First of all, it provides access to our agency's database, so I can get all the information we have in order to present to a client. It's a very colorful program, with an easy to understand "interface", as they say. I have no problems using it.

But this isn't the point of my story. One day a friend of mine asked me: "Hey Bob, I look at you and can't understand why you drag your CD player all over the place with a ton of CDs! Why don't you use your Pocket PC instead of all this stuff?" At that moment it dawned on me that I had been underestimating what my Pocket PC is capable of doing in my personal life!

My friend helped me to transfer music from those CDs I used to carry around and put them onto my Pocket PC. I can now carry more music on a little memory card than I could ever fit in my CD case. It's great to have so much music with me! I don't always have the memory card with me though, so I loaded up as many songs as possible into the main system RAM. My Pocket PC runs a bit slower now but I don't mind.

I began to use my Pocket PC more and more to have fun. With the help of my son, I installed a few mobile games and have a lot of fun playing them. My son found them on a "warez" site - I don't know what that is, but he said they were free. I've also installed, and constantly use, some handy applications for myself, such as a finance management program for the whole family, a genealogy ("family tree") program, a photo album, and a special house design program (my wife is a house designer).

That special software for work functions a little differently now than when I first got the device. It's a bit slower now, and sometimes it stops working (along with the whole device) and I get "out of memory" errors. When I called tech support, they said that I shouldn't have installed music and my own software onto it. It's a good thing the boss doesn't know yet!"

It happens everywhere. Pocket PC is a really nice device with a lot of powerful features. There are tons of ways it can be used. But what if you need only one of them? What if you do not want your employees use it for other purposes except you supposed it would be used?

Kiosk Mode

Have you ever seen a DHL man? They use special devices to control mail delivery like this one. It is a special device that can be used only for one purpose - to control mail delivery. It saves them a lot of time for support. This device is easy to use because it does not contain anything except features that are really needed for work.

Now more and more companies use general Pocket PC devices instead of special custom devices. They are cheaper and it is much simpler to develop programs for them. They do not need Pocket PC features except the fact that it can run their custom program. Ideally all other features like games, Windows Media Player, Microsoft Reader, etc should be disabled. To do that the application should run in kiosk mode.

We say that an application runs in kiosk mode if:

1. The application runs in full screen mode to prevent switching to other applications using Start menu and Smart Minimize (X) button
2. The application disabled hardware keys to prevent switching to other applications using hardware keys
3. The application is automatically started after soft-reset
4. Other ways are used to prevent switching to other applications

Spb Kiosk Engine

Spb Kiosk Engine is a tool that will take your Pocket PC application and will convert it to kiosk mode. After installing Spb Kiosk Engine on your desktop PC you will get Spb Kiosk Engine Builder. It is a desktop PC program where you can enter your settings and it will generate Pocket PC installer that will provide kiosk mode for your application. It is very useful if you are going to deploy Spb Kiosk Engine to many Pocket PC devices. You do not need to customize it on each Pocket PC device but enter the settings once and just install the generated installer.

Spb Kiosk Engine Builder provides the following options to customize: unlock code, lock code, path to your application that will be kept in kiosk mode and option whether to hide the command bar or not.

Unlock code is needed to switch kiosk mode off. For example it can be used by the service team to make some reconfiguration, etc. This code should be entered using hardware keys. Lock code is used to lock the device back.

Spb Kiosk Engine works with almost all types of Pocket PC applications including eVC++ programs, eVB programs and .NET CF programs.

You can read more about Spb Kiosk Engine and download 15-days trial version from:
http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/products/kioskengine/kioskengine.html.

Spb Kiosk Explorer

Spb Kiosk Explorer is Pocket Internet Explorer running in kiosk mode. Spb Kiosk Explorer Builder allows you to customize a lot of different options: start page, you can hide any of the Pocket Internet Explorer toolbar buttons and menus; you can hide the command bar completely and even disable SIP auto pop-up.

Spb Kiosk Explorer will be helpful for people who develop enterprise Pocket PC based solutions with web interface. These can be either web solutions for wireless devices or local Pocket PC solutions that use Pocket Internet Explorer as interface.

Using Spb Kiosk Explorer you can restrict user access only to your website which will prevent using Internet in personal purposes. It is even more useful if you pay for traffic. To do that you can remove View menu to prevent opening the address bar, and remove favorites button. After that the user will be able to use only links on your pages and will not be able to open any unauthorized page.

Another reason of using Spb Kiosk Explorer is possibility to use all 240x320 screen area. Pocket PC screen is not so big to throw away 16% of screen area for Start menu and command bar that can be not needed in your case.

You can read more about Spb Kiosk Explorer and download 15-days trial version from:
http://www.softspb.com/products/kioskengine/kioskexplorer.html.

Spb Kiosk Terminal

Using thin client is a very interesting approach for building mobile enterprise solutions. It will work only if people who use the devices have access to fast wireless network. But if they have then using this approach can save a lot of money. Instead of writing a Pocket PC application that will synchronize data with legacy system you just change interface of the existing solution to be better displayed on 240x320 screen. Then use Terminal Service Client to provide remote access to this application from wireless mobile devices. You can read how similar approach has saved a lot of money for Newark International Airport in a Spb Case Study

But very often you need to run Terminal Service Client in kiosk mode. In allows to use all 240x320 screen area and will prevent from switching to other application. You can do it using Spb Kiosk Terminal. Except running Terminal Service Client in kiosk mode it also provides auto-connect feature. So the device will always be connected to the server. all that makes device maintenance much simpler and cheaper.

You can read more about Spb Kiosk Terminal and download 15-days trial version from:
http://www.softspb.com/products/kioskengine/kioskterminal.html.

Conclusion

If you need kiosk mode for your Pocket PC application then Spb Kiosk Engine can save you a lot of time. If you need kiosk mode for Pocket Internet Explorer or Terminal Service Client then Spb Kiosk Explorer and Spb Kiosk Terminal will provide it for you and with additional features like auto-connect, customizing Pocket Internet Explorer toolbar and menu, etc.

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