CE5.0 - SDK Development

SDK Development

After you create a custom OS design, you can develop an SDK based on that OS design for distribution to other developers. For more information about OS development, see Developing an Operating System.

An SDK is a set of headers, libraries, connectivity files, run-time files, OS design extensions, and Help documentation that developers use to write applications for a specific OS design. The contents of an SDK allow developers to create and debug an application on the run-time image built from your OS design.

You can use Platform Builder to develop an SDK based on your custom OS design for installation on another development workstation.

During the SDK development process, Platform Builder tracks the core OS modules that belong to an OS design, eliminating the need for you to describe the modules and components containing the technologies that the associated SDK should support. Instead, Platform Builder includes the headers and libraries associated with the modules and components in your OS design in your SDK.

Note   If you include a technology in your SDK that your OS design does not support, a run-time error occurs when someone attempts to access that technology in the IDE.

This enables other developers to use your SDK with Microsoft eMbedded Visual C++® 4.0 and later and Microsoft Visual Studio® .NET to create, debug, and run custom applications.

These products use the SDK to determine which menus, files, and debugging applications to display to an application developer who is creating software targeted for your custom OS design. These tools also use connectivity components to determine how to transfer information from the development workstation to the target device through the transport layer.

To help developers use your SDK, when you create an SDK, the SDK Wizard automatically creates and includes an HTML Help file containing documentation showing which APIs are supported by your specific OS design.

You can also include custom documentation in your SDK. For more information, see .

When the SDK is installed in eMbedded Visual C++, this documentation appears in Help beneath a node with the same name as the OS design that the SDK was exported from.

When custom Help documentation is added to the SDK, it appears under the node named Microsoft Windows CE in the Table of Contents for the eMbedded Visual C++ Help files.

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.

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