Visual CE^® FAQ

Visual CE software allows you to build custom mobile database applications for any Windows Mobile, Pocket PC, Smartphone, or Windows CE device

NOTE: Additional information can be found in our "Tip of the Month Archive".

The most commonly asked question:

• What is the difference between a table and a form?

V1) Pre-sales questions:

• V1-a) Other than Visual CE, what do I need to create a form?
• V1-b) I'm not a programmer, will I be able to use Visual CE?
• V1-c) Does Visual CE work with Microsoft Visual Basic, Visual C++, Visual Studio .NET?
• V1-d) Does Visual CE work on Pocket PC devices? Windows Mobile Devices? P/PC devices? H/PC devices? H/PC Pro devices?
• V1-e) What versions of Windows CE does Visual CE work with?
• V1-f) What is the difference between the Personal Edition, Professional Edition, and MobileSuites?
• V1-g) How can I upgrade from one edition (Personal, Professional, Enterprise or MobileSuite) to another?
• V1-h) Does Visual CE support color?
• V1-i) Does Visual CE support sound?
• V1-j) Can Visual CE capture a signature? Recognize handwriting?
• V1-k) What does "royalty-free" pricing mean for Visual CE?
• V1-l) Do you provide evaluation copies?
• V1-m) Is there a Macro Programming capability?
• V1-n) Can you design forms on the desktop? On the handheld?
• V1-o) Do the forms run on the desktop? On the handheld?
• V1-p) How can I put Visual CE's relational capabilities to work?
  

V2) Installation questions:

• V2-a) The installer says "Windows CE version 3.0 (or higher) required". Why do I get this message?
• V2-b) The installer says I need Mobile Devices/ActiveSync. Where do I get this?
• V2-c) When I try to install, I get the message, "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\AUTOEXEC.NT. The system file is not suitable for running MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows applications. Choose 'Close' to terminate the application." How can I fix the problem?

V3) Downloading and Synchronization questions:

• V3-a) I just downloaded data from Access, but I can't find it on the Windows CE device. Where is it?
• V3-b) How can I move data from my old HP 100LX or HP 200LX into Visual CE?
• V3-c) Can Visual CE synchronize with a Microsoft Access database? What other types of databases can Visual CE synchronize to?
• V3-d) I downloaded a table and now I get the error, "Tables not compatible for synchronization" when I try to synchronize. Why?
• V3-e) When I synchronize I want to move the records from the Windows CE device to the desktop and then remove them from the handheld. How do I do this?
• V3-f) When I synchronize, Microsoft Access gives me the message, "Field can't be a zero-length string". How do I fix this?
• V3-g) Do I have to do anything special to synchronize with SQL Server?
• V3-h) When I set the "Synchronize on connect" box, I get these annoying messages "Starting Synchronization" and "Synchronization Complete". Is there any way to turn this off?
• V3-i) When I try to synchronize, I get a message that says, "Field cannot be updated" or "You tried to assign the Null value to a variable that isn't a VARIANT datatype". What is this and how can I fix the problem?
• V3-j) When I try to synchronize with Access, I get the message "[Microsoft][ODBC Microsoft Access Driver]Datetime field overflow (null)". What is this and how can I fix the problem?
• V3-k) Is there anything I can do to make synchronization faster?
• V3-l) When I use FILE | DOWNLOAD to download data from an Excel speadsheet, why is the list of tables empty?
• V3-m) When I use Pocket Access databases (*.cdb files) and Microsoft's Active Sync's database synchronization, why aren't the changes on the handheld being sent to the desktop database?
• V3-n) If I create a table on the handheld, why doesn't it show up in the list of FILE | SYNCHRONIZE tables on the desktop?
• V3-o) I get the error "You do not have the necessary permissions to use the <<.mdb file>> object. Have your system administrator or the person who created this object establish the appropriate permissions for you." when I try to synchronize to an Access database (.MDB file). Why?
  
• V3-p) When using Excel files, why do I see the error "[Microsoft][ODBC Excel Driver]Operation must use an updateable query."?
  

V4) Usage questions:

• V4-a) How do I delete a table from my Windows CE device?
• V4-b) How do I delete a form from my Windows CE device?
• V4-c) I deleted the form (the .VCE file) from my handheld, but there still is an entry for it on my START menu. How can I remove this?
• V4-d) I deleted the form (the .VCE file) from my handheld, but there still is an entry for it on my PROGRAMS menu. How can I remove this?
• V4-e) While developing forms on the desktop, I get the message "[SYWARE, Inc.][Windows CE ODBC Driver][ISAM]Connection to Windows CE failed." What causes this? How do I resolve it?
• V4-f) I tried changing my screen size by modifying the VisualCE.ini file, but it still does not work. What could be wrong?
• V4-g) When I am developing on the handheld, some of my controls on the bottom of the screen are hidden by the scroll bar. Is there a way to make them visible?
• V4-h) When Jumping to another form and creating a new record, is there any way to carry more than just the key value to the new record?
• V4-i) When I'm editing a macro, the macro editor window is too large for my screen. Is there a way to make it smaller?

V5) Professional, Enterprise and MobileSuite questions:

• V5-a) How can I upgrade from one edition (Personal, Professional, Enterprise or MobileSuite) to another?
• V5-b) How do I distribute my forms?
• V5-c) Can multiple Windows CE devices synchronize to the same table? How?
• V5-d) In addition to my form, I want my runtime disk to also install a Pocket Access database (a .CDB file). Every time I drag the .cdb file to my desktop, ActiveSync Converts it to a .MDB file. How can I keep ActiveSync from converting the file?
• V5-e) I want my runtime disk to also install an Access database on the desktop (a .MDB file). How do I do that?