Fieldpine Retail systems make the integration of Handheld and Wireless PDA devices a breeze. A number of pre developed applications are available, and customers can easily develop their own using applications using normal development tools and integrate easily to Fieldpine Servers.

This web page is designed for developers creating their own applications.

Windows CE

QUICK START

1. Download and install on your development PC, a development environment. Microsoft have their Embedded Visual C++ environment available for free download.

2. Install the Fieldpine Interface Libraries for CE. These libraries provide wrappers around the SOAP and other interfaces to Fieldpine POS, and make interfacing easier by removing one layer of complexity.

3. Develop your application in the IDE, and load it onto your CE handheld.

Palm

At this time, we have not realised the Palm libraries. Contact Fieldpine Development directly if you wish to develop applications for Palm Handhelds.

Other Handhelds

When developing for non supported handhelds, such as those running proprietory operating environments, the Fieldpine libraries are not available as they have not been ported to these environments. If the handheld is capable of opening TCP sockets, then direct XML services can be used; if not, then we suggest having the handheld read and write files in an interchange directory to communicate with the POS.

Frequent Questions

1. Why is there a library for developers? Why don't Fieldpine just develop the applications?

   Handheld devices generally have a small screen size and are used right in-store, tightly integrated into a business process. This means that the screen layout and prompts must exactly match customer requirements. Even a simple application such as price check results in many combinations. We could not even begin to cover all possibilities. So, we provide a number of pre developed applications and document the library for developers. This allows you to either develop custom screens yourself, or use local IT staff.

2. How hard is it to develop an application?

   Quite simple if you already know development techniques and are familar with C++.

3. What are the Fieldpine Libraries for?

   A Fieldpine server is designed to communicate with several client systems, the libraries provide an easier interface to a Fieldpine server by hiding some of the complexities for dealing with XML and SOAP structure. You do not need to use the libraries if you prefer to have maximum flexibility.

   The libraries for CE and very similar to Windows libraries, so applications written for CE devices can be ported to Windows PCs or vice versa.