Saturday, March 17, 2007

ROM Upgrade on HP iPAQ rw6828

I flashed the ROM of my Pocket PC to version 1.01.03 from 1.00.03. I highly recommend you to upgrade your PPC ROM to the new version since this upgrade will solve many problems that this device is having with the earlier ROM. In the upgrade process I got in to problems initially but at the end I managed to succeed. So I thought of putting a post so that others can do it in one shot unlike me.

You can download the ROM upgrade from
http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/files/handheldiPAQ/us/download/23981.html
the main software and driver page at HP is
http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/files/handheldiPAQ/us/locate/1129_6331.html?jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN#0.

As the first thing what you needs to do is backup the data in you PPC because upgrading ROM will erase all the data. The easiest way to save your personal data is to create a ActiveSync membership and sync all the data to a Personal Computer. Then when you complete the upgrade you can sync back and restore the data.

Next make sure that you have ActiveSync 2.0, If you have newer version of ActiveSync I recommend you to uninstal that and install ActiveSync 2.0. You can get it from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=7269173A-28BF-4CAC-A682-58D3233EFB4C&displaylang=en.

You should make sure that your computer will not go to standby or hibernate modes and also that your connection from PPC to the computer will be intact while the ROM upgrade is happening. Power failure or cable detach could cost you your PPC.

Remember to remove any SD cards, secondary batteries, SIM cards that you have in your PPC. Also note that it is good practice to charge your PPC above 75% before starting the upgrade.

Next double click on the file you downloaded from HP. Make sure you extract it to the default location provided (C:\iPAQ\SP34074).
Automatically it will start the upgrade process. Follow it as you follow a normal wizard.

If you are lucky the process will continue to 100% and the PPC will reset and will start as usual.

Then create a new partnership with ActiveSync and synchronize the data back to your PPC.

The upgrade process is installing things as follows,
0% - 90% - Pocket PC 2005 and related components
90% - 93% - New Boot Loader
94% - 95% - WAP Component
95% - 100% - WAN Component

If your update process stops at 90% and give a Windows error don't panic. What happens here is that the updater fails while closing the Pocket PC 2005 and opening Boot Loader.
If his happens make sure that you are running ActiveSync 4.2 then disconnect the PPC from the cable and remove the battery for about one minute. At the same time shutdown your computer and restart. Then reconnect the battery. The PPC will then come to a white screen with HP logo on it. now connect the USB cable again.

Go to the place where unzipped the files (C:\iPAQ\SP34074). Double click on hpRUU.exe to manually start the updater again. As you are in trouble already do not start any other applications while the updater is doing its work. If you have followed exactly what I have mentioned this time it should upgrade the ROM successfully. If not what you can do is try another two three times and if this fails you have to send your PPC to a HP service center to upgrade the ROM for you. Or else if you like to continue with the old ROM version you can install the older ROM which can be downloaded from http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/files/handheldiPAQ/us/download/23966.html.

All the best for your upgrade.

Friday, March 02, 2007

Unexpected Behaviour in UltraFlowLayoutManager

Recently I faced a problem in one of my Tablet PC projects because of an unexpected behaviour of Infragistics UltraFlowLayoutManager.

My scenario is as follows, I am adding dynamically (run time) some UltraExpandableGroupBox controls to a panel which is managed by a UltraFlowLayoutManager. The problem was after the initial display the last group box added to the panel is going missing or appearing in some other location instead of the required location. You can notice this even if the Panel changes its size, normally the layout manger should automatically arrange the controls but here it will not do on the last control added.The actual problem was that the coordinates for the last control was not appropriately set and also the Z order of the control is reduced making it go behind the other controls.
I tried to set the coordinates myself but always the layout manager will override them.
I also tried changing Z order by calling each controls’ BringToFront method. But then all controls will start wondering around.

So as the solution I had to add a dummy Panel control as the last control and I made it to appear as a line to stop confusing users.
Now my application will display a line a the end at times and at times it will not. Kind of AI behavior huh :-).

Saturday, February 24, 2007

Back Again in Australia

I came again to Australia last week. This time I came through Singapore. The airport and it's facilities are wonderful. For the first time in my life I flew in Cathay Pacific and Quantas. Mmm I think even though the Airlines are cutting facilities these days these two airlines are in the list with other airlines who are not going down in their service. But Cathay Pacific are having things which needs to be corrected fast.

Friday, February 09, 2007

Newest Member of Microsoft Office - Groove

Check out the newest member of Microsoft Office product line. Microsoft Office Groove 2007. Groove is a team collaboration tool which will facilitate information sharing. This is what Microsoft is saying about Groove.

Microsoft® Office Groove® 2007 is Internet software for making direct connections with the people who are important to you. With Office Groove 2007, you can bring together team members from both inside and outside your company, with no IT assistance required and no need to waste time thinking about firewalls, servers, security, or network access. Additionally, you can enjoy the efficiency of always knowing each other's virtual location, or online presence, thus allowing for organic and quick conversation and collaboration.

If you are interested in knowing more visit http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/groove/HA101672641033.aspx. There you will be able to find an introduction animation from which you will be able to get an idea of Groove.
NetAdvantage for WPF

Infragistics have released a beta control set which is to be used for WPF (,.NET 3.0) named NetAdvantage for WPF. I think there they have created some cool control set which we'll be able to use with our development. If you are interested find more information at http://www.infragistics.com/hot/wpf.aspx#NetAdvantageforWPFBeta .

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Visual Studio 2005 not adding reference dlls to the deployment project

Recently I did face a problem when I created the setup for my Pocket PC application. My application had several projects and each project is supposed to add a dll to the setup. The problem was when I build the project it didn't add the reference dlls to the setup but only added the main application.

Later I found the solution for this which was to remove the main project output from the deployment project then go to debug mode and add the main project back again to the deployment project. The when the project is rebuilt all the dlls will be included properly.

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Using Single Quotes in SQL Queries

Did you ever searched how to use a single quote inside SQL query? In this article I explain how to do.

( 1.) To display a quote in between of two field values.
SELECT FirstName + ''' ' + LastName From tblStudent

The above will put a single quote and a space in between FirstName and LastName fields.

( 2.) To insert a record with a quote to a table.
INSERT INTO [tbl] (ColumnName) VALUES ('I'+'''m ok.')

The above will insert a record into tbl and will put the string of {I'm ok.} to the column ColumnName.

( 3.) To update a record will be possible as follows.
UPDATE [tbl] SET ColumnName='I'+'''m ok.'

The above will update ColumnName values of all the records of tbl in to {I'm ok.}.