Introduction to EPOC Connect
by Richard Bloor
One of the most compelling aspects of information technology is the ability to share and exchange information between computers. A mobile device is no different and while this connection will increasingly be over wide area communication networks the main connection is currently to a PC.
EPOC Connect is Symbian's solution to these PC connection requirements.
Connect's open architecture also means that EPOC device vendors can customise the User Interface to their own unique brand. The "pluggable" nature of Synchronisation and Conversion allows third party developers to extend the delivered functionality. These features can be seen in PsiWin, the connectivity package supplied with Psion handhelds, which has its own unique branding and range of additional conversion and synchronisation options.
Moving a file in PsiWin
To the user, EPOC Connect provides:
file access and manipulation integrated into Windows Explorer, including conversion when files are copied between machines and the ability to open EPOC files into a PC application
backup and restore
PIM data synchronisation
software installation
transfer of data via the clipboard, e.g. cut on the PC, paste on an EPOC device and visa versa
printing from an EPOC device via the PCs default printer.
To the developer, the features of EPOC Connect are:
remote access to folder, files and machine information
back up and restore
synchronisation
conversion
OCX's for access to EPOC files and
custom server access directly to EPOC.
In this article we will review these developer facilities and look at an example where an EPOC word file is accessed through OLE to produce a HTML formatted file.
Prerequisites
The skills necessary to develop Connect based products vary depending on what you wish to achieve.
Basic activities (utilising OLE interfaces to access files on the EPOC machine) will require skills in a COM compatible language e.g. Microsoft Visual Basic, Borland Delphi, etc. No special knowledge of EPOC is required.
Adding converters and synchronisers will require knowledge of C++ to create DLL plugins to the Connect architecture. But again no special EPOC knowledge is required.
The development of Custom Servers, however, will require knowledge of the EPOC operating system, socket based communications, and C++.
Obtaining the SDK
After free registration, the Connect SDK can be obtained from the Symbian DevNet site, at either www.epocworld.com or www.symbiandevnet.com. In addition to the SDKs (for Connect and the application development tools) the site provides access to additional technical resources and news groups dedicated to the development tools. The SDKs are also available on CD directly from Symbian for a minimal handling fee.
The Connect SDK does not include any emulation of an EPOC device, therefore you will need one of the development SDKs (OPL, Java or C++) to obtain the EPOC emulator. Obviously if you have an EPOC device you can use that.
To run the SDKs you will require a Pentium PC running Windows 95 with 24Mb free space (plus that required for the development SDK for the emulator).
Alternatively you can obtain the SDKs by purchasing Professional Symbian Programming which comes with a CD containing all the SDKs (except the recently released Revo emulator add-on). This book provides an in depth look at development of C++ applications, however Connect coverage is minimal so it would not be recommended if you are only wanting to develop basic connectivity solutions.
Getting Connected
Connection to an EPOC device is straight forward, in fact you would probably already have a badged version of Connect installed (for example PsiWin) and the EPOC Connect SDK can simply be installed with the existing connectivity software.
If, however, you are using the emulator, you will need a null modem cable to connect between the COM1 and COM2 to achieve connectivity to the Emulator. Detailed set up instructions are covered in the Quick Start section of the EPOC Connect help documentation.
Set-up
Unlike the other SDKs Connect requires some additional set-up involving:
making tlb files available to the chosen development tool
registering the necessary OCXs.
Next: EPOC Connect Fundamentals
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