Windows CE Programming

The famous rdesktop running natively on windows ce and windows mobile

Intro and Background

Some times ago I found that message of Jay Sorg and retrieved a copy of his code for a native rdesktop win32 version. I played a little and got the code compile with Visual Studio 2005 with the Windows Mobile SDK.

I tried to implement windows clipboard support to enhance the transfer of texts between the client and server, but unfortunately I was not successful yet. Hopefully someone jumps in and helps enhancing the code and adds some features.

Rdesktop is open source and you can go with the wince implementation here, but if it does not work for you, you have either change the code yourself (and publish it) or find someone that is able to do for you.

There is a template uiports/xxxwin.c in the actual rdesktop source you can use as a starter to compile the actual rdesktop version for windows mobile if you manage to get all the dependencies to work. If you success, forget this post and go with this version (maybe you leave me a note?).

Why another Remote Desktop/Terminal Server Client?

Continue reading ‘Mobile Development: a native remote desktop client (rdesktop port win32)’ »

Update 18. nov 2011: fixed some bugs, as mentioned by Patrick S. (great to see, that some take and use the code):

• screen_width and height for WriteRDP()
• read FitToScreen from reg in readReg()
• check for already running process of startOnExit in startTSC(). Although I think check for running a process multiple times should be done in the target process.

Update 16. may 2011: converted code for VS2008(windows mobile 6 sdk), see Downloads at bottom

UPDATE 23 june 2010: new registry option to switch between MouseClick and Keyboard simulation:

REGEDIT4
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\RDP_autologin]
"FitToScreen"="1"
"FullScreen"="1"
"Status"="connecting..."
"Save Password"="1"
"Domain"=""
"Password"="Intermec+2004"
"Username"="rdesktop"
"Computer"="192.168.0.130"
"DesktopWidth"=640
"DesktopHeight"=480
"startOnExit"="\rdp_keepBusy.exe"
"execargs"="noRDPstart"
"UseMouseClick"="0"    //added with version 3 to switch between mouse and keyboard simulation

Some days ago I published my RDP_Autologin code: RDP_Autologin

As there were some screen metrics hardcoded and more and more devices come with a VGA screen the hardcoded QVGA values will not match. So I extended the first version and implemented some additional logic and settings.

Continue reading ‘Automated Login for Remote Desktop Mobile II’ »

Remote Desktop Mobile autologin

As you may know, Remote Desktop Mobile (RDM) does not support auto-login. But sometimes you may want a user does not change settings and is directly connected to a Terminal Server. Ruggedized devices are often used in warehouses and the IT structure uses a terminal server to gather data and manage goods. Although I think Windows Mobile is not the right OS for such barcode scanner devices, you may have no choose and have to use a handheld computer with Windows Mobile instead one that uses Windows CE. The RDM or Terminal Service Client provided with Windows CE devices is much more flexible and can be configured by the OEM to enable you to auto-login into a Terminla Server (TS).

OK, the challenge was to automate the startup and login of RDM on a Windows Mobile 6.1 device. I started using embedded Visual C++ 4.0 although this is outdated by VS2005 and VS2008.

The idea was to launch the exe, fill in the values and click the Connect bar. Continue reading ‘Automated Login for Remote Desktop Mobile’ »

Update 2. august 2010: There is a fixed RDM client for WM6.5 which is available to OEMs to include in there ROM images. Possibly you get it with an OS update of your device and will not see this issue any more. See also http://blogs.msdn.com/b/raffael/archive/2009/09/11/remote-desktop-mobile-rdp-client-disconnects-after-10-minutes-of-inactivity.aspx

Unfortunately Remote Desktop Mobile (RDM) Client, if part of your Windows Mobile 6.1 device, will disconnect after 10 minutes of user idle time. This value seems to be hardcoded into the application. Various searches in internet lead to this assumption. So regardless of your server or client settings, RDM will disconnect after 10 minutes of user idle.

The following code is from this blog. For those of you not being able to compile the code I have attached an ArmV4i executable you can use directly on your device.

Continue reading ‘WM6.1: Remote Desktop Client disconnects after 10 minutes’ »