Developing and testing an ATL Control (ActiveX) on Windows Mobile

Ive had a look at that link. The only thing I see that helps in C++ is that the toolbox has a 'Custom Control' item that can be used to represent the control. There doesnt seem to be a 'Custom Control' item in C#.

If I was using a C++ test app then how can I refer to the 'Custom Control' from within the code so that I can call methods on it? Where do I #import the DLL from and how do I get from the custom control to the actual control object and call methods?

here's my old article :) , maybe it'll be helpful

http://codeguru.earthweb.com/cpp/w-p/ce/pocketpc/print.php/c10817

if you have some header file you could simply use it with smart pointers, or use #import directive in eg stdafx.h

Sorry, but thats not what im looking for.

I have a DLL containing an ATL Control I have developed. The DLL is compiled for Windows Mobile 5 Pocket PC.

The ATL Control has 1 method I want to call called Open().

I need to somehow create the control and then be able to call methods on it.

1: How do I use the ATL control in a C# smart device application?
2: How do I use the ATL control in a C++ smart device MFC application?

look at this one: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms834212.aspx (this is old-ish, but I guess that's the way still)

re. my own article, you can still use CWnd::CreateControl() in MFC to create it dynamically and then use

            LPUNKNOWN lpUnk = m_PlayerWnd.GetControlUnknown();
            HRESULT hr = lpUnk->QueryInterface(__uuidof(IWMP),(void**)&m_spWMPPlayer);

to get the desired interface. Either use #import or header with the interface definition (which has to be generated already) to have the interface similar to what I've used in the article:

#include "PlayerOCX.h"
...
      CComPtr<IWMP> m_spWMPPlayer;


I reckon that if you register your control on the desktop then you'll be able to use it even with the wizard in VS

I have tried that approach. When I do the QueryInterface call I get back E_NOINTERFACE.

so it is somehow not registered or you need to check what's the exact name of the interface. it might be _ISomething or CLSID_Something or Something etc etc

you can get the same with few Get functions:

WINOLEAPI StringFromCLSID(REFCLSID rclsid, LPOLESTR FAR* lplpsz);
WINOLEAPI CLSIDFromString(LPOLESTR lpsz, LPCLSID pclsid);
WINOLEAPI StringFromIID(REFIID rclsid, LPOLESTR FAR* lplpsz);
WINOLEAPI IIDFromString(LPOLESTR lpsz, LPIID lpiid);
WINOLEAPI_(BOOL) CoIsOle1Class(REFCLSID rclsid);
WINOLEAPI ProgIDFromCLSID (REFCLSID clsid, LPOLESTR FAR* lplpszProgID);
WINOLEAPI CLSIDFromProgID (LPCOLESTR lpszProgID, LPCLSID lpclsid);
WINOLEAPI_(int) StringFromGUID2(REFGUID rguid, LPOLESTR lpsz, int cbMax);

Ok. I can get further if I specify the full CLSID of the class instead of using __uuidof for some reason.

It works ok on the WM5 emulator. However, it doesnt work on the Pocket PC device. The call to CreateControl on the device causes a crash with the following information in the visual studio output window:

AKY=00001001 PC=03f905b8(coredll.dll+0x000445b8) RA=8001739c(NK.EXE+0x0001739c) BVA=00000001 FSR=00000001
EXCEPTION_RECORD(e06d7363(???),1(EXCEPTION_NONCONTINUABLE),0,3f905b8,3)
ExceptionInformation:
 0 : 19930520
 1 : 1b97e5f8
 2 : 1bcbbc
dwSystemPowerState = 0x10010000

Followed by a memory dump.

I have deployed the DLL to the device so that is not the problem. The app will run on the device fine if I comment out the CreateControl line.

the easiest way is to test it on PDA with the Mobile IE and that page generated by default. just add button to it and call your AX object method in JS function. Add alert("HERE") and alert("THERE") before and after the call to AX.Method()

how have you deployed it? I've found that for me it is easier to create a cab and mark the dll as COM self-registered

"the easiest way is to test it on PDA with the Mobile IE and that page generated by default. just add button to it and call your AX object method in JS function. Add alert("HERE") and alert("THERE") before and after the call to AX.Method()"

I have no idea what you mean by this.

I deployed the DLL directly from Visual Studio by selecting Deploy Solution from the build menu. This deploys the DLL onto the device and registers it.

I get a BEFORE but not an AFTER.

The Open method does nothing. It just returns S_OK.

it means it can't create the object

to be 100% sure, can use register the object manually, ie LoadLibrary() and DllRegiterServer() ?

Tried that. Also tried creating a CAB file and installing it that way.

I get the same thing on the WM emulator using the html file. I get the BEFORE but not the AFTER. But I can get my test app to work on the emulator but it wont work on the actual device.

Losing the will to live now.

ok, let's start from scratch :)

- create dummy ATL Control object
- test it on PDA as described in <SDK DIR>\Samples\ATL\AXSample (ie with PIE)

if that works, use CreateControl() etc, then start adding your features

somewhere it might stop working and we'll get the answer we are after

Created a very simple test DLL and even it doesnt work. Here are the steps followed:

- Created a new C++ Smart Device ATL Smart Device Project
-- Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC SDK
-- DLL

- Added a new Smart Device ATL Control Class to the project
-- Name = MyDummyControl
-- Standard Control
-- Single Threaded
-- No changes to any other default settings.

- Added the preprocessor definition _CE_ALLOW_SINGLE_THREADED_OBJECTS_IN_MTA to the project.

- Added a method to the IMyDummyControl interface called TestOpen. Takes no parameters. Did not add any additional code for this to the MyDummyControl class so the TestOpen method just returns S_OK.

- Compiled successfully.
- Selected Deploy Solution from the build menu to deploy to the WM5 emulator. Success.

- Updated the test.html file to use the CLSID of the MyDummyControl class and to call TestOpen in the testMe method. Put the test.html file on the WM5 emulator storage card.

- Opened test.html in the emulator and presed the test me button. BEFORE appears. Pressed ok. No AFTER message appears.

Here is a link to a zip file containing the sample DLL project:

http://www.filesavr.com/dummyatl

The code in the test.html file is:

<OBJECT ID="MyCtrl" CLASSID="CLSID:9CE095EC-4259-44C4-A6E6-092B9FFED843" width="200" height="200"></OBJECT>
 
<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JScript">
function testMe()
{
    alert("BEFORE");
	MyCtrl.TestMe();
    alert("AFTER");
}
</SCRIPT>
 
<FORM>
<INPUT TYPE="BUTTON" VALUE="test me" ONCLICK="testMe()">
</FORM>

                                              

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Sorry wrong test.html code. The correct test.html file code is:

<OBJECT ID="MyCtrl" CLASSID="CLSID:869E6011-037C-44C6-A43D-357898FF69DB" width="200" height="200"></OBJECT>
 
<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JScript">
function testMe()
{
    alert("BEFORE");
	MyCtrl.TestOpen();
    alert("AFTER");
}
</SCRIPT>
 
<FORM>
<INPUT TYPE="BUTTON" VALUE="test me" ONCLICK="testMe()">
</FORM>

                                              

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please check attached sample, it at least worked with PIE (remove all .txt extensions first)

Ah, ok. Seems I didnt add <HTML> and <BODY> tags into the test.html file. Works fine once I added them.

Will try the original control again now.

The original control works fine in the test.html file now.

However, I still cant get it to work in the C++ test app.

So I tried making the C++ test app use the MyDummyControl to see what happens and it also crashes. The debug output window has the following in it:

CoCreateInstance of OLE control {869E6011-037C-44C6-A43D-357898FF69DB} failed.
>>> Result code: 0x80004002
>>> Is the control is properly registered?

I dont see why this appears when the control is clearly registered properly since it works in the test HTML file.

it all depends on crafty things like ProgID etc
try various things where __uuidof() is, get it via ProgID for instance (from those methods above)

I dont think that is the problem. I am using the full GUID of the control in the call to CreateControl.

I have tried using the progid as well and it also does not work.

I've tried using __uuidof as well and I get the same result.

another thing - have you checked ActiveX controls when created the app? Or called CoInitialize() ? Just to confirm you're not trying to initialize COM object when COM is not initialized :)

Yes I ticked the ActiveX controls option when creating the project. What code does this add to the project?

I added a call to CoInitialize even though I dont think that is the issue because that would return a different error code. The added call to CoInitialize doesnt make any difference.

http://www.filesavr.com/dummyatl_1

this does work and uses your DummyATL project

I'm going to assume that the ActiveX control is working in my project and that the issues i'm experiencing are related to the fact I cannot debug on the device.