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I was a CE Idiot! -Inputting Data |
Ted Butz is the most technology resistant guy in our office. We figured if he could explain how he managed to get a grasp on Windows CE and its usefulness that anyone could. Thus we present to you a series of articles designed to put you in the know about the basics of Windows CE -from the perspective of an idiot! Inputting Data Next Article "Contacts" When they told me that the newest job responsibility they were heaping on me was to write a series of articles about the basics of CE that your average dunderhead could relate to, I can't say I was exactly flattered. OK… so maybe I'm not the kind of guy who comes in to the office on Monday morning with the latest gadget or toy and so what if there are books that have sold millions of copies with titles like "An Idiot's Guide to…" or " Such and Such for Dummies". "I was a CE Idiot???" Why did they come to me? The things a working stiff has got to do for a paycheck! I suppose I should start by introducing the gadget that I've learned about Windows CE on. I'm using a Compaq Aero 1500, which has a monochrome screen and Microsoft® Windows® CE Version 2.11 running on it. Somebody had been using it before me so when I turned my Aero on it gave me a Welcome to Windows CE opening screen with the time, date, and the previous owners name, company and phone number all displayed under a very Windows 95-like looking bar across the top with an OK and a close X box. Using the stylus provided it turns out when you tap OK or the X you get the same result, the screen disappears and leaves you with whatever application you had used last when you turned off your CE device. One of the strange things about Windows CE that only takes a little getting used to is that you don't really close an application when you're finished with it. You either just open the next one you want to use or turn the device off completely. The application that had last been used in this case was the contacts one. Windows CE has 5 key applications that come as part of the operating system (o/s); Calendar, Contacts, Inbox, Note Taker and Tasks. If you look along the bottom of your screen you will see once again a very similar looking TaskBar as the one on your desktop, with the familiar Microsoft flag and the word "Start". Use your stylus to tap start just like you would normally use a mouse and click. A pop up window with the 5 key applications mentioned and Programs, Settings, Find and Help appears. Tapping Programs, Settings, Find or Help opens other windows which offer even further options mostly similar to the ones again you find on your desktop PC. I immediately zoned in on the Settings window that said Owner. I had correctly guessed that this would allow me to change the ownership properties of the device (see, I'm no dummy!). Now it was simply a matter of inputting my first CE data. Inputting data to a CE device is one of the things that you'll find is quite different from your desktop. Many CE devices have no obvious keyboard for you to hammer away at. However it turns out that tapping the icon on the task bar beside the Start one (looks like the letters ABC beside a pen) offers you a choice of an onscreen keyboard or something called a Jot Character Recognizer. The keyboard's operation seemed even obvious to me. You simply tapped the field you want to input data in (in this case Name:) and then started tapping the letters on the keyboard as you needed them. Shift, capitals and tab etc. they're all there. However this was a sufficiently tedious procedure to make me immediately begin to explore the possibilities of the Jot Character Recognizer. JOT as its known for short is one of the first skills you'll need to master before you can really take advantage of your CE device. And to my chagrin its not that difficult and there is only a little you can complain about. Once you have a handle on JOT you can actually input data on your CE device quite speedily. Tap the icon beside the Start (looks like the letters ABC beside a pen) and then choose JOT from the window that pops up. It will offer you a little frameset in which you can input your own handwriting using the stylus. Writing letters underneath the area of the frame that has the small letters "abc" gives you lowercase writing in the desired form field. Writing letters underneath the area of the frame that has the capital letters ABC gives you…. That's right! Capital letters! You'll never guess what writing numbers underneath the area of the frame that has "123" at the top of it does. Now most of the letters are pretty much the same way you learned to draw them as a little tyke with the exception of a maybe 5 or 6. If you keep inputting a letter and JOT doesn't seem to recognize it accurately then simply tap the Help button on the lower left side. By tapping through the help instructions you can scroll and view a demo of the way the JOT people want you to write the letter. There is other 3rd party software available that you can purchase that does the same thing as JOT (such as CalliGrapher 5.3 from ParaGraph -$US49.95) which some prefer or you can purchase a portable keyboard that attaches to your CE device via a serial port (QuickPad from LEOSync around $US70.00). But if you're like me and you're cheap and lazy you'll learn how to use JOT. A quick review; you can input information into a CE device! You use your own natural handwriting and a CE application called JOT to do it. OK , now that you know how to input data, the next article will be about using the applications. If you're still awake at this point I congratulate you. Baby steps! We'll get there. One day you too can be CE savvy like me! T.B. |