Windows/Windows Mobile user guide

This user guide provides general information for using the Mobile Reach App Launcher on a Windows or Windows Mobile (WM) device.

Prerequisites

After installing Mobile Reach components and the Mobile Reach App Launcher, ensure the following procedures have been performed before accessing Apps on a Windows/WM device.

General configuration procedures. See Configuration: Getting Started for more information.
NOTE: When editing the Deployment folder, place the WM device Apps in the PocketPC Deployment folder.
Connect the device to a PC on your network.
Load any required scanning software (DataWedge or SocketScan).

WM device battery

It is very important to not run out of battery power on WM devices, because data can be lost. It is recommended to recharge the battery each day by placing the device in the cradle connected to AC power. Depending on usage and the specific device, more frequent charging may be required. WM 5 devices generally will not lose data with a dead battery.

When possible, remove power draining activities from the device::

Select Start > Settings > System > Power > Wireless. Set Wireless signals off and touch OK.
Select Start > Settings > System > Wireless Adapter Control. Set Radio off and touch OK.
Do not run any additional programs on the device or download any additional files. Do not change any other settings.

NOTE: These settings may vary per device. If using wireless for on-line operations, do NOT disable these services.

Menus

Apps on Windows/WM devices contain several menus:

Tools
Actions
Touch/Hold (WM device only)

The options for all of these menus vary, depending on whether you are in the launcher window, Listview window, or RecView window.

The Touch/Hold menu is the equivalent of a right-click menu on a desktop. Press down with your stylus in an empty section of the window to display this menu.

Individual fields can also contain Touch/Hold menus. Press down with your stylus within a field to see the associated menu. Field level Touch/Hold menus usually contain the Zoom option, which displays all the text in a field. The Touch/Hold menu is also used when the App contains a currency field. To successfully enter a currency value, enter the numeric value, and then use the Touch/Hold menu to select the proper currency code.

Start the App Launcher

On your device, select Start > Programs > Splitware. The Mobile Reach launcher window displays.

Set Network Preferences

The first time you access the App Launcher on your device, you must set Network preferences. These preferences define a connection between your device and the Gateway server and between the Gateway server and database server.

Select Tools > Preferences from the launcher window to display the Preferences tabs. Select the Network tab and complete the information. See Windows Mobile device install/preferences for more information.

After setting Network preferences, the App Launcher will remember and use these values for all future logins. You should only need to re-set the Network values if something changes in your information (new password, etc.).

Launcher window

The Mobile Reach launcher window contains a list of all available Mobile Reach Apps. You can perform various tasks from the launcher.

Open an App

Touch an App to open it.

To start two Apps at the same time:

Touch an App to open it.
While the App window is displayed, select Tools > Windows > Launcher and touch a different icon or select Tools > Windows and select a different App.

Move between App windows

To view and move between App windows, select Tools > Windows. You can also use this menu to close the current or all App windows.

Application Manager

It is good practice to run the Application Manager (App Manager) before opening an App. Running App Manager ensures the latest version of the App is downloaded from the database server to your device.

Clear cache

Clearing the cache deletes the cache of data on the device and reloads the data from the database server. You should clear cache if changes are made in the database server or in a query string. See Caching for more information.

Update all Apps

To synchronize all Apps with the database, select Update All Applications on the Actions or Touch/Hold menu.

Before executing Update All Applications, close all Apps on the device. The update will be skipped for any open App.

When the update is complete, the status for each update will be displayed. Possible status values are:

Aborted: The update was not performed due to an update failure with a previous App.
Errors: Record errors occurred during the synchronization. Open the App and view the errors.
Failed: The update failed because of a connectivity issue. Fix the connectivity issue and run the update again.
Not supported: The App does not support this global update function.
Skipped: The App was open at the time, so the update was skipped.
Success: No errors occurred during synchronization.

View App Launcher Information

To view information about the App Launcher, select Tools > About from any App window.

To view information about the Apps on the device, select Show Versions from the Actions or Touch/Hold menu.

Keyboard

The keyboard icon brings up the device keyboard. You can use this keyboard to enter data.

App Windows

An App contains two types of windows:

Listview window: A list of records downloaded from the database server
RecView window: A detailed view of an individual record

Listview window

wm_incident_listview

The Listview window contains a list of records downloaded from the database server. Apps can be designed to open to a RecView window, but often open to the Listview window. The appearance of this window differs, depending on your App.

Listview windows can consist of more than one tab, and each tab is generated by a particular set of search criteria. The tab where you can see the records is the active tab. Touch another tab to make that tab active, or select Tools > Tabs to move between the App tabs.

Change record display

Use the following options to change how records are displayed in the Listview window.

Update records: Touch the Update All button or select Update All from the Actions or Touch/Hold menu to sync the records in the active tab with the backend database.
Show all records: Touch the Show All button or select Show All from the Actions or Touch/Hold menu to show all of the available database records.
Show active records: Touch the Show Active button or select Show Active from the Actions or Touch/Hold menu to show all of the available database records
Sort records: Select Actions > Sort > … to sort the records by the desired field.

View/edit a record

Select a record from the Listview tab to open a RecView window, displaying detailed information for the selected record.

Create a new record

Select the Insert option from the Actions or Touch/Hold menu. A blank RecView window opens.
Complete the RecView fields as desired. Mandatory fields display in bold.
Touch the Save button from any RecView window. The device updates with the new incident, which displays at the bottom of the Listview window with an arrow icon () .

Searches

Each tab in the Listview window contains data generated from a set of search criteria. Use the Listview window Action or Touch/Hold menu options to edit searches.

Update search records

Select Search > Update to manually update records retrieved by a search.

Create a new search

Select Search > Create Advanced. A Search dialog displays.
Enter a name for the new search in the Name field.
Enter the criteria for your search in the Search Criteria field.
Touch the OK button to save or the Cancel button to return to the Listview window without saving. The new search displays as a new tab in the Listview window.

Create a QBE

A Query by Example (QBE) search allows the user to change the search criteria on the device.

Select Search > Create QBE. A new launcher window displays.
Enter values you wish to search in the desired fields, using the other tabs (Problem, Resolution, etc.) as needed.
Enter a name for your search in the Name field.
Touch Save to save or Close to return to the Listview window without saving. If you touched Save, a New Search window displays.
Enter the name of the search in the New Name field and touch the Save button. The new search displays as a new tab in the Listview window.

Edit a search

To edit an existing search:

Select the Listview tab that contains the desired search.
Select Search > Edit. The Search dialog for the selected search displays.
Make any desired changes to the Name or Search Criteria fields. Touch the OK button to save or the Cancel button to return to the Listview window without saving. The edited search tab displays in the Listview window.

Copy a search

To create a new search by copying an existing search:

Select the Listview tab that contains the desired search.
Select Search > Copy. The Copy Search dialog displays.
Enter a new search name in the Current name field. Touch the Save button to save or the Cancel button to return to the Listview window without saving. The new search tab displays in the Listview window.
Edit the copied search to enter the desired search criteria.

Delete a search

Select the Listview tab that contains the desired search.
Select Search > Delete.
A message displays, asking if you want to delete the search group. Touch the Yes button to delete the search group or the No button to halt the delete process. The Listview window displays.

Rename a search

To rename an existing search:

Select the Listview tab that contains the desired search.
Select Search > Rename . The dialog for the selected search displays.
Enter a new search name in the Current name field. Touch the Save button to save or the Cancel button to return to the Listview window without saving. The re-named search displays in the Listview window.

Set As Default

To return the search to the default criteria set in AppStudio, select Search > Set as Defaults. The file is saved in the Program Files/MobileReach/Scripts directory on the device. This file can be used to recreate search criteria if the cache has been cleared.

RecView windows

RecView windows display detailed information for a new or existing record.

You can enter, edit, or view information from the RecView windows. Fields shown in bold are mandatory. Select a tab at the bottom of a RecView window to go to another RecView window.

Touch the Save button to save any changes and return to the Listview window or the Close button to return to the Listview window without saving. If you close without saving, you are asked if you want to save your changes. Touch Yes to save the changes or No to close the window without saving.

Make any desired changes and touch the Save button from any RecView window to save your changes and return to the Listview window.

Upload new/changed records

When you edit or create a record, the new information exists only on your device until you upload it to the server. When you exit from the RecView window to the Listview window, an arrow icon () displays next to new or changed records that have not been uploaded to the server.

Touch the Update All button or select Update All from the Actions or Touch/Hold menu to upload the information to the server. The Update All operation also downloads any new or updated records that match your selection criteria from the server to your device.

If the server rejects the information being uploaded, an indication of the rejection is displayed in the Listview status column. The status column displays the current status of each record, and if appropriate, an error tab is included in the record. The error tab describes the error, warning, or conflict situation.

The records statuses are:

Success (no icon): New or unedited record, ready to be modified or viewed (no error tab displayed).
Update (): Record was edited or inserted and is ready to be uploaded to the server (no error tab displayed).
Warning (): Record was successfully inserted or updated to the server but warning messages were returned (error tab displayed).
Conflict (): Record was not successfully inserted or updated to the server because a conflict occurred when the update was attempted. Details of the conflict were logged on the error tab and the upload will not be reattempted until the record is changed. Resetting the record may resolve the conflict.
Error (): Record was not successfully inserted or updated to the server because an error occurred when the update was attempted. Details of the error were logged on the error tab and the upload will not be reattempted until the record is changed.

A Listview window with an error icon is shown below.

wm_listview_error

Discard/reset records or searches

You cannot delete records from the server with your device. However, from the Listview window, you can delete any record changes made on the device and replace the records with updated records from the server.

A WM device must be connected to the server before these operations can be performed.

To reset a modified record, select the record in the Listview window and select Reset > Reset Record from the Actions or Touch/Hold menu. Select Reset > Reset All Records or Search > Update to update all of the modified records. The Reset Record option is not available unless the individual record has been changed and saved, but not uploaded to the server.

To delete a new record that has not been uploaded to the server, select the record and select Reset > Delete New Record from the Actions or Touch/Hold menu. The record is deleted from the device. Records that are reset after uploading are updated with any new information from the server.

To delete all changes you have made to any searches and return the searches to their default values, select Reset > Reset Searches from the Actions or Touch/Hold menu. This option also deletes all records and reloads the records from the server matching the restored default searches. A message displays, asking if you want to reset all records and groups. Touch Yes to reset the searches or No to halt the reset process.

To clear changes and reset to an empty cache, select Tools > Clear Cache. This command closes all windows and deletes all cache databases for all Apps. You are asked if you are sure you want to execute this command. Click Yes to clear the cache and No to cancel.

To clear cache for one App only, select the App in the launcher window and select Tools > Clear App Cache. The cache for the selected App is cleared.

Update

The Update option on the Touch/Hold menu allows you to change the interval upon which update information is sent to the server. Select Update and then select one of the following options:

Manual: You must initiate the update.
Every 5 Min: An update occurs every 5 minutes.
Every 15 Min: An update occurs every 15 minutes.
After Save: An update occurs every time a record is saved.

NOTE: You can select After Save with any of the other options, ensuring that an update will occur for the selected criteria, and will also occur after a save.

Exit an App

Select Tools > Exit to exit the App..

Logging

XML logs are used to help troubleshoot problems that can occur with connectivity or other issues with the Apps. XML logs contain the XML commands and corresponding responses sent to/from the Gateway server. These logs can be mailed to your system administrator or to Mobile Reach for assistance.

The XML log is placed in the root directory on the device. Then, the device is synced with the server and the error condition is re-created.

Create a .xml file and enter the following line: <LOGFILE write='1' read='1' timing='1'/>
Save the file as XMLlogSettings.xml.
Place the XMLlogSettings.xml file in the root directory of the client device.
NOTE: For the Pocket PC, the root directory is the directory just below the Pocket PC (go into Explorer via Windows Mobile Device Center and double-click on the Pocket PC icon.) On the PC, the root directory is the C drive.
Start the App Launcher and open the App that caused the issue to occur.
Synchronize your App with the server.
Perform the action that caused the error.
Exit the App and launcher.
Refresh the display at the root directory of your client device. A file called XMLlog.xml should now be present.
Copy the XMLlog.xml file to the desktop and/or email the file for consultation.
NOTE: Before emailing, open the file on your computer and do a search/replace on your password. The file will display any passwords in plain text inside the log file.
Remove the XMLlogSettings.xml file from the root directory of the client device.

Uninstall the App Launcher

There are several ways to uninstall the Mobile Reach App Launcher on the Windows/WM device:

Access the Add/Remove Programs on the WM device main screen and select Splitware.
Use the WMDC software on the device.
To uninstall Mobile Reach on both the WM device and on the machine running the Windows Mobile Client attach the device to the machine, run the Installshield on the machine a second time, and select Remove. The WMDC software window is displayed, and you are asked if you want to remove the program. Uncheck the boxes associated with “Microsoft SQL Mobile 2005” and “Mobile Reach Splitware” and touch the OK button. These two programs will be removed from the WM devices.