Unlike the Pocket PC, the Smartphone 2003 platform does not come with a File Explorer for users to view the folders (and files) on the phone. This is perhaps due to the fact that Microsoft does not see the need for users to do this. However, it is often useful for developers to be able to view the directory structure of a Smartphone so that they can decide on which folders to use to store their applications and files. In this article, I will demonstrate how you can build a File Explorer for your Smartphone using the .NET Compact Framework. You will need to have Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003 and the Smartphone 2003 SDK to do this.
Using the TreeView Control
The Smartphone 2003 SDK (available as a free download from MSDN) supports the TreeView control for displaying data in a hierarchical fashion. In this article, you will learn how to explore the file system on your Smartphone and display its file structure using the TreeView control.
First, let's start by creating a new Smart Device Application in Visual Studio .NET 2003. I have chosen Visual Basic .NET as the language. When you are prompted for the project type, select Smartphone (Fig.1).
Fig. 1: Creating a Smartphone application
Populate the Windows Form with the following controls:
The MainMenu control should have two main items named Exit and File. The File item should have sub-items named Copy, Cut, Delete and Paste (Fig.2).
Fig. 2: Populating the default Windows Form
Drag and drop an ImageList control onto your Windows Form (Fig. 3). The ImageList control acts as a container for the images to represent the various states of a folder (open, close, and file/application).
Fig. 3: Using the ImageList control
In the Images collection of the ImageList control (Fig. 4), add the following icons:
- Open Folder icon
- Close Folder icon
- Application icon
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