We have just posted a Maintenance Release for ITScriptNet V2.4.  This update adds clients for the Dolphin 9900 and Dolphin 7600 GSM, both Windows Mobile 6 clients.

The Knowledge Base article is here.

We just updated our VirusScan to the latest DATs, version 5354, and the false positive detection of Swizzor is gone.  Please update your VirusScan to the latest DAT files to solve this problem.

The release of the McAfee VirusScan 5353 DAT files yesterday introduced a problem.  These DAT files are falsely detecting some of our ITScriptNet Omni programs as containing a Trojan, Swizzor.gen.c.  Of course, our programs are not infected and this is a false positive.  We have contacted McAfee about this matter, and hope to have it resolved soon.

In the meantime, You can add an exception to VirusScan to have it ignore these files or the ITScriptNet installation directory.  You may have to reinstall ITScriptNet if McAfee is configured to automatically delete detected files.

Motorola (formerly Symbol) has announced the MC75, which is a Windows Mobile 6-based update to the MC70 series device.  Features include GPRS/GSM radios, GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth and IrDA.  Here are more details on the specifications.  If Motorola keeps compatibility with the Symbol Mobility Developer Kit (SMDK) as it has in the past, then our ITScriptNet client should work out-of-the-box.  We will update as we are able to test.

Following the announcement of the 7600 with Windows Mobile 6, Honeywell has just announced the Dolphin 9900.  This is the next generation device in the form factor of the 9500, and also runs Windows Mobile 6.  We are attending the 9900 kick-off event today in Palm Beach, FL.  Our ITScriptNet client for both the 7600 WM6 and the 9900 will be released with V2.4a(7) in a few days.

Honeywell (Hand Held Products) has announced the availability of the Dolphin 7600 with GSM.  This also upgrades the Dolphin 7600 to Window Mobile 6.  We are pleased that the ITScriptNet OMNI client and several Ready-To-Go^TM Applications are pre-loaded on the 7600 to give users a good out-of-the-box experience.

The Datalogic Pegaso is now available with Windows Mobile 6 and E-GPRS capabilities.  Previously, the Pegaso was only available with Windows CE 5.0.  Our Falcon 4410 Windows Mobile client should run on this device, but we will get one in to test.

The April 2008 ITScriptNet Product and Sales Training is underway in Orlando.  If you were unable to attend, we will post links to the training materials in the next few days.

We recently ran into a situation with a customer who was uploading very large validation files to a Dolphin 7600.  The customer was having sporadic problems where the uploaded file would not be completely uploaded.  We discovered that the size of the truncated file was always the same as the amount of free space on the device before the upload.  It turns out that when overwriting the file, the device did not reclaim the free space immediately, so the new file had to fit in the remaining space.  We solved the problem by using the DeleteFile function before uploading the new files, which did allow the device to reclaim the free space.

We've added a Knowledge Base Article about this topic, and we will address it in a future release by automatically deleting files before receiving them.

We have scheduled our latest hands-on training seminar for ITScriptNet.  This training will be held on April 9th and 10th at the Disney's Coronado Springs Resort in Orlandio, Florida.  The training will cover Application Development and Sales topics, and will include sneak previews of some of our newest products for this year.

You can find out more on our Training page, including the sign up form.  We hope to see you there!

We are pleased to announce that ITScriptNet version 2.4 has been released.  This new version adds clients for Datalogic devices, GPS functionality, new functions, and more.  All of the details can be found here.

Download a demo and try it out.  As always, upgrades from previous versions are at no charge!

Z-Space is now distributing ITScriptNet directly to Blue Star.  From a resellers perspective nothing has changed.  ITScriptNet is still available from all current sources.  This opens the door for us to directly support Blue Star for all ITScriptNet products and sales and opens a channel for us to distribute our boxed solutions as they become available.

Intermec has released a new device, the CK61ex.  Here is the product page.  This device looks similar to a CK31, but can be configured with either Windows CE or Windows Mobile 5.  What's interesting about this device is the EX Imager, which Intermec claims can allow scanning 1D or 2D barcodes from 6 inches to 50 feet.  This would allow using 2D barcodes in warehousing applications that previously required 1D codes and a laser.

ITScriptNet currently has native client support for the CK31, CN2B, and CN3.  We'll take a look at this new device as well, to see if it is compatible with one of the existing clients or the generic client, or if a native client is needed.

We've added a few new functions to ITScriptNet in version 2.4.  We've already discussed the new GPS functions, and here are a few more:

• GetBatteryLife.  This function retreives the remaining battery life (in percent) in case you want to display in your programs.
  
• SetPowerDownMode.  This function allows you to override the default powerdown modes for your device.  If you want the device to remain on and not suspend while collecting data, you can set either Unattended or Always On mode.  Unattended mode keeps the device running even while turning the display and keyboard off, the way Exchange DirectPush works.  Always On mode prevents the device from suspending.
  
• RemotePutFile.  This function is the compliment to RemoteGetFile, and is used to send a file from the device to the Omni Server.  This is useful for sending GPS breadcrumb logs or other files that you create with FileCreate/FileAppend in addition to collected data.

There are a few utility functions (such as FileExists) added as well.

Many new devices now have integrated GPS radios, and Bluetooth GPS receivers are also available to add to existing units.  With the release of Window Mobile 5, Microsoft added a GPS Intermediate Layer Driver which standardizes access to GPS hardware, and allows multiple applications to read GPS data simultaneously.  We have added support to ITScriptNet V2.4 for this GPS driver so you can collect location data in your programs.

There are 4 new functions:

• GPSOpen
• GPSClose
• GPSIsOpen
• GPSGetPosition

You can use these functions to collect data at a single point (Package Delivery or Meter Reading), or collect data periodically using a Timer to create a breadcrumb trail.  Data can be saved into your collected data file, or sent via Omni communications to be stored in a database.

Using the Intermediate Layer Driver also allows ITScriptNet to collect GPS data at the same time that a navigation system (such as TomTom) is plotting driving directions and maps.

We are developing a Route Demo application which integrates with Google Maps to plot GPS data.  If you are interested in the demo, please contact us for more information.

Once of the new updates in ITScriptNet V2.4 is support for indexes on Validation Files larger than 16MB.  We've discussed this previously, and the update has been made in V2.4. 

Another new feature is support for Image Capture in the generic Windows Mobile 5 client.  Many WM5 smartphones and PDAs have a built in camera now, and Microsoft added a standard API to interface with it.  This means that we can support image capture using the camera on most consumer-grade Windows Mobile devices, without needing manufacturer-specific drivers or software. 

Rugged mobile computers, for the most part, have their own Imaging libraries written by the manufacturer and do not conform to the standard API.  These devices still require a device-specific client to support image capture.

We've added support for the Datalogic line of devices in V2.4.  We already had clients for the PSC Falcon 4220 (now retired) and the Falcon 4410 CE.  PSC has since been purchased by Datalogic, who has their own line of devices.

Datalogic device line now falls into two families:

The Falcon-compatible devices are the Falcon 4410 (CE and Windows Mobile 5), and the new Pegaso.  We added a Falcon 4410 WM5 client in this release along with the Pegaso.  Each of these devices has a separate client listing in the System Console.

The Datalogic devices are the Memor, Skorpio, Jet and Kyman (The Jet and Kyman are primarily sold in Europe, not in the US).  These devices all share a common SDK, and so we have a single client that runs on all of them.   This is listed in the System Console as the 'Datalogic CE' client.

We've been hard at work on the next version of ITScriptNet, and we're almost ready to release it.  Here is a preview of some of the new features in this new version.

New Datalogic device support:

• Memor, Skorpio, Jet, Kyman
• Pegaso (PSC 4410 compatible)
• 4410 Windows Mobile 5

Increased index file sizes to support files larger than 16M.

GPS support

Image Capture support for the Generic WM5 client

New functions

• GetBatteryLife
• SetPowerDownMode
• FileExists
• RemotePutFile

Over the next few days we'll discuss each of these new features and what to expect in the upcoming release.

Recently we encountered an interesting problem with a surprising solution.  A customer was moving his Omni Server to a new Windows 2003 Server, and was having problems connecting to his SQL Server database.  The new server is running 64 bit Windows Server.  It turns out that 32 bit programs, such as ITScriptNet, do not have access to ODBS Data Sources created by the 64 bit ODBC Administrator.  To solve the problem, you must create the DSN with the 32 bit ODBC Administrator, located in C:\Windows\SysWow64\ODBCAD32.exe

You can find out more about 32 bit and 64 bit ODBC Data sources in this Microsoft Knowledge Base article.

We added a Knowledge Base article about this problem

We are very excited to be part of the development of a system for Variety Wholesalers in partnership with HandHeld Products and Integrated Solutions.  This system uses 350 Dolphin 7600 Mobile Computers running ITScriptNet Batch Plus to collect data and transfer it to the central office. 

This system has been very interesting to develop, and we are pleased to have been part of the team.

Verizon Wireless has annouced a new initiative to allow any application and any device to use its networks by 2008.  The devices will have to be qualified in their labs, and details are still preliminary.

Microsoft has followed up with a statement of support.

This seems like a good development for mobile data collection, although applications running on Windows Mobile can use the Verizon Network now.  In fact ITScriptNet Omni, running on a Verizon Windows Mobile device such as the vx7600, works great over a Verizon Wireless data connection.

Intermec has just announced the CN3e, an extension of the CN3 with larger keys and optional integrated GPS.

Assuming that it is software compatible with the CN3, then our existing ITScriptNet client will work on this device. 

We have added a Knowledge Base article about creating index files for large validation files.  When we created index file support several years ago, storage space on devices was always at a premium.  In order to save some space, we used a 3-byte file pointer for the index entries.  This saved space, but limited the size of a validation file that could be indexed to 16MB.  At that time, no device had a 16MB storage area.

Now, however, many device have storage areas much larger than 16MB, so we are removing that restriction by moving to a 4-byte file pointer.  This allows a validation file size up to 4GB.  This update will be available with the release of ITScriptNet 2.4.

We have received several Datalogic devices, including the Jet, Memor, and Skorpio, and we have been adding support for these devices into our next release.  At this point, we are planning support for all of the CE 5.0 devices.  There are some older CE 4.2 devices, but we are not intending to support them at this time.

Look for this release in the next few weeks!

We recently helped a reseller land a sizable deal for 300 Hand Held Products Dolphin 7600 devices and ITScriptNet Plus licenses.  The reseller engaged us midway through the sales process, having us create a program that he demoed to the customer.  With just 9 hours of programming using ITScriptNet and a few conference calls with us, he was ready to close the sale.

We are developing the data collection program that will run in batch mode.  The end-user is a variety store and will be using the 7600's to query item information (150,000 items) from a text file residing on the device and enter order quantities for items to replenish the shelves.  With an indexed validation file, the lookups against this huge list is nearly instantaneous.  They will also be placing shelf replenishment orders for all the store items, transferring the collected data via batch mode.  The data output is simply a text file that the central office will pull up and integrate with their backend system.  Programming will take about a week using ITScriptNet Batch Plus.

We are pleased to have ITScriptNet as an integral part of this system, and to have the Dolphin 7600 be the device of choice.

Are you wondering which HandHeld Products devices are supported in ITScriptNet?  Here is the complete list, updated for the newset HandHeld Products releases:

Current Device Support

Dolphin 7850
The new Dolphin 7850 device, running Window Mobile 5, is supported starting in version 2.3a.

Dolphin 9500
The entire 95xx line, using either Imagers (9500/9550) or Lasers (9501/9551), is supported.  There are client versions for Windows Mobile 5, PocketPC 2003 Second Edition and PocketPC 2002.

Dolphin 7900
The 7900 running Windows Mobile 5 or PocketPC 2003 Second Edition is supported.

Dolphin 7600
This device was supported starting with 2.2a(9).

IK8560
The Image Kisosk without magstripe reader (IK8560) is supported. 

Retired products still supported

Dolphin 7200
All 7200 versions (RF, 2D, serial) are supported.

Dolphin 7400
All versions supported.

Dolphin 7400 PocketPC
All versions supported.

Dolphin 7300
All versions supported.

IT3875
This device line is supported in single-prompt mode only.

New Products

We try to add clients for new devices as they are released.  If you have questions about an upcoming device, please contact us for more information.

Last week we attended Blue Star's Vartech event in Nashville.  Several hours were dedicated to CodeZone, which is basically a trade show.  We were quite busy as the traffic of resellers was continuous.  We obtained many good leads and talked a great deal about specific applications, most notably Route Accounting.

We were demonstrating a Controlled Access application using Unitech's MR650 kiosk with finger print reader.  It was a crowd pleaser.  We'll be spending the next few weeks following up with resellers with the hope of assisting them with successful data collection solutions.

We received an email announcement from Hand Held Products regarding the release of the Dolphin 7850.  This device is now available, although it has not been posted to the Hand Held Products website as of yet.  Please note that the 7850 is supported by ITScriptNet as of version 2.3a.

Are you planning to attend BlueStar's Vartech event next week in Nashville?  The registration system you will be using at the event was developed by us with our ITScriptNet data collection program development software.  The system integrates the scanning of your Vartech ticket, the confirming of your information, and the printing of your Vartech badge.  We hope you enjoy using the system.

Please stop by the Z-Space booth (#126) to see various applications running on Hand Held Products, Motorola, Unitech and Datalogic devices that were developed quickly and easily with ITScriptNet!  Register your thumb at our showcase demo to win prizes!

See you in Nashville!

If you are a reseller looking for more detailed information on all of the ITScriptNet editions, we have posted an updated Sales Package.  This document contains all of the details of features, applications, licensing, pricing, etc.

We've received an Intermec CN2B from a customer, and we are working on a client for it.  This device runs PocketPC 2003.  We'll have the client available in our next release of ITScriptNet.  In the meantime, if you have an application that will be using the CN2B, please contact Support if you would like to try a pre-release client.

HandHeld Products now produces Dolphin 9500 series mobile computers with Windows Mobile 5.  ITScriptNet supports this device in version 2.3a with the Dolphin Windows Mobile 5 client. 

If you are using Dolphin 9500s with the older PocketPC 2003 Second Edition operating system, use the Dolphin 9500 client.

We've published the July edition of ITScriptNet News.  You may have received this in your email box as well.  This months new includes information about the 2.3a release, new Ready To Go apps, upcoming features, and more.

It was a long time in coming, but the latest ITScriptNet release is finally here.  Version 2.3a adds support for Hand Held Products Dolphin mobile computers running Windows Mobile 5, as well as Unitech HT660 and PA600 devices.  There are some new features and a few bug fixes as well.  You can see all of the detail in the Knowledge Base article Updates in ITScriptNet V2.3a(6).

We are very excited about this new release, and we hope you will download a demo and check it out for yourself!

If you have a Windows Mobile based portable device with a keyboard that contains function keys, you may have noticed that not all of the keys are available to be used as Hot Keys by ITScriptNet.  This happens because Windows Mobile has hard coded some function keys to system features.  You can see the list of keys here.  Although this article refers specifically to the Stand Alone emulator, some device manufacturers also follow it. 

Our experience is that Hand Held Products devices make all function keys available to applications, while Symbol devices do not.  You should test on your device to see which keys are available.

We have added a Knowledge Base article on this topic:
INFO: Not all function keys are available to ITScriptNet on Windows Mobile devices

We are getting close to releasing a new version of ITScriptNet.  Here is a preview of the new features that will be available.  We'll have more information on this coming soon.

New features:

• Validation File definition import/export.  You can save the definition of a validation file and import it into another program.
• New constants for Screen Height and With, ITB and ITC file names, Terminal ID, etc.
• ValidationFail function can now take an empty message string to fail the validation without displaying any message.
• Support for new Windows Mobile 6 screen sizes, screen rotation, and square screens.
• Updated Configuration screen to have all options configurable from the device.
• New fullscreen modes, including taking over the entire screen, hiding the Taskbar and Caption.
• New HandHeld Products Dolphin 7900 Windows Mobile 5 client.
• New Unitech clients, including the HT600 and PA600.
• Changed the demo limit from 5 records to 10.

There are also a number of fixes for minor bugs that have been uncovered since release. 

More to come!

We've posted updated Sales Packages to our website.  You can find them on the Reseller page. 

There is a Summary Version and a Detailed Version.  Each describes the various ITScriptNet product offerings and the licensing model.

There are several new articles in the Knowledge Base.  These include:

PRB: The ITScriptNet Program Designer can not be run in Demo mode under a limited User account.

INFO: ITScriptNet registration requires an Administrative account.

PRB: Keep Alive setting for RemoteVBScript causes dropped connection

INFO: Slow Omni Server connections if no DNS server is available.

PRB: In-Prompt Script IF/ELSE/ELSEIF/ENDIF nesting problem.

Are you wondering which HandHeld Products devices are supported in ITScriptNet?  Here is the complete list:

Current Device Support

Dolphin 9500
The entire 95xx line, using either Imagers (9500/9550) or Lasers (9501/9551), is supported.  There is a client version for PocketPC 2003 Second Edition and PocketPC 2002.

Dolphin 7900
The 7900 running PocketPC 2003 Second Edition is supported.

Dolphin 7900 WM5
Currently, the PocketPC 2003 Second Edition client runs on the 7900 with Windows Mobile 5.  However, a native WM5 client is due for release in version 2.3, coming soon.

Dolphin 7600
This device was supported starting with 2.2a(9).

IK8560/IK8570
The Image Kisosk without magstripe reader (IK8560) is supported.  MagStripe reader support (IK8570) will be added in an upcoming release.

IT3875
This device line is support in single-prompt mode only.

Retired products still supported

Dolphin 7200
All 7200 versions (RF, 2D, serial) are supported.

Dolphin 7400
All versions supported.

Dolphin 7400 PocketPC
All versions supported.

Dolphin 7300
All versions supported.

New Products

We try to add clients for new devices as they are released.  If you have questions about an upcoming device, please contact us for more information.

HandHeld Products has announced the IK8570 Image Kiosk.  This device is similar to the IK8560, but adds a Magstripe reader.  This is a windows CE 5.0 based device with a 320w x 240h screen (landscape mode).

ITScriptNet currently supports the IK8560, and we will be adding support for the IK8570 Magstripe reader shortly.

If you've received a Dolphin 7600 recently, you may have noticed that the ITScriptNet Omni client comes pre-loaded with some new Ready-To-Go^TM applications.  These applications can be used out of the box with no additional licensing required.  The new owner of a Dolphin can see samples of data collection programs, including barcode scanning, without having to write an application first.

There are 10 new applications pre-loaded on the 7600.  These are:

• Asset Tracking
• Gift Registry
• Lookup
• Meter Reading
• Order Picking
• Physical Inventory
• Price Change
• Receive/Move Inventory
• Stock Transfer

A user guide for these applications is installed on the PC when the full ITScriptNet package is installed, which includes a description of the programs and sample barcodes.

On the ITScriptNet client, you can specify a Device Alias on the Configuration screen. This Alias is saved into each collected data record and can be used to identify which device was used to collect a specific data record.

The Device Alias is also used as part of the filename for Image Capture or Digital Ink, along with a date/time stamp. This means that if you use a character in the Alias that is not a valid filename character, you will have problems saving the captured images.

What are the valid and invalid characters for a filename on a Windows CE/PocketPC/Windows Mobile device? Although it seems like an easy question to answer, the details turn out to be difficult to pin down. The Microsoft Knowledge Base has several articles about filenaming conventions, mostly with regards to the PC. Here are a few:

Errors Creating Files or Folders in the Root Directory

Naming a File

However, these articles list differing information on which characters are allowed. Are '?' and '*' allowed or not?

With the .Net Compact Framework 2.0 and higher, there is a function called GetInvalidFileNameChars which is supposed to return the list of invalid file name characters.

We created a test program using this function, and it returned the following invalid characters.
All characters between 0 and 31, along with the " < > | characters.

However, we tested creating files on a PocketPC device and determined that the ? * : \ / characters are also not allowed, even though they were not returned by GetInvalidFileNameChars.

So what is the answer to the question, what characters are not allowed in a Windows CE/PocketPC/Windows Mobile filename? It appears these are the invalid characters:

Avoid using any of these characters in your Device Alias to prevent problems saving Image Capture or Digital Ink characters.

We have added a pair of knowledge base articles describing this issue.

INFO: Invalid Filename Characters for Windows CE / PocketPC / Windows Mobile.

PROBLEM: Unable to Save Image error with Image Capture or Digital Ink.

HandHeld Products and Microsoft have teamed up to place Dolphin 7900 Windows Mobile 5 devices in Microsoft Technology Centers worldwide. 

The Dolphin 7900s are pre-loaded with a Portable Point of Sale application and an Interactive Tour, both written using ITScriptNet Batch Plus.  These applications will be used to demonstrate the capabilities of the Dolphin and what can be done with mobile computing. 

The applications support 4 languages: English, French, Spanish and German.  We are pleased to have been able to work with HandHeld Products on the development of these applications.

Recently we had a customer present us with an interesting problem.  This customer wanted to scan a 2-D barcode that could be up to 999 characters long.  He also wanted to parse some fields from the barcode and store them in other fields.  The problem was that the total length of his collected data exceeded the ITScriptNet maximum of 1000 characters.

Since he did not need to store the raw scan, but only the data parsed from it, we were able to take advantage of a trick using In-Prompt Scripts.  The Maximum Length property of an Input element can be overridden at run time using a script, but when the collected data is saved, the client uses the original size.  This is done so that records remain fixed width.  Normally you'd design the program with the maximum length you would need to scan, and then use the In Prompt script to override the size smaller if you knew the barcode you were scanning (or text to be typed) was smaller than the maximum.

In this case, however, we set the maxmimum length for the field to be 0.  An Input field with a zero length will not be saved in the collected data file.  We then used an In Prompt script to set the field's maximum length to 999 at runtime.  This allows the field to scan the 2-D barcode, and the scanned data is available in the After Scan script to be parsed, but it is not saved in the collected data record.

We have a Knowledge Base article about this technique:  HOWTO: Scan and Parse large 2-D Symbols

Originally, PocketPC devices all had the same screen size: 320x240.  However, Windows CE devices could have any size screen.  Over the last few versions, however, Microsoft has been allowing some new screen sizes, including 240x240.  With the release of Windows Mobile 6, Microsoft has added 320x320 as a valid screen size.

ITScriptNet currently only allows 320x240 as a valid screen size when you select PocketPC/Windows Mobile as the Terminal Type, althou