Understanding Modularity in Microsoft Windows CE 2.1

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Microsoft Corporation

August 2000

Summary:This paper describes how the modules and components of Microsoft Windows CE can be selected, combined and configured to create a customized version of the operating system. (21 printed pages)

Introduction Windows CE Modules and Components Customizing Windows CE Sample Configurations Summary

`Introduction`


The Windows CE operating system, first introduced in 1996, has
been specifically designed for resource-constrained embedded
applications. There are literally thousands of such applications,
including products as diverse as handheld communications devices,
commercial building automation systems, manufacturing process
controllers, consumer electronic products and medical data
acquisition devices.
A common requirement of these devices is the need to reduce the
amount of hardware (RAM, ROM and other resources) required for
implementation. Windows CE has been designed to meet the need for a
smaller, more efficient, powerful and customizable 32-bit operating
system.
Microsoft Windows CE is an operating system designed for a wide
variety of embedded systems and products, from handheld PCs and
consumer electronic devices to specialized industrial controllers
and embedded communications devices. The Windows CE operating
system has proven itself capable of handling the most demanding
32-bit embedded applications by bringing the full power of
Microsoft 32-bit programming and operating systems technology to
the embedded systems developer.
An important aspect of Windows CE for embedded systems is its
high degree of modularity. As you will learn in this paper, Windows
CE is actually a collection of operating system modules and
components that can be selected and configured to meet the needs of
a specific embedded application or product. Using Microsoft Windows
CE Embedded Toolkit for Visual C++, embedded systems developers are
able to create a version of Windows CE that is customized and
optimized for their unique hardware platforms and applications.
This paper describes how the modules and components of Microsoft
Windows CE can be selected, combined and configured to create a
customized version of the operating system. This paper: 

Summarizes the modules and components that make up Windows CE 
Describes how a custom version of Windows CE can be configured
and built
Provides examples of common Windows CE configurations
Shows that Windows CE is a flexible, powerful, and modular
platform for embedded applications
Streamlining Embedded Systems
The need for simplification in embedded systems is often based
on cost (as in the case of consumer electronic devices), but may
also be driven by other factors such as system reliability, strict
power budgets or physical size limitations. Consider the following
aspects of a typical embedded system: 

An embedded system may have severe memory and other hardware
resource constraints. 
An embedded system may or may not include a graphic user
interface. 
An embedded system may have time-critical processing
requirements. 
An embedded system may be designed to run just one application.

An embedded system may be designed to operate on a single
customized platform. 
The distinction between an embedded operating system and the
application it hosts may be unclear. 
The last point is of particular importance. The operating system
chosen for an embedded system must not get in the way of the
embedded application. In many cases it is not even required (or
desirable) that the application user know what operating system is
being used inside the embedded system or product. In this
environment, an operating system that can be reduced to its core
functionality and adapted to the limited resources
available—without unnecessarily compromising other design goals—is
of paramount importance.
For example, consider the design of a home automation system.
This product may incorporate the functions of a climate control
system (heating, ventilation and air conditioning), as well as
control of lights, a remote alarm system, intercom, telephone
answering system, and more advanced features, such as energy usage
monitoring. This is an example of an embedded application that may
require a substantial (although simplified) graphical interface,
but in which there is no requirement to expose to the user any
elements of the underlying operating system, or to utilize such
hardware features as a keyboard. This information appliance,
although relatively complex, will have only a limited need for many
of the features of a complete operating system.
In support of embedded applications such as this, Windows CE is
designed to be efficient, customizable and modular. The result is
an operating system in which specific features (such as
communications, graphical user interface, and support for
specialized input devices) can be easily selected, configured or
removed altogether to create a customized, application-specific
operating system.
Windows CE for Embedded Applications
Before describing the modules and components that make up
Windows CE, it is important to understand, from a higher level,
what Windows CE is and what it is not. Those unfamiliar with
Windows CE may have a mistaken notion that it is simply a reduced
feature-set version of an existing operating system (such as the
Microsoft Windows NT operating system). The truth is that Windows
CE was developed from the ground up as a small-footprint, highly
customizable and modular operating system for embedded
applications. The Windows CE kernel borrows much of what is best
from other Microsoft 32-bit operating systems, while eliminating
(or replacing) those operating system features that are not needed
for typical Windows CE-based applications. That result is that
Windows CE is compact and customizable. In fact, it is possible to
create a version of the Windows CE kernel that requires less than
200K of ROM.
Unlike other 32-bit Windows operating systems, Windows CE
operating system code resides and executes in ROM. Depending on
your product requirements, you may also choose to place application
code in ROM. For example, Pocket Word, Pocket Excel and other
application programs included with an H/PC are provided in ROM.
Because programs stored in ROM execute in place in Windows CE,
your embedded applications can function with only a modest amount
of RAM, for such purposes as stack and heap storage. Alternatively,
your application may make use of RAM for program memory as well as
for temporary storage.
To further increase the performance of application software,
Windows CE features on-demand paging: the operating system only
needs to uncompress and load a small portion of a RAM-based program
for execution. The flexibility and speed of ROM- and RAM-based
programs mean that devices based on Windows CE can be constructed
with a wide variety of memory configurations.
On the development side, programmers targeting Windows CE have
access to a wide variety of familiar development environments,
including Microsoft Visual C++ and Visual Basic development
systems. The Windows CE application programmer interface (API) is
consistent with the Win32 API used in other 32-bit Windows
platforms, making it easy to create new applications, or (as
appropriate) to port existing desktop applications. For customizing
Windows CE for a specific type of hardware, including selecting and
configuring the appropriate modules and components, Microsoft
provides the Windows CE Embedded Toolkit for Visual C++. This set
of tools gives you everything you need to build, download to your
target platform and debug a version of Windows CE that includes
your application software and only those Windows CE operating
system components that are required to support that component.

Windows CE Modules And
Components
Because minimal memory requirement is a major design goal,
Windows CE is built from a number of discrete modules. You can
control the size ("footprint") of the operating system software by
selecting only the modules that you need. Several of these modules
are also further divided into components. By selecting a minimum
set of modules and components, you can minimize the hardware
resources (ROM and RAM, in particular) needed to support your end
product.
Windows CE modules that include one or more optional components
are referred to as component modules. Examples of component modules
include Coredll, Gwes, Filesys, and Ole32. Each of these modules
provides full or partial support for major features of the
operating system, and can be tailored to serve the needs of a given
embedded application.
Operating System Kernel Components
The Windows CE kernel (represented by the Coredll module)
provides the base operating system functionality that must be
present on all platforms. The kernel is responsible for memory
management, process management, and certain required file
management functions. It manages virtual memory, scheduling,
multitasking, multithreading, and exception handling.
Most components of the Coredll module are required for any
configuration of Windows CE. There are some optional kernel
components, however, that are needed when you are including other
operating system features (and corresponding modules) such as
telephony, multimedia and GDI graphics.
File System Components
The Filesys module supports the Windows CE object store API
functions. These API functions support a ROM-based file system, a
RAM-based file system, a structured storage system (the Windows CE
database), and a system registry. The file system also supports
multiple installable file systems. An implementation of the FAT
File System is provided to support files stored on external media
such as PC Cards. These various file system components can be
selected or omitted during the operating system build process to
include only those file system features that are required. The
following are a few typical combinations of file system components:


A ROM-only file system 
Both ROM and RAM file systems 
ROM, ROM, database, registry and passwords 
RAM and ROM file systems, and a FAT file system 
Windows CE can be custom-configured to support any of these file
system combinations.
Graphic, Windowing and Event Components
If you are experienced with programming for Windows, you are
probably familiar with the Win32 User and GDI (Graphics Device
Interface) subsystems of desktop Windows platforms, as exposed in
the Win32 API. Windows CE combines the User and GDI subsystems into
one component module called the Graphics, Windowing, and Events
Subsystem (Gwes). The event manager and window manager in Gwes are
analogous to the User subsystem of Win32, while the Win32 GDI
sub-system is replaced with a smaller multi-platform GDI (MGDI)
more suitable for Windows CE-based devices.
The Gwes module is responsible for user interface and windowing
features of Windows CE. Gwes implements the window, dialog, and
control manipulation capabilities of the system. Gwes is also
responsible for displaying graphics and text on graphics display
devices and for performing sophisticated graphics manipulations.
Application software, and Windows CE itself, use the MGDI features
of Gwes extensively for the visual display of user interface items
such as menus, scroll bars, and icons. The Gwes components can be
organized into the following general areas: 

Base GWES components (required) 
Message queue components (required) 
GDI components (optional) 
Window management components (optional) 
Dialogs (optional) 
Controls (optional) 
Font support components (optional) 
User input components (optional) 
Power management components (optional) 
Other Components and Modules
In addition to the primary component modules Filesys and Gwes,
other operating system modules are available, including modules and
components in the following categories: 

Communications modules (supporting TAPI, IRDA, RAS, TCP/IP and
other networking features) 
PCMCIA (PC Card) support modules 
RSA encryption module (for communications support) 
Device manager and installable device drivers 
Multimedia (sound) support module 
OLE/COM (including OLE Automation) support module 
Windows CE desktop and services which support custom, add-on
shells 
Each module or component provided in Windows CE supports a group
of related API functions that are available to the application
developer. All defined modules and components, and their
corresponding APIs, are listed in the documentation provided with
the Microsoft Windows CE Embedded Toolkit for Visual C++.
Supporting Devices with Windows CE
Another modular aspect of Windows CE is its device driver
architecture. Windows CE supports two fundamental categories of
device drivers: built-in drivers and installable drivers. As the
name implies, built-in device drivers are intended for devices that
are built into a given Windows CE-based hardware platform. An
embedded system designer using Windows CE is responsible for
providing the built-in drivers to operate any devices to be
included with the system. For example, some Windows CE-based
applications require a custom touch-sensitive LCD screen. The
designers of such products are responsible for providing device
driver software for their devices in order to allow the Windows CE
operating system to use the touch screen device. In the complete
system, these built-in drivers reside in ROM along with the
customized Windows CE kernel.
Installable device drivers are for any peripheral devices that
can be temporarily connected to a Windows CE platform. This covers
devices such as modems, printers, digital cameras, PC Cards (also
known as PCMCIA cards), and other external devices. Windows CE
platforms are different from desktop computers in their method of
adding hardware. With a desktop PC, a computer user can open the
case and plug an expansion card directly into the data bus. This
generally means that device driver software for these types of
expansion cards must run in kernel mode because of their need for
direct access to whatever memory locations control the hardware.
Windows CE platforms, on the other hand, do not offer any end-user
access to the data bus, and new hardware cannot be added in that
fashion. In Windows CE, all additional hardware must be connected
to the Windows CE platform via external connectors such as serial
ports, PC card slots, or USB ports. This puts peripheral devices
for Windows CE in a similar situation to printers on normal PCs;
device driver software for both runs as user-mode processes that
use the services of built-in hardware in order to control their
devices.
The device driver architecture of Windows CE has been designed
to streamline the process of creating drivers, while at the same
time reducing system resource requirements and maintaining fast
device interrupt processing. Whether your application uses built-in
drivers, installable drivers, or both, it will benefit from the
ways in which Windows CE minimizes device resource
requirements.
Installable device drivers for Windows CE are dynamically linked
libraries (DLLs). You create them in very much the same way as you
create a DLL for the Windows 95 or Windows NT operating
systems.
The primary job of an installable device driver is to expose the
services of a peripheral device to applications. In much the same
way as in other Windows operating systems, presenting the device as
a special file in the file system does this. All installable device
driver DLLs expose the same entry points. Those entry points
correspond to the standard Win32 file I/O functions, such as 
OpenFile, 
ReadFile, 
DeviceIOControl, and others. In addition, Windows CE
requires some additional entry points related to maintaining a
device's state while the Windows CE platform is turned off.

Customizing Windows CE
Creating a version of Windows customized for your application
and hardware requirements is easy, if you have the right tools. The
Windows CE Embedded Toolkit for Visual C++ includes everything you
need to build the Windows CE operating system and port it to your
new hardware. Remote debugging tools make it possible to test and
debug your embedded application, and sample drivers simplify the
process of supporting new custom hardware devices.
Windows CE Embedded Toolkit for Visual C++ is integrated into
the Visual C++ for Windows CE integrated development environment
(IDE) and provides additional capabilities for embedded software
developers, including: 

Cross compilers for the various processor families supported by
Windows CE 
A Windows CE emulator that allows quick and easy debugging of
many types of applications for Windows CE 
A Windows CE operating system builder 
ROM image generation utilities 
Download and remote debugging tools 
Sample code and tutorial documentation 
The Windows CE Software Development Kit (SDK) 
The Windows CE Driver Development Kit (DDK) 
The Win32 for Windows CE API reference 
All modules and components of the Windows CE operating system
Windows CE and the Embedded Toolkit support a wide variety of
embedded processors, including: Hitachi SH3, Sh1; DEC SA-1100, ARM
720T; NEC VR4102, VR4111, VR4300; IBM and Motorola PPC821,
PPC403GC; Philips PR31500; Toshiba TX3912; AMD ElanSC400, and the
Intel 486DX and Pentium family of processors. Additional members of
these CPU families may also run Windows CE but have not yet been
certified in Microsoft test labs.
Porting Windows CE To New Hardware
If you are creating a fully customized product, including the
hardware, your first step will be to determine the hardware and
application requirements and build a customized version of Windows
CE that meets those requirements. When developing a new hardware
platform and its supporting I/O devices, you will be making
decisions and tradeoffs at different levels in the design. For
example, unless you are relying exclusively on common,
off-the-shelf hardware, you will almost certainly need to write
custom device drivers to support one or more peripheral devices.
You may also need to configure Windows CE to include the necessary
device handling components, and to customize the OEM abstraction
layer (OAL) of Windows CE for your hardware.
At the application level, you will need to write interface code
that meets the requirements of the devices in your system. The
Windows CE Driver Development Kit (included in the Embedded
Toolkit) provides the information and examples you need to create
Win32-capable device drivers.
To create a customized version of Windows CE that meets the
unique requirements of your hardware platform, you must: 

Determine the number and types of device interfaces that will
be required. 
Determine the operating system modules and components that will
be required for your hardware platform and application, and select
(or create) a corresponding configuration. 
Create a build environment suitable for your development
project and platform. The build environment for your project is
represented by a directory structure on your development host and
is tailored for your project and platform. 
Port the Windows CE boot loader to your platform. 
Port the CE shell utility (cesh) to your platform. The CE shell
utility gives you the means to download binary files to your
hardware platform through the parallel, serial, or ethernet port on
your development host. 
Design, implement and port the OEM abstraction layer (OAL). The
OAL is compiled and linked with the operating system kernel library
supplied in the Embedded Toolkit to produce a kernel executable
targeted to your platform's system architecture. 
Port any required built-in device drivers. The Embedded Toolkit
includes several pre-written device drivers that can be ported to
your development platform. Using the supplied drivers is not
required, but can save you considerable time. 
Create and port any required installable device drivers. 
Design and implement your custom shell and applications, if
required. 
Build your customized Windows CE operating system by running
the supplied Build utility. 
Copy all files needed for the ROM image by running the Buildrel
utility. 
Create a binary ROM image by running the Makeimg utility. 
Copy the binary ROM image to your platform using the Cesh
utility. 
Test and debug the customized Windows CE on your target
platform using the supplied debugging tools (Windbg.exe,
Memtool.exe, etc).
As you can see, there are many steps required to create and
implement a customized version of Windows CE. Fortunately, the
Embedded Toolkit provides you with a rich set of tools intended to
simplify this process, allowing you to focus on implementing and
debugging your embedded application. The Embedded Toolkit also
includes sample operating system builds so you can better
understand the steps required.

Sample Configurations
Selecting an appropriate set of Windows CE modules and
components for a given embedded application can be a complex,
time-consuming task. There are many optional modules and components
from which to choose, and many interdependencies among these
modules and components. To simplify the process of selecting
modules and components, the Embedded Toolkit includes a number of
pre-tested configurations. The following four samples illustrate a
few of these formally tested configurations.
Sample Configuration: Base Kernel
The base kernel project, provided in the Embedded Toolkit,
demonstrates how to configure Windows CE for a minimal application
that includes user input (keyboard) support, does not include
display capability, and has only minimal device and communications
facilities. This version of Windows CE contains the minimum number
of components required to build the Gwes and CoreDLL modules and
includes the components needed to build the file system module,
database, registry, and password components. Two additional
variations of this project are provided in the Embedded Toolkit
that remove optional components such as the RAM file system and
database. A sample application is included with the project that
accepts keyboard input and displays the appropriate keyboard (VK)
codes to the debug serial port.
This sample configuration supports the following features: 

Core operating system (kernel) 
Cesh debug shell and Toolhelp module provided for debugging 
Password support 
Keyboard input support 
No RAM file system 
No communications
To support these features, the sample project includes the
following modules and components:





 Modules/components


Related sample applications




 Coredll
Operating core DLL module (required)



 coremain
Required component



 coreloc
Required component



 fmtmsg
CoreDLL component



 lmem
Required component



 thunks
Required component



 Filesys
File system module



 fsdbase
Database component



 fsmain
File system main component



 fsysram
RAM and ROM file system component



 fsheap
Heap file system component



 fsreg
Registry component



 fspass
Password component



 pmstub
Post message stub component



 Nk
Operating system kernel (required)



 Toolhelp
Toolhelp (debugger support) module



 Shell
Debugging shell



Sample Configuration: Adding Communications
This Embedded Toolkit sample project, like the one previously
described, builds a partial version of Windows CE with no user
interface components. This version does, however, include most of
the data communications and networking components available in
Windows CE, including TCP/IP, PPP, NDIS, IRComm, IRDA, Serial,
WinInet, Secure sockets, NTLM authentication, TAPI, Unimodem and
Redir. Variations of this project allow the inclusion of only the
IRComm, IRDA, and Serial components, or the TCP and NDIS
components.
This demonstration project includes the source code for a simple
communications application called RASDEMO. This sample application
creates a phone book entry on the target platform and attempts to
connect with a specified RAS server. The project makes use of the
following Windows CE features: 

Core operating system (kernel) 
Debugging 
TAPI 
Networking (Winsock, NDIS, etc) 
PC card (PCMCIA driver) services 
Minimal Gwes (for communications support)
This sample project includes the following Windows CE modules
and components (depending on the build variation):





 Module/component name


Description




 Afd
AFD module



 Arp
ARP module



 Cardserv
Card services (PCMCIA driver) module



 Coredll
Operating core DLL module (required)



 coremain
Required component



 coreloc
Required component



 lmem
Required component



 thunks
Required component



 fmtmsg
CoreDLL component



 rectapi
GDI support component



 wmgr_c
Window manager component



 serdev
Serial device support component



 tapilib
TAPI telephony support component



 cryptapi
Cryptography component



 rsa32
RSA encryption component



 Cxport
Common transport utilities component



 Device
Installable device manager module



 Dhcp
Dynamic host configuration module



 Elnk3
Elnk3 module



 Filesys
File system module



 fsmain
File system main component



 fsysram
RAM and ROM file system component



 fsheap
Heap file system component



 fsreg
Registry component



 Gwes
Graphics, windowing and event module



 calibrui
Touch pad calibration U/I component



 mgbase
GDI base component



 mgbitmap
GDI bitmap component



 mgblt
BitBlt component



 mgblt2
Bitmap transfer support component



 mgdc
Device context support component



 mgdibsec
CreateDIBSection API component



 mgdraw
Drawing and drawing tool component



 mgdrwtxt
Text drawing support component



 mgpal
Palette support component



 mgprint
Printing support component



 mgrgn
Drawing region support component



 mgtt
TrueType font support component



 mgwinmgr
ScrollDC support component



 wmbase
GWES base component



 gweshare
GWES component



 gwesmain
GWES main component



 immthunk
Thunking component



 msgque
Message queue component



 loadstr
String loading component



 tchui
Touch pad U/I component



 gsetwinlong
Get/SetWindowLong component



 Ircomm
IrDA communications module



 Irdastk
IrDA stack module



 Ndis
NDIS network module



 Ne2000
NE2000 module



 Netbios
Netbios module



 Netdetec
Network detect (ping) module



 Netui
Network U/I module



 Nk
Operating system kernel (required)



 Ntlmssp
Ntlmssp module



 Ppp
Point-to-point protocol module



 Redir
Redirector module



 Rsabase
RSA encryption module



 Secur32
Security Support Provider Interface module



 Schannel
SSL/PCT secure socket layer



 Shell
Debugging shell module



 Tapi
TAPI support module



 Tcpstk
TCP/IP stack module



 Toolhelp
Toolhelp (debugger support) module



 Winsock
Winsock services module



 sslsock
SSL Winsock support component



 Unimodem
Unimodem module



 Wininet
Internet support module



 inetftp
FTP protocol component



Sample Configuration: Adding Minimal Display
Capabilities
This demonstration project builds a nearly complete version of
the Windows CE file system, including Gwes and CoreDLL. The
configuration includes support for touch pad input devices, audio,
and other features common to handheld PCs (H/PCs) and other
handheld devices, but includes only a minimally configured Gwes
module with no window management support.
This sample project provided with the Embedded Toolkit includes
an application (POLYGONS.EXE) that tests the graphic output of the
target platform.
This sample project provides support for the following Windows
CE features: 

Core operating system (kernel) 
Debugging support 
Cesh debug shell 
MGDI (graphics, windowing and events) support 
Touch display panel support
In support of these features, the project includes the following
Windows CE modules and components:





 Module/component


Description




 Coredll
Operating core DLL module (required)



 coremain
Required component



 coreloc
Required component



 fmtmsg
CoreDLL component



 lmem
Required component



 thunks
Required component



 mgdi_c
GDI support component



 rectapi
GDI support component



 wmgr_c
Window manager component



 Filesys
File system module



 fsmain
File system main component



 fsysram
RAM and ROM file system component



 fsheap
Heap file system component



 fsreg
Registry component



 fspass
Password component



 fsdbase
Database component



 Gwes
GWES module



 calibrui
Touch pad calibration U/I component



 foregnd
Foreground window component



 getpower
Battery power component



 gsetwinlong
Get/SetWindowLong component



 gweshare
GWES component



 gwesmain
GWES main component



 idle
System idle component



 immthunk
Thunking component



 kbdui
Keyboard interface component



 loadstr
String loading component



 mgbase
GDI base component



 mgbitmap
GDI bitmap component



 mgblt
BitBlt component



 mgblt2
Bitmap transfer support component



 mgdc
Device context support component



 mgdibsec
CreateDIBSection API component



 mgdraw
Drawing and drawing tool component



 mgrgn
Drawing region support component



 mgwinmgr
ScrollDC support component



 mgtt
TrueType font support component



 mgprint
Printing support component



 mgdrwtxt
Text drawing support component



 mgpal
Palette support component



 msgbeep
MessageBeep API component



 msgque
Message queue component



 nled
Notification LED component



 tchui
Touch pad U/I component



 uibase
User interface base component



 wmbase
GWES base component



 Nk
Operating system kernel (required)



 Shell
Debugging shell



 Toolhelp
Toolhelp (debugger support) module



Sample Configuration: Adding Window
Management
This sample project includes nearly all modules and components
available for Windows CE, including complete graphic and drawing
support, TrueType fonts, OLE interfaces, communications, PC Card
(PCMCIA) devices and other advanced features. This sample
represents the typical feature set of a handheld PC (H/PC).
Two sample applications are provided in the Embedded Toolkit to
assist in validating the configuration.
This sample project provides support for the following Windows
CE features: 

Core operating system (kernel) 
Cesh debug shell and debugging support 
COM and Automation 
Communications 
Installable device driver support 
Complete GDI support
This sample project includes the following Windows CE modules
and components:





 Module/component


Description




 Afd
AFD component



 Atadisk
ATA disk support module



 Cegsm
CEGSM module



 Console
Console component



 Coredll
Operating core DLL module (required)



 accel_c
CreateAccelerator table component



 coreimm
Input method manager component



 coremain
Required component



 coreloc
Required component



 coresiow
Wide string formatting fns component



 corestrw
Wide stdio fns component



 lmem
Required component



 thunks
Required component



 fmtmsg
CoreDLL component



 fpemul
Floating point emulation component



 rectapi
GDI support component



 wmgr_c
Window manager component



 serdev
Serial device support component



 tapilib
TAPI telephony support component



 mgdi_c
GDI support component



 wavelib
Multimedia support component



 Cxport
Common transport utilities module



 Device
Installable device manager module



 Fatfs
FAT file system module



 Filesys
File system module



 fsmain
File system main component



 fsysram
RAM and ROM file system component



 fsheap
Heap file system component



 fsreg
Registry component



 fspass
Password component



 fsdbase
Database component



 Gwes
GWES module



 accel
Accelerator component



 audio
Audio component



 btnctl
Button control component



 calibrui
Touch pad calibration U/I component



 caret
Caret component



 cascade
Cascading menu component



 cdlctl
Candidate list control component



 clipbd
Clipboard component



 cmbctl
Combo box control component



 defwndproc
Define window procedure component



 dlgmgr
Dialog manager component



 dlgmnem
Dialog mnemonics component



 edctl
Edit control component



 foregnd
Foreground window component



 gcache
GWES initialization component



 getpower
Battery power component



 gsetwinlong
Get/SetWindowLong component



 gwectrl
GWES base component



 gweshare
GWES component



 gwesmain
GWES main component



 icon
Icon component



 iconcmn
Core icon component



 iconcurs
Mouse cursor component



 idle
System idle component



 imgctl
Image control component



 immthunk
Thunking component



 kbdui
Keyboard interface component



 lbctl
Listbox component



 loadstr
String loading component



 loadbmp
Bitmap loading component



 loadimg
Image loading component



 mcursor
Cursor component



 mcursor8
Standard window cursor component



 menu
Menu component



 menuscrl
Scrolling menu component



 msgbeep
MessageBeep API component



 msgbox
Message box component



 msgbox2
Color message box component



 mgbase
GDI base component



 mgbitmap
GDI bitmap component



 mgblt
BitBlt component



 mgblt2
Bitmap transfer support component



 mgdc
Device context support component



 mgdibsec
CreateDIBSection API component



 moverlap
Overlapping menu component



 mgdraw
Drawing and drawing tool component



 mgrgn
Drawing region support component



 mgwinmgr
ScrollDC support component



 mgrast
Font support component



 mgrast2
Font support component



 mgdrwtxt
Text drawing support component



 mgpal
Palette support component



 mgpalnat
Natural Palette component



 msgque
Message queue component



 mtapui
Tap menu U/I component



 nclient
Non-client window area component



 nled
Notification LED component



 oom
Out of memory component



 oomui
Out of memory U/I component



 scbctl
Scroll bar control



 startui
Startup dialog U/I component



 startup
Startup component



 stcctl
Static control component



 tchui
Touch pad U/I component



 timer
Timer component



 uibase
User interface base component



 winmgr
Window manager component



 wmbase
GWES base component



 Ircomm
IrDA communications module



 Irdastk
IrDA communications support module



 Ndis
Network driver component



 Netui
Network U/I module



 Nk
Operating system kernel (required)



 Ntlmssp
NTLMSSP module



 Ole32
OLE support module



 com
COM interface support component



 olemain
OLE main component



 Oleauto32
OLE Automation module



 Ppp
Point-to-point protocol module



 Secur32
Security Support Provider Interface module



 Shell
Debugging shell module



 Sramdisk
SRAM (PCMCIA) card device module



 Tapi
TAPI telephony module



 Tcpstk
TCP/IP stack module



 Toolhelp
Toolhelp (debugger support) module



 Uuid
UUID support module



 Unimodem
Unimodem support module



 Waveapi
Multimedia sound API module



 Wininet
Internet services support module



 inetftp
Internet file transfer component



 Winsock
Winsock support module



 sslsock
SSL Winsock component




Summary
This paper has shown how the Windows CE operating system can be
custom-configured for the unique needs of an embedded application.
The modular architecture of Windows CE, coupled with its compact
and efficient design, makes it possible to create highly efficient
embedded applications while retaining all the benefits of a widely
understood and consistent programming interface.
For More Information
For information about creating your own customized shell using
the shell support components, see 
Implementing a Custom Shell On a Microsoft
Windows CE 2.1-based Device.
Complete documentation about the tools and process used to build
the Windows CE operating system is included with the Microsoft
Windows CE Embedded Toolkit for Visual C++ 5.0.








© 2004 Microsoft Corporation. All
rights reserved.

Modules/components	Related sample applications
Coredll	Operating core DLL module (required)
coremain	Required component
coreloc	Required component
fmtmsg	CoreDLL component
lmem	Required component
thunks	Required component
Filesys	File system module
fsdbase	Database component
fsmain	File system main component
fsysram	RAM and ROM file system component
fsheap	Heap file system component
fsreg	Registry component
fspass	Password component
pmstub	Post message stub component
Nk	Operating system kernel (required)
Toolhelp	Toolhelp (debugger support) module
Shell	Debugging shell

Module/component name	Description
Afd	AFD module
Arp	ARP module
Cardserv	Card services (PCMCIA driver) module
Coredll	Operating core DLL module (required)
coremain	Required component
coreloc	Required component
lmem	Required component
thunks	Required component
fmtmsg	CoreDLL component
rectapi	GDI support component
wmgr_c	Window manager component
serdev	Serial device support component
tapilib	TAPI telephony support component
cryptapi	Cryptography component
rsa32	RSA encryption component
Cxport	Common transport utilities component
Device	Installable device manager module
Dhcp	Dynamic host configuration module
Elnk3	Elnk3 module
Filesys	File system module
fsmain	File system main component
fsysram	RAM and ROM file system component
fsheap	Heap file system component
fsreg	Registry component
Gwes	Graphics, windowing and event module
calibrui	Touch pad calibration U/I component
mgbase	GDI base component
mgbitmap	GDI bitmap component
mgblt	BitBlt component
mgblt2	Bitmap transfer support component
mgdc	Device context support component
mgdibsec	CreateDIBSection API component
mgdraw	Drawing and drawing tool component
mgdrwtxt	Text drawing support component
mgpal	Palette support component
mgprint	Printing support component
mgrgn	Drawing region support component
mgtt	TrueType font support component
mgwinmgr	ScrollDC support component
wmbase	GWES base component
gweshare	GWES component
gwesmain	GWES main component
immthunk	Thunking component
msgque	Message queue component
loadstr	String loading component
tchui	Touch pad U/I component
gsetwinlong	Get/SetWindowLong component
Ircomm	IrDA communications module
Irdastk	IrDA stack module
Ndis	NDIS network module
Ne2000	NE2000 module
Netbios	Netbios module
Netdetec	Network detect (ping) module
Netui	Network U/I module
Nk	Operating system kernel (required)
Ntlmssp	Ntlmssp module
Ppp	Point-to-point protocol module
Redir	Redirector module
Rsabase	RSA encryption module
Secur32	Security Support Provider Interface module
Schannel	SSL/PCT secure socket layer
Shell	Debugging shell module
Tapi	TAPI support module
Tcpstk	TCP/IP stack module
Toolhelp	Toolhelp (debugger support) module
Winsock	Winsock services module
sslsock	SSL Winsock support component
Unimodem	Unimodem module
Wininet	Internet support module
inetftp	FTP protocol component

Module/component	Description
Coredll	Operating core DLL module (required)
coremain	Required component
coreloc	Required component
fmtmsg	CoreDLL component
lmem	Required component
thunks	Required component
mgdi_c	GDI support component
rectapi	GDI support component
wmgr_c	Window manager component
Filesys	File system module
fsmain	File system main component
fsysram	RAM and ROM file system component
fsheap	Heap file system component
fsreg	Registry component
fspass	Password component
fsdbase	Database component
Gwes	GWES module
calibrui	Touch pad calibration U/I component
foregnd	Foreground window component
getpower	Battery power component
gsetwinlong	Get/SetWindowLong component
gweshare	GWES component
gwesmain	GWES main component
idle	System idle component
immthunk	Thunking component
kbdui	Keyboard interface component
loadstr	String loading component
mgbase	GDI base component
mgbitmap	GDI bitmap component
mgblt	BitBlt component
mgblt2	Bitmap transfer support component
mgdc	Device context support component
mgdibsec	CreateDIBSection API component
mgdraw	Drawing and drawing tool component
mgrgn	Drawing region support component
mgwinmgr	ScrollDC support component
mgtt	TrueType font support component
mgprint	Printing support component
mgdrwtxt	Text drawing support component
mgpal	Palette support component
msgbeep	MessageBeep API component
msgque	Message queue component
nled	Notification LED component
tchui	Touch pad U/I component
uibase	User interface base component
wmbase	GWES base component
Nk	Operating system kernel (required)
Shell	Debugging shell
Toolhelp	Toolhelp (debugger support) module

Module/component	Description
Afd	AFD component
Atadisk	ATA disk support module
Cegsm	CEGSM module
Console	Console component
Coredll	Operating core DLL module (required)
accel_c	CreateAccelerator table component
coreimm	Input method manager component
coremain	Required component
coreloc	Required component
coresiow	Wide string formatting fns component
corestrw	Wide stdio fns component
lmem	Required component
thunks	Required component
fmtmsg	CoreDLL component
fpemul	Floating point emulation component
rectapi	GDI support component
wmgr_c	Window manager component
serdev	Serial device support component
tapilib	TAPI telephony support component
mgdi_c	GDI support component
wavelib	Multimedia support component
Cxport	Common transport utilities module
Device	Installable device manager module
Fatfs	FAT file system module
Filesys	File system module
fsmain	File system main component
fsysram	RAM and ROM file system component
fsheap	Heap file system component
fsreg	Registry component
fspass	Password component
fsdbase	Database component
Gwes	GWES module
accel	Accelerator component
audio	Audio component
btnctl	Button control component
calibrui	Touch pad calibration U/I component
caret	Caret component
cascade	Cascading menu component
cdlctl	Candidate list control component
clipbd	Clipboard component
cmbctl	Combo box control component
defwndproc	Define window procedure component
dlgmgr	Dialog manager component
dlgmnem	Dialog mnemonics component
edctl	Edit control component
foregnd	Foreground window component
gcache	GWES initialization component
getpower	Battery power component
gsetwinlong	Get/SetWindowLong component
gwectrl	GWES base component
gweshare	GWES component
gwesmain	GWES main component
icon	Icon component
iconcmn	Core icon component
iconcurs	Mouse cursor component
idle	System idle component
imgctl	Image control component
immthunk	Thunking component
kbdui	Keyboard interface component
lbctl	Listbox component
loadstr	String loading component
loadbmp	Bitmap loading component
loadimg	Image loading component
mcursor	Cursor component
mcursor8	Standard window cursor component
menu	Menu component
menuscrl	Scrolling menu component
msgbeep	MessageBeep API component
msgbox	Message box component
msgbox2	Color message box component
mgbase	GDI base component
mgbitmap	GDI bitmap component
mgblt	BitBlt component
mgblt2	Bitmap transfer support component
mgdc	Device context support component
mgdibsec	CreateDIBSection API component
moverlap	Overlapping menu component
mgdraw	Drawing and drawing tool component
mgrgn	Drawing region support component
mgwinmgr	ScrollDC support component
mgrast	Font support component
mgrast2	Font support component
mgdrwtxt	Text drawing support component
mgpal	Palette support component
mgpalnat	Natural Palette component
msgque	Message queue component
mtapui	Tap menu U/I component
nclient	Non-client window area component
nled	Notification LED component
oom	Out of memory component
oomui	Out of memory U/I component
scbctl	Scroll bar control
startui	Startup dialog U/I component
startup	Startup component
stcctl	Static control component
tchui	Touch pad U/I component
timer	Timer component
uibase	User interface base component
winmgr	Window manager component
wmbase	GWES base component
Ircomm	IrDA communications module
Irdastk	IrDA communications support module
Ndis	Network driver component
Netui	Network U/I module
Nk	Operating system kernel (required)
Ntlmssp	NTLMSSP module
Ole32	OLE support module
com	COM interface support component
olemain	OLE main component
Oleauto32	OLE Automation module
Ppp	Point-to-point protocol module
Secur32	Security Support Provider Interface module
Shell	Debugging shell module
Sramdisk	SRAM (PCMCIA) card device module
Tapi	TAPI telephony module
Tcpstk	TCP/IP stack module
Toolhelp	Toolhelp (debugger support) module
Uuid	UUID support module
Unimodem	Unimodem support module
Waveapi	Multimedia sound API module
Wininet	Internet services support module
inetftp	Internet file transfer component
Winsock	Winsock support module
sslsock	SSL Winsock component

Understanding Modularity in Microsoft Windows CE 2.1

Contents

Introduction

Streamlining Embedded Systems

Windows CE for Embedded Applications

Windows CE Modules And Components

Operating System Kernel Components

File System Components

Graphic, Windowing and Event Components

Other Components and Modules

Supporting Devices with Windows CE

Customizing Windows CE

Porting Windows CE To New Hardware

Sample Configurations

Sample Configuration: Base Kernel

Sample Configuration: Adding Communications

Sample Configuration: Adding Minimal Display Capabilities

Sample Configuration: Adding Window Management

Summary

For More Information

`Introduction`