If you happen to have an actual device you'd like to deploy to, you will want this, as well:

Create the Amphigorey Project
So let's get started.

Step One: Create a New Project
Now that you've installed the various SDKs, you should see some new options in Visual Studio. Open up Visual Studio and start a New -> Project. Under Visual C#, which you'll be using for this walkthrough, you should see a new folder of project templates called "Smart Device." Expand it and select a Windows Mobile 6 Professional Device Application, as in Figure 1. Call it "Amphigorey".

Figure 1. New Project

Step Two: Rename the Form
Once the new project has been created, you should see Form1 in design view, with a mobile skin. In the Solution Explorer, right-click the form and choose Rename, then call it "NewTitle". When asked "Would you like to perform a rename in this project of all references…" click Yes.

Next, click on the form itself. In the Properties tab, change the Text property to "New Title". Under the FormFactor property, "Windows Mobile 6 Classic" is selected by default. Change that to "Windows Mobile 6 Professional" (check the Properties tab in Figure 2).

Figure 2. NewTitle Form Properties

Step Three: Add AmphiData Database
While functionality is fundamentally the same, SQL Server 2005 CE differs a bit from SQL Server 2005 in how you incorporate data objects into your solution. You can create and edit a CE database in SQL Server Management Studio as well as within Visual Studio, as with other SQL Server versions. But with CE the database file itself (the .sdf file) gets copied to the project directory and deployed with the app. Fortunately, because SDK wizards handle creating the connection string and myriad other details, you don't have to work too hard to build and incorporate the database.

For this walkthrough, you have an option: you can either practice building a database from scratch and filling it with sample data, or you can pull in an existing database. If you want to create your own, keep reading. Otherwise, skip ahead to Three Bee.

Step Three Aye: Create a New Database
The easiest way to create a CE database is through the Data Configuration Wizard:

• Choose Data -> Add New Data Source from the main menu.
• Select Database as your data source type.
• When asked "Which data connection should your app use," choose New Connection.
• In the Add Connection form, your Data Source should already be set to ".NET Framework Data Provider for SQL Server Compact Edition." Under Connection Properties, click Create. Name the database AmphiData. For this walkthrough, I've left the password blank. (See Figure 3.)

  Figure 3. New Database

• Click Test Connection to make sure it works so far, then OK.
• Back in the wizard, when you click Next, you should get a prompt asking if you "want to copy the file to your project and modify the connection." Say Yes.
• When choosing database objects, check Tables since you won't be using Views in this particular walkthrough. (See Figure 4.) Later, when you experiment on your own, you may want to try implementing Views instead.

Figure 4. Database Objects for New Database

At this point, you'll notice that a few new items have been added to your solution and IDE automatically:

• In the Server Explorer tab in the left, you'll see the new Data Connection, currently flagged is disconnected. Right-click and select Refresh to change the flag, though that'll also happen when you expand it later.
• You'll find "AmphiDataDataSet" under the Data Sources tab.
• You'll also see a new file in the Solution Explorer called AmphiData.sdf.
• If you expand References in the Solution Explorer, you'll see that System.Data.SqlServerCe has been added automatically.

Next, you'll create the data table and add some sample data.

• In the Server Explorer, expand AmphiData.sdf and right-click on Tables.
• Create a new table called Titles. Add 3 fields as shown in Figure 5 and described at the beginning of this article.

  Figure 5. New Table

• Right-click on the Titles table and choose Open. You can use the sample data listed at the beginning of this article or make up your own.

That's it for the new table. If you want to practice pulling in an existing table, then delete AmphiData.sdf and AmphiDataDataSet.xsd from the Solution Explorer and keep reading. Otherwise, skip ahead to Step Four.

Sidebar: Some Gotchas

Step Three Bee: Add an Existing Table
I've already created a table with 33 records in line with the Amphigorey theme. If you want to use it, download the AmphiData.sdf file [link to AmphiData.sdf] and pull it into your project using the following steps:

Figure 6. Database Objects for Existing Database

Once the database has been added, you can see it in the Solution Explorer, along with a new item: AmphiDataDataSet.xsd. If you were to explore AmphiDataDataSet.Designer.cs, you would see that all the plumbing has been done for you, including table adapters, connection string, and INSERT/DELETE/UPDATE code.

In the Server Explorer on the left, you'll also see your new data connection to AmphiData.sdf. Expand it (this automatically connects to it) all the way down to the Titles table. Right-click on Titles and select Open. You should see 33 records ( Figure 7).

Figure 7. Sample Data

Step Four: Design the Form
Your form will be super-simple: two menu options and three text labels.

• First, add three labels somewhere in the center of the form, as in Figure 8. Leave them blank, use default values, or give them new values, like I've done in Figure 9. Leave the control names as their default values.

  Figure 8. New Labels

• Add your menu options by simply clicking on the light blue band at the bottom of the skin display, as in Figure 9.

  Figure 9. Adding a Menu Option

As you can see, adding new menu options involves clicking either up or over, depending on whether you want another option or a flyout. Each of those nodes has the same two options, so you can create incredibly complex menus very quickly.

Here you'll just add two options: Go and Exit. Your finished form should look something like Figure 10.

Figure 10. Finished Amphigorey Form

Step Five: Add Data Components
Now you'll add some components that you'll be able to code against in the next step.

• From the Toolbox, drag a BindingSource component (under Device Data) onto the form.
• In the properties for bindingSource1, set DataSource to AmphiDataDataSet and DataMember to Titles, in that order. (See Figure 11.)

  Figure 11. BindingSource Properties

• Go ahead and Build the solution without running it. Keep an eye on the Toolbox. You should see Visual Studio create some new components for you to use under a new "Amphigorey Components" tray. Specifically, you should see AmphiDataDataSet and TitlesTableAdapter. (See Figure 12.)

  Figure 12. New Project Components

• Drag TitlesTableAdapter onto the form designer. This creates an instance called titlesTableAdapter1 by default.

Step Six: Add the Code

this.titlesTableAdapter1.Fill(this.amphiDataDataSet.Titles); 

try
      {
          int cnt = this.amphiDataDataSet.Titles.Count;
          Random rnd = new Random();
          int adjective = (rnd.Next(0, cnt + 1));
          int noun = (rnd.Next(0, cnt + 1));
          this.label2.Text = 
	this.amphiDataDataSet.Titles[adjective].Adjective.ToString();
          this.label3.Text = 
	this.amphiDataDataSet.Titles[noun].Noun.ToString();
      }
      catch (Exception err)
      {
          MessageBox.Show(err.Message);
      }

You may have noticed that the data in the sample table has the same number of Adjectives as it does Nouns. I've leveraged that to simplify the code slightly, so that instead of doing queries, this code simply looks at the column itself. It determines the number of records, then pulls one of them at random, setting the label to that value.

• Lastly, add some Exit code. If you've used Windows Mobile devices then you know that closing the form doesn't end the app. This can especially throw you off when testing. So I like to include an actual Exit button to end execution altogether. Double-click Exit to generate the event handler for menuItem2_Click.
• Add the following code to this method:

  this.Close();

Step Seven: Test It!

Figure 14. Sample Test Results

Improve This Demo
You have the basics now, but this app still has a lot of room for improvement. Here are some ideas for taking it to the next level.

• You'll notice that this app is not very aware of screen size and dimensions. Read "Adapt Your App" to get some ideas on how to improve this, then test your solutions.
• Build on your screen awareness by creating a Windows Mobile 6 Standard version of this app for non-touchscreen devices (i.e. Smartphones). If you downloaded the Standard version of the Windows Mobile 6 SDK then you already have everything you need, even the code.
• As mentioned, this app has a major cheat: all columns have the same number of values, with no nulls. Try populating your dataset using a query to select all non-null values. Hint: when viewing the data connection in the Server Explorer tab, right-click on the table and choose New Query, then use the Query Builder.
• Amphigorey may not be your thing—that's fine. Add a new table for Garage Band Names. Use the Adjective-Noun form again, for example: "The Garbage Monkeys", "The Flaming Lips", "The Wet Slice." Even better, add a third field with something else entirely. Then hook it up to the form.
• Better yet, open up the code so that you can have any number of tables, with any number of columns. For example, if you write fiction, then you can create one table for Settings, one for Protagonists, and one for Antagonists. Each of those will have a variable number of columns and rows. Create a form that pulls up the table names and lets you select one, then pulls one row at random for each column and displays the results as a concatenated string.

Where to Go From Here
Short answer: go to MEDC 2007. You'll find an entire track dedicated to building Mobile Applications, including a ton of sessions on using databases. Also, at MEDC on May 1, Microsoft will release the Windows Mobile 6 SDK Technical Refresh. It will include new documentation, the latest emulators, support for basic AJAX applications and links to Line of Business frameworks, samples and documentation.

In addition, here are some resources for building on what you've learned here: