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8.3.2.8 Connectivity
EPOC machines are fully capable for office applications, personal information management and
communication using e-mail, fax and SMS. You can print directly from an EPOC machine, can
exchange data with other EPOC machines — and standards-compliant handhelds — using
infrared, and can install applications downloaded from websites, without using a PC.
For many purposes, however, PC connectivity and synchronization with PC- or corporate-based
data is important. PCs also provide a convenient backup medium. EPOC Connect integrates with
Windows Explorer and to provide these and other functions:
file management
and conversion
Using Windows Explorer, you can drag and drop files between directories on either the
PC or the EPOC machine. When dragging from PC to EPOC or vice versa, EPOC
Connect automatically converts the file format. If you use Windows Explorer to open a
file on the EPOC machine, it will be automatically uploaded to the PC, converted into a
PC application format, and opened in the relevant PC application.
synchronization
You can synchronize your agenda and contacts whenever you want. You can optionally set
EPOC Connect to synchronize automatically every time you connect your EPOC machine
to a PC — or once a day, or once a week.
backup
You can backup your data whenever you want. You can optionally set EPOC Connect to
backup automatically every time you connect your EPOC machine to a PC — or once a
day, or once a week. Multiple versions of changed files are retained. Restore is rarely
needed, but is simple and effective.
clipboard
transfer
You don’t have to exchange data using whole files: when your PC and EPOC machines
are connected, you can use EPOC Connect to keep their clipboards synchronized too,
aided by the CopyAnyWhere tool.
multiple machine
management
EPOC Connect recognizes an EPOC machine’s ID and can conveniently manage several
EPOC machines from a single PC.
other handheld
machine support
As well as EPOC machines, EPOC Connect also supports Psion’s Series 3 (or SIBO)
architecture and data formats.
application
installation
Double-click on a
.sis
file from the Windows Explorer, and it will be installed onto
your EPOC machine; these files are a way to deliver pre-packaged programs for EPOC
devices.
printing
Select “Print via PC” as the printer driver on the EPOC machine, connect to a PC, and
you can use EPOC Connect to drive any PC-based printer from your EPOC machine.
8.3.2.9 Expandability
As well as EPOC’s built-in applications, EPOC OEMs and third-party developers are developing
applications in C++, Java and OPL, which you can conveniently install on your EPOC machine.
To learn more about EPOC software development kits (SDKs), see Symbian’s developer support
website at
developer.epocworld.com
.
Symbian also provides an SDK for EPOC Connect, which can be used to develop PC-based
applications involving data interchange or control of EPOC machines.
8.3.3. Technology
It is interesting to understand the technology that goes into EPOC applications. There are two
motives for this:
•
the re-use of technology is fundamental to EPOC applications’ power: in a relatively
small machine, you can only deliver powerful applications by consistently re-using
powerful underlying APIs.
•
understanding the technology used in existing applications can be inspiring for creating
new applications, or vital for writing software which interfaces with these applications
In this section, we describe how the standard EPOC applications use EPOC’s underlying
technology. Other papers in this series go into more detail on the technologies mentioned.
