Windows mobile draftEzy

We started the first build of Windows Mobile draftEzy on January 2008. We bought an HP iPaq from ebay for testing the product as PDA is not available in INDIA. The first idea that came to us while building the Windows mobile version is that how we can do the panning much quickly as we do in windows desktop. The main hurdle that a sketcher faces on site with windows mobile will be the lag in panning if drawn using a scale factor. If the sketch is drawn in fit to screen option then the clutter will be almost un manageable. We started to think about doing the edit in place option with its filters for most of the editing features. The windows mobile device has limited resources and the main hurdle among them is the limited memory available to the programs running. It has 32MB main memory for the program and 32MB in virtual memory.

We started the work with building a wrapper around the existing code so that it is compatible with the Windows Mobile. We redirected all or most of the API calls to the wrapper and implemented the ones that was needed. We managed to make it up and running in Windows mobile in just under a month time.


(Windows mobile draftEzy in HP iPaq, Dell Axim x51)

We have used the layers to cache the drawing and update only that layer which is currently active and limited all inputs and activity to the layer. We further came to a road block because of the Virtual Memory API performance enhancement in Windows Mobile. We have decided to break the application in 3 for easy management and to avoid the road block. We began to give the product for free usage just recently and we got a warm welcome from users. The bundle as it is now is free for use, though we did not say it’s as competent in commercial usage. We have been trying to integrate with companies in USA, UK, Australia and we did not find any partner so far and decided to put the bundle in open market as there might be delays in final bundle due to the lack of investment and smaller team. The companies find it as an out of the box product for their products in real estate or related industries and most of them wanted us to finish faster without investment.

We got the first error report from the user that it is not working correctly in HTC Touch Diamond. We did not have the Higher DPI device to test the product and the emulator is of no help when it is running in desktop under 96DPI. We got a touch diamond from the friend circle and we fixed the issue using that device. The issue was in the UI and it got fixed lightly meaning that the static images like icon, bitmaps need re work in different DPI’s and will be completing in the near time. Our Dell Axim X51V which we purchased from Australian ebay is not yet posted but we guess it will arrive in 5 days time. We hope to fix the static image issue and any other issues after the arrival.


(Our hardware inventory for the product)

We support laser meter for the easy measurement and upload to the drawing system. The laser meter measurement appear as labels and it support edit in place meaning that just selecting the label and tapping the measurement in the pad will complete the editing. Our first tablet PC arrived on 20th of December 2007. We have DB projects, (Synet Inventory Manager), running in our local market which helps us develop this product but in a much slower pace. We are currently working in windows mobile draftEzy and it won’t be long to see it in market :)…We would like to hear from you to make this product better. If you would like to learn more about draftEzy, please visit www.draftEzy.com/freedraftEzy.aspx . The download link is located at the top of the page. Windows mobile draftEzy is the fastest sketching, give it a go in your mobile if you are working in real estate industry!!!