Tablet PC: Getting setup to develop applications with InkAnalysis

In my post yesterday:

https://blogs.msdn.com/gavingear/archive/2006/09/05/741536.aspx

I gave a glimpse of what the new InkAnalysis API is all about, and mentioned that it is a part of the Windows Vista SDK for RC1. In this post, I’ll tell you how to get your dev box setup for InkAnalysis development work.

Step 1: Install Visual Studio.NET 2005 or 2005 express products

You can use any of the .NET versions of visual studio, but I would recommend the 2005 version of Visual Studio.NET.

Step 2: Make sure you have the core Tablet/Ink components:

You need tablet PC 1.7 core components or greater. If you are running Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 OR Windows Vista you do not need to do anything in this step. Otherwise, install the Tablet PC Platform SDK 1.7 and Recognizer pack from:

https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=69640b5c-0ee9-421e-8d5c-d40debee36c2&displaylang=en (1.7 SDK)

https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=080184dd-5e92-4464-b907-10762e9f918b&DisplayLang=en (Recognizer Pack)

Step 3: Install the Windows Vista SDK for RC1:
https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=117ECFD3-98AD-4D67-87D2-E95A8407FA86&displaylang=en

Step 4: Install the InkAnalysis binaries

The Windows Vista SDK for RC1 does not install the InkAnalysis binaries on your machine. I will demonstrate a couple ways to get these binaries installed on your machine

Option a: Run the Tablet PC SDK Setup Sample:

Open the Tablet PC SDK Setup solution from:
%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v6.0\Samples\TabletPC\TabletPCSetupSample\TabletPCSetupSample.sln
Build the sample
Right click on the project in the solution exporer and select “Install”

Option b: Manually install the InkAnalysis binaries:

Open a Windows SDK cmd shell from Start->Programs->Microsoft Windows SDK->CMD Shell

Run the following commands:

cd %ProgramFiles%\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Tablet PC\v1.7

gacutil –i iacore.dll

gacutil –i microsoft.ink.analysis.dll

cd %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v6.0\Bin

gacutil –i ialoader.dll

regsvr32 iacom.dll

Following those steps, your machine will be ready to start developing tablet PC applications with InkAnalysis. We’ll talk about that next time…

See ya,

Gavin