How to: Get the Device Platform 

You can determine what device platform, Pocket PC or Smartphone, is currently running your application by using a platform invoke call to native code. The following procedure defines a class and an enumeration of platforms that you can use to determine the device platform.

To get the device platform

1. Add the following class and enumeration to your project.

   Public Class PlatformDetector
   
       Declare Function SystemParametersInfo Lib "Coredll.dll" _
           (ByVal uiAction As System.UInt32, _
           ByVal uiParam As System.UInt32, _
           ByVal pvParam As StringBuilder, _
           ByVal fWinIni As System.UInt32) As Boolean
   
   
       Private Shared SPI_GETPLATFORMTYPE As System.UInt32 = 257 
   
   
       Public Shared Function GetPlatform() As Platform 
           Dim plat As Platform = Platform.Unknown
           Select Case System.Environment.OSVersion.Platform
               Case PlatformID.Win32NT
                   plat = Platform.Win32NT
               Case PlatformID.Win32S
                   plat = Platform.Win32S
               Case PlatformID.Win32Windows
                   plat = Platform.Win32Windows
               Case PlatformID.WinCE
                   plat = CheckWinCEPlatform()
           End Select
   
           Return plat
   
       End Function 
   
   
       Shared Function CheckWinCEPlatform() As Platform 
           Dim plat As Platform = Platform.WindowsCE
           Dim strbuild As New StringBuilder(200)
           SystemParametersInfo(SPI_GETPLATFORMTYPE, 200, strbuild, 0)
           Dim str As String = strbuild.ToString()
           Select Case str
               Case "PocketPC"
                   plat = Platform.PocketPC
               Case "SmartPhone"
               ' Note that the strbuild parameter from the
               ' PInvoke returns "SmartPhone" with an
               ' upper case P. The correct casing is
               ' "Smartphone" with a lower case p.
               plat = Platform.Smartphone
           End Select
           Return plat
   
       End Function 
   End Class 
   
   
   Public Enum Platform
       PocketPC
       WindowsCE
       Smartphone
       Win32NT
       Win32S
       Win32Windows
       Unknown
   End Enum
   

   public class PlatformDetector
   {
       [DllImport("coredll.dll")]
       private static extern bool SystemParametersInfo(uint uiAction, uint uiParam, StringBuilder pvParam, uint fWinIni);
   
       private static uint SPI_GETPLATFORMTYPE = 257;
   
       public static Platform GetPlatform()
       {
           Platform plat = Platform.Unknown;
           switch (System.Environment.OSVersion.Platform)
           {
               case PlatformID.Win32NT:
                   plat = Platform.Win32NT;
                   break;
               case PlatformID.Win32S:
                   plat = Platform.Win32S;
                   break;
               case PlatformID.Win32Windows:
                   plat = Platform.Win32Windows;
                   break;
               case PlatformID.WinCE:
                   plat = CheckWinCEPlatform();
                   break;
           }
   
           return plat;
       }
   
       static Platform CheckWinCEPlatform()
       {
           Platform plat = Platform.WindowsCE;
           StringBuilder strbuild = new StringBuilder(200);
           SystemParametersInfo(SPI_GETPLATFORMTYPE, 200, strbuild, 0);
           string str = strbuild.ToString();
           switch (str)
           {
               case "PocketPC":
                   plat = Platform.PocketPC;
                   break;
               case "SmartPhone":
                   // Note that the strbuild parameter from the
                   // PInvoke returns "SmartPhone" with an
                   // upper case P. The correct casing is
                   // "Smartphone" with a lower case p.
                   plat = Platform.Smartphone;
                   break;
           }
           return plat;
       }
   }
   
   public enum Platform
   {
       PocketPC, WindowsCE, Smartphone, Win32NT, Win32S, Win32Windows, Unknown
   }
   

2. Add the following declaration and code for the form's Load event.

   Declare Function KernelIoControl Lib "CoreDll.dll" _
       (ByVal dwIoControlCode As Int32, _
        ByVal lpInBuf As IntPtr, _
        ByVal nInBufSize As Int32, _
        ByVal lpOutBuf() As Byte, _
        ByVal nOutBufSize As Int32, _
        ByRef lpBytesReturned As Int32) As Boolean
   
   Private Sub DeviceType_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs)  _
       Handles MyBase.Load
   
          Try
               MsgBox("Platform is " + PlatformDetector.GetPlatform().ToString())
           Catch ex As Exception
               MsgBox(ex.Message.ToString())
           End Try
   
   End Sub
   

   [DllImport("coredll.dll", SetLastError = true)]
   private static extern bool KernelIoControl(Int32 dwIoControlCode,
       IntPtr lpInBuf, Int32 nInBufSize, byte[] lpOutBuf,
       Int32 nOutBufSize, ref Int32 lpBytesReturned);
   
   private void DeviceType_Load(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
   {
       try
       {
   
           MessageBox.Show("Platform is " + PlatformDetector.GetPlatform());
       }
   
       catch (Exception ex)
       {
           MessageBox.Show(ex.Message.ToString());
       }
   }
   

Compiling the Code

This example requires references to the following namespaces:

• System

• System.Runtime.InteropServices

• System.Text

• System.Windows.Forms

See Also

Tasks

How to: Get the Device ID and Name

Concepts

.NET Compact Framework How-To Topics

Other Resources

Interoperability in the .NET Compact Framework