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Tablet PC Programming

Adding VoIP capabilities to your PowerBuilder application using Skype

Last, we need a way to receive a message back from Skype. For that, again we'll use the "other" event and listen for WM_COPY_DATA_MESSAGEs coming from Skype. In this example, just display the output in a multi-line edit.

event ue_process_inbound

      mle_log.Text += is_retdata + '~r~n'

      //here...success
      Return 1

However, in full implementation we would probably implement some sort of functionality that would parse the input and call an appropriate method depending on what was sent back.

That's it. A basic but functional implementation of a small part of the Skype API. In essence, we touched on how to set up the basic communication architecture between the client and server followed by a demonstration of how to make a simple phone call. However, there are many other commands that could be implemented such as voice mail, chatting capabilities, retrieving call history, friends, etc. Again, look here for a complete list: http://share.skype.com/sites/devzone/2006/01/ api_reference_for_skype_20_bet.html#COMMANDS.

On a final note, you PPB folks may look forward to a complete implementation of Skype coming in a future version of PocketBuilder. Perhaps we can look forward to a little code sharing with its big brother PowerBuilder as well!

Want to learn more? There are many resources I used to begin to understand the Skype API and its implementation. I'll list a few. One I would highly recommend is the Skype Tracer Source. You can find it at http://share.skype.com/directory/skype_tracer_source/view/ . Essentially, this is the C++ source code for a Skype interpreter. Armed with this, a little bit of reverse engineering, and the command list we can learn much about "rolling our own" Skype implementation. You may also find these references useful as well.

More Stories By Deanne M. Chance

Ms. Chance graduated in 1996 with a degree in computer science from the University of Illinois. She has been a frequent contributor to the PowerBuilder Developer's Journal and gave a key presentation at Sybase TechWave 2005 entitled "A Real-Time Physical Inventory Solution Using PocketBuilder ASA and a WiFi Connection." She has held several engineering positions, starting a career at Motorola where she focused on mobile I.P. by doing real-time embedded programming for the base radio controller group as part of the iDEN/Nextel project.

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Most Recent Comments
Chance 03/30/06 05:58:07 PM EST

Now that I think about it this really shouldn't be limited to tablet pc programming. That is somewhat misleading. You could add VoIP capabilties to any box that had an internet connection. A wireless broadband pc just happens to be one application of this.