DDK Vs WDK

NTDEV
1

Hello All,

I am developing a USB client driver (bulk data transfer) to support Windows
2K/XP and most importantly Vista. I am aware of developing driver using DDK.
I would now like to switch to WDF and develop drivers here onwards. I have
not read much of the documention for WDF but i would like to develop this
USB client driver using WDF. I have two questions regarding this.

  1. Which would be more preferably to develop usb client driver(bulk usb)
    using DDK or WDF?
  2. If i use WDF, i believe the USB Client driver supporting bulk transfer
    can be developed either with KMDF or UMDF. Which is more preferable and can
    i get a sample which has bulk usb support?

Thank You,

Regards,
Smith

2

I’m not sure how your topic title relates to your questions. KMDF is supported, in a separate download, using the S03 SP1 DDK. However:

  1. Whenever there’s a choice of two driver models that allow you to do something, the newer of the two models is usually the best choice. Whenever you can choose KMDF or something else, KMDF is almost always the best choice.

  2. It depends on when you need to release this driver. UMDF is not yet fully supported (I believe the release is scheduled for the WDK that’ll ship with Vista). Also, it depends on your background: If you’re familiar and comfortable writing C++ code in user-mode, UMDF is *definitely* the better choice. This is true especially if you’re starting with some basic, simple, knowledge of COM constructs. If you’re an experienced kernel mode driver writer, I’d frankly recommend KMDF.

I’d recommend you read the articles on KMDF and UMDF that are on OSR Online (if you haven’t already). Note that both KMDF and UMDF kits provide the OSR USB FX2 sample driver, which is a bulk transfer USB sample.

Have fun,

Peter
OSR