how to vibrate

#include  <windows.h>
#include  <nled.h>

// from the platform builder <Pwinuser.h>
extern "C" {
BOOL WINAPI NLedGetDeviceInfo( UINT     nInfoId, void   *pOutput );
BOOL WINAPI NLedSetDevice( UINT nDeviceId, void *pInput );
};

void LedOn(int id)
{
    NLED_SETTINGS_INFO settings;
    settings.LedNum= id;
    settings.OffOnBlink= 1;
    NLedSetDevice(NLED_SETTINGS_INFO_ID, &settings);
}
void LedOff(int id)
{
    NLED_SETTINGS_INFO settings;
    settings.LedNum= id;
    settings.OffOnBlink= 0;
    NLedSetDevice(NLED_SETTINGS_INFO_ID, &settings);
}
int WINAPI WinMain( HINSTANCE hInstance,
                   HINSTANCE hPrevInstance,
                   LPTSTR    lpCmdLine,
                   int       nCmdShow)
{
    for (int i=0 ; i<10 ; i++)
    {
        LedOn(1);
        Sleep(400);
        LedOff(1);
        Sleep(200);
    }

    return 0;
}

using STL with msevc

(STL = standard template library)
msevc v3.0 does not come standard with a STL implementation, a good STL port to windows CE is stl_evc
msevc v4.0 does have STL, problem is though that if you don't add "#pragma warning(disable: 4786)" you will get thousands of useless warnings. and also, the v4.0 stl uses exceptions, which will cause the compiler to complain that exceptions are not actually supported.
what is lacking in msevc is RTTI ( runtime type information ), because of this you cannot throw and catch exceptions in a standard C++ way. You can however use something that microsoft calls 'structured exception handling', with __try, __except, RaiseException, __finally.

how to trap the hardware phone buttons

use GetAsyncKeyState(key), to poll the state of specific keys
these are the key codes for the xda: 
// these constants are xda-specific:
#define VK_HANGUP       0x73    // VK_F4
#define VK_ANSWER       0x72    // VK_F5
#define VK_TOUCHPAD     0x01    // VK_LBUTTON
#define VK_VOLUME       0x75    // VK_F6

#define VK_TOPBUTTONS       0x5b    // VK_LWIN
// VK_TOPBUTTONS is sent together with one of these:
#define VK_CALENDER     0xc1
#define VK_CONTACTS     0xc2

// note that when holding the navigator button down continuously,
// occasionally the OS will report no keys pressed down.

#define VK_NAVIGATOR_MOVE   0x84    // VK_F21
// VK_NAVIGATOR_MOVE is sent together with one of these:
#define VK_NAVIGATE_LEFT    0x25    // VK_LEFT
#define VK_NAVIGATE_UP      0x26    // VK_UP
#define VK_NAVIGATE_RIGHT   0x27    // VK_RIGHT
#define VK_NAVIGATE_DOWN    0x28    // VK_DOWN

#define VK_NAVIGATOR_SELECT 0x86    // VK_F23

#define VK_ONOFF        0xdf    // VK_OFF