CAB files over the air (OTA)

[Wrecked]

Hello,

I was trying to install my application over the air on a PPC 2003. The
application is developed on VS2005 and i have generated a cab file
using the same. I wrote a simple HTML page containing the link to the
CAB file in the server. I open this file in IE on a GPRS enabled PPC
and then click on the link. Instead of downloading the CAB file, the
IE opens it and displays the contents of the file (weird characters
are displayed).

Is this the right way of deploying an application OTA.

Another way i suppose is to convert the CAB file into an exe and then
use it to deploy over the air. Are there any open source installers
available??

Regards,
Rithesh

 

[Peter Foot [MVP]]

This happens when the mime type is not set correctly for .cab files on the
server machine. The method to set this depends on what web server software
you are running. the correct mime type is
"application/vnd.ms-cab-compressed"

Peter

 

[Sachin Palewar]

I think you don't even need the HTML page. We just put the CAB on
server and type the full path in the address bar eg: http://mysite/test.cab
and its downloaded and installed on the PPC. You may be asked to
confirm the action. Also I think you don't need any exe for
installation. CAB is complete installation for PPC. Exes are used on
desktops to identify the target processor and push the appropriate cab
on the device.

I find putting the cab on server and opening it directly more
straightforward and it happens with minimum nos of taps so I think its
a good solution. And as Peter suggested you should be fine after
setting the mimetype. On my server it was already set appropriately.

If you give more details on what kind of server you have, may be we
can help you more.

Regards,
Sachin Palewar
(Certified Scrum Master)

Palewar Techno Solutions
(Mobile Solutions for Your Business)
www.palewar.com

 

[Wrecked]

Sachin, Peter

Thanks a lot for your response. The CAB download problem was solved i
altered the MIME header. Anyways i was using a Tomcat server.

I would like to know if its possible to create a ubiquitous
application download webpage, which could be access from both the
mobile device and desktop/laptop. What i intend to achieve is, when
the user clicks on the download link, depending on where is accessing
from (mobile device or desktop/laptop) it should let the user to
download the appropriate installation program (CAB file for mobile
device, EXE file for desktop/laptop). All the user should do just
click on the link. Any pointers to achieve this will be very helpful.

Also i have used EzSetup to create the EXE from the CAB files for
installation from the desktop/laptop. Is this the right method or are
there any better ways to do so.

Thanks and regards,
Rithesh

 

[Sachin Palewar]

Ezsetup is quite popular so I think you are fine with that. However we
haven't used it yet. Regarding same link working for both mobile and
desktop I think user-agent string can be of your help. I can't confirm
as I haven't tried. You can check out links:
http://www.quirksmode.org/js/detect.html
http://blogs.msdn.com/iemobile/archive/2006/08/03/Detecting_IE_Mobile.aspx

So you can code in your page to check for user agent and if its is
Pocket IE then you can direct to CAB otherwise to exe.

I hope it helps.

Regards,
Sachin Palewar
(Certified Scrum Master)

Palewar Techno Solutions
(Mobile Solutions for Your Business)
www.palewar.com

 

[Wrecked]

Thanks Sachin for those links.

Regards,
Rithesh