CAB files

[romain taillandier]

Hi group

To create a CAB file for a device,
on VS 2003 I was making the .inf file, and use the CABWIZ.exe with good
arguments
on VS 2005 I make a new Device Cab project, wich create the inf file,
and (i supose) use the Cab Wiz to create the CAB.

if i use winrar to open a CAB file I get a file list, which is not
exactly the file extrated on the device. And i don't know where they
go.

In fact i need a CAB explorer to list all file that the cab install,
and where they will go when extracting on the device.
now if i have a device CAB, how can i get back the inf file (used to
create it) ?

thank you
ROM

 

[Ryan]

Hi ROM,

If you open your cab file and extract the _setup.xml file it contains
all the information for the location of each file. i.e.

<parm name="InstallDir" value="%CE1%\MyProg" translation="install" />

Indicates the install directory will be \Program Files\MyProg and

<characteristic type="LMP.SqlCe.dll" translation="install">
<characteristic type="Extract">
<parm name="Source" value="LMPSQL~1.001" />
</characteristic>
</characteristic>

Tells you the LMPSQL~1.001 will be copied to the install directory as
LMP.SqlCe.dll

From this you should be able to reconstruct your INF file.

Hope it helps
Ryan

 

[romain taillandier]

Thank you ryan.

All that sounds very good, this xml seems to be excatly what i need !
But there is no xml files in the cabs i have extract.
May be i can't see them ...

Have you any Cab Explorer ? or another tips to get the xml files ?

thank you

Ryan a écrit :

 

[Ryan]

Thank you ryan.

All that sounds very good, this xml seems to be excatly what i need !
But there is no xml files in the cabs i have extract.
May be i can't see them ...

OK I understand now. With the cabwiz program supplied with VS 2003 the
location of the files is encoded in the start of the cab file itself.
You can see this if you open the cab file in VS using the binary editor.
There is also a file in the cab file which ends with .999 As I
understand this also contains setup information which is used by wceload
on the PDA. I don't know if anybody here has more detailed
specifications to help you decode these parts of the cab.

The version supplied with VS 2005 produces cab files which contains the
_setup.xml file. As I understand it this is used by Windows Mobile 5 to
actually install the files and settings. The binary data encoded at the
start of the cab file or the .999 file is only used when _setup.xml
doesn't exist.

Sorry I can't be any more help than this, as you can see from my post
entitle "Another WM5 RAPI & Code Sign Question " I'm have a few
issues with cab files and the inf required to generate them as well. If
I find anything while I'm searching I'll let you know.

Take Care,
Ryan

 

[Jarod]

Hello,

If you still need a cab explorer I recommend this
http://www.ocpsoftware.com/products.php?nm=cecabmgr

I use it quite frequently and I am happy with it.

Jarod