Deployment: Packaging .Net CF with installer

[cyberco]

I want to distribute my application but although I've done quite some
Googling I'm a little lost how to solve the following issues:

- I want 1 installer for all all WM 5 PPC devices (all processor
architectures)
- I want to detect if the device has .Net CF 2 and if not, install it
automatically

I would be gratefull for pointers to relevant documentation.

 

[Guest]

- I want 1 installer for all all WM 5 PPC devices (all processor

architectures)

All WM devices are ARM architecture, so that's easy.


--

Chris Tacke, Embedded MVP
OpenNETCF Consulting
Managed Code in an Embedded World
www.OpenNETCF.com

 

[Guest]

Hi ctacke,

I'm having similar problem too and I would like to know how can I package my
windows CE application into CAB files in VS 2005.

Would appreciate if you can provide any kind of helps.

Thanks.

Regards,
Jenson

 

[Christian Resma Helle]

Hi Jenson,

Here are some basic steps for packing your application to a CAB file in
Visual Studio 2005.

1. Add a new "Smart Device CAB Project" to your solution
2. Change the properties of the CAB project to describe the manufacturer and
product name.
3. If you target WinCE 5.0 or higher then change your OSVersionMin to 5.0
and your OSVersionMax to 6.99
4. Right click on the CAB project and go to View - Filesystem
5. In the File System View, right click on "Application Folder" and go to
Add - Primary Output
6. Add the primary output of your application
7. Add the Content Files from your application if needed
8. To make a shortcut on the "Programs Folder", you will have to right click
on "File System on Target Machine" then go to "Add Special Folder" -
"Programs Folder"
9. Once the Programs Folder is added, go to the "Application Folder", right
click on the "Primary Output..." from your application then select "Create
shortcut...."
10. Move the created shortcut to the "Programs Folder"
11. Build the CAB file and test

I normally distribute my applications in a self-extracting zip file. You can
use the CE Application Manager (comes with ActiveSync / WMDC) to install
them from the desktop to the device. Lots of documentation on using the
Application Manager is available on MSDN.

I recently wrote a short article about writting a generic multiple CAB file
installer for the desktop:
http://christian-helle.blogspot.com/2007/07/generic-multiple-cab-file-installer-for.html

 

[Guest]

Hi Christian,

Thanks for the reply. BTW, is it possible to install from within the device
itself instead of going through the Desktop of our PCs?

Thanks.

Regards,
Jenson

 

[Christian Resma Helle]

Hi Jensen,

You can publish your CAB file to some publicly accessible web server and
have it downloaded to the device. Installing it on the device from then on
is just a matter of clicking on the CAB file in the File Explorer

 

[Guest]

Hi Christian,

Thanks for the reply. I also just notice that, but never thought of
connecting to the Internet and download the CAB file from there. It would be
great for any future updates or amendments for the application. But the
device that I'm developing on is quite restrictive and debugging only can be
done on the device, in that sense, the device must be connected to the
workstation PC or notebook, which is quite troublesome =(

Meanwhile, I also include the database inside the CAB file, but it become
about 10MB+ which I think would require deletion of file upon completing the
installation.

Christian, you have been providing great helps to me whenever I need one!
Thanks a million!!!

Thanks.

Regards,
Jenson