How to install Dotnet Compact Framework on my PDA ?

[Ulysse from CH]

Hello NG,
I want to install ".net Compact Framework V 2.0" on my PDA
because an application that is already installed on it need this.
(It says that it needs an "newer version" of this, so there might
already be an older version of it installed, in which case I think
the new version should replace the old one to save space.)
I found the web site for .net CF V2 on the web, downloaded
this thing and have now a file called NETCFSetupv2.msi on my PC.
But how do it use this ? In any case, just copying it to the PDA seems
to be the wrong thing, the PDA's WindowsCE does not know what
to do with this file (so I deleted this copy)

I saw that *.msi - files are associated on my WinXP PC with an appl.
called msiexec.exe (which seems normal according to what I read on
the subject) stored in the System32 subdirectory of the Windows dir.

(There is another file with the same name in the SoftwareDistribution
subdir. of the Windows dir., with a [not so much] different size, my
first idea was that this one might be the right one for my purpose,
because I guessed that the normal one might want to install on the PC.
Now I found out - in wikipedia - that the .net *C* F is devoted to
PDAs and the like. So I can imagine that the msi-file will only
produce an installation on PDAs, also with the 'normal' msiexec,
the Softw.Distr. msiexec being always for install. to many computers
in a network. But I'd like to know for sure. Therefore my 1st Q.:
can you please confirm that the System32 msiexec is what has to
be exec'd for my purpose ?)

To be more precise, msi-files have 3 processes associated with them:
install, repair and uninstall (one sees these among others when
right-clicking on the msi-file), the first of these being shown bold,
so that it will exec. on a double-click. It exec's msiexec with
the following parameters: /i "%1" %* (may-be with less / extra
spaces). And my 2nd Q. is: does this mean that I may just double-click
the msi file (with admin' rights) and msiexec will present me (based
on what is stored in the msi-file) the instructions that - when
complied to - produce the desired install' on the PDA ? (I guess this
might work at the condition that PDA and PC are already connected
before starting with this, by which I mean connected physically *and*
by software, i.e. ActiveSync showing "connected".)

 

[Paul G. Tobey [eMVP]]

You install that MSI on the PC. The next time you sync the PDA, via
ActiveSync, with the PC, you will get a chance to install the appropriate
item on the PDA.

Paul T.

 

[Ulysse from CH]

You install that MSI on the PC. The next time you sync the PDA, via
ActiveSync, with the PC, you will get a chance to install the appropriate
item on the PDA.
Paul T.

Thank you, this is OK now. But the second part worked only when
I connected the PDA to the PC under the same user as the one I 'was'
when installing the thing on the PC - i.e. the one I've defined with
admin rights (I have defined 3 users on my WinXPhome PC, 2 without,
1 with admin rights; this one and one of those are both 'me' in fact)
- I wonder if this means essentially that both users have to be
identical or that this type of install. on the PDA needs admin rights
.... or both !

Another question: is the 'converse' true ? I mean: if I'd later
uninstall the NetCF again from the PC, would this also uninstall it
from the PDA when I connect it afterwards to the PC (as admin user,
which I probably will seldom do again) ? After all, it seems that
these about 60 MB installed on the PC are now useless on it
(any PC appl. using such a thing would need the normal .net framework,
not the compact one, I think) - except if I'd use a PDA emulator on
the PC (I understand that such emulators exist, but who uses them ?
probably practically only PDA software developers, and I don't intend
to become one)

BTW how do I create an entry in the startmenu of the PDA for
the appl. using this dotnet-thing ? I have installed it - but not the
NetCF ! - on my 2GB SanDisk (instead of the PDA main memory);
there are so many files there, only for this appl. until now, and
for the moment I must seek the exe file among them all to start
the appl.! (At the hotlines of the PDA producer and its vendor
they were not able to tell me.) Is this impossible if the exe file
is not in the main memory ? (The menu manager does not show it.)

 

[Paul G. Tobey [eMVP]]

I can believe that. You have to be an Administrator to use ActiveSync.

No, it's on the Pocket PC until you use the application manager, accessed
through ActiveSync to remove it, or until you use Remove Programs on the
device itself to remove it.

Same way as you do it for any application: put a shortcut to the application
in the \Windows\
Start Menu folder (this information is all in the archives; it would be best
to search microsoft.public.pocketpc.developer, as you'll usually get a
better answer and often a faster one).

Paul T.