I want to customize my .inf but the changes are ignored

[Wiggum]

Hello

I am going crazy while trying to design my install.

I want to modify an existing .inf as follows:

OLD:

[Version]
Signature="$Windows NT$"
Provider="PeaceRiver"
CESignature="$Windows CE$"

[CEStrings]
AppName="PocketRiver"
InstallDir=%CE1%\%AppName%

NEW:

[Version]
Signature="$Windows NT$"
Provider="PeaceRiver"
CESignature="$Windows CE$"

[CEStrings]
AppName="PocketRiver"
InstallDir=%CE1%\%Provider%\%AppName%

As you can see I want to create and install the program to the device
as follows:

\Program Files\PeaceRiver\PocketRiver

I have rebuilt my CABS using this inf and then reinstalled the
software. The portion of the InstalDir %Provider% is ignored. Why? Can
I do this? Where or where have I gone worng?

Thanks

Woody

 

[David Owen]

Wiggum

were you able to get it figured out ? If not I may be able to help.

 

[Wiggum]

Nope

I can not figure it out. I have searched everywhere and posted a few
places and no one has offered a solution. I have taken that as it can
not be done.

Any help is appreciated

Woody

 

[Sergey Bogdanov]

There is no Provider macros in INF files. To solve this issue just type
"PeaceRiver" inside InstallDir:

[CEStrings]
AppName="PocketRiver"
InstallDir=%CE1%\PeaceRiver\%AppName%

 

[Wiggum]

Hello Sergey

I had tried this previously and it did not work. The \PeaceRiver\ part
is simply ignored. I thought maybe something was getting hung up in
memory so I changed the AppName to "IHatePoodles" and sure enough it
installed to the new folder name, again ignoring the \PeaceRiver\
portion.

I am confused and frustrated by this.

Woody

(second post as first one did not appear...yet)

 

[Wiggum]

Sergey

I have tried that and it does not work. It still installs to
%CE1%\%AppName%

I rebuilt my cabs after modifying the inf with no luck. I was beginning
to think that there was something hung up in memory but I tried by
making AppName = "IHatePoodles" and sure enough it installed to a
folder of the same name.

Any ideas as to why?

Woody

 

[Sergey Bogdanov]

To tell the truth, before recommend it to you I checked it and I've got
the correct result. Here you are part of my test .inf file:

[Version]
Signature="$Windows NT$"
Provider="Test Inc"
CESignature="$Windows CE$"

[CEStrings]
AppName="MyApplication"
InstallDir=%CE1%\Test Inc\%AppName%

[CEDevice]
VersionMin=3.00
VersionMax=4.99

....

 

[David Owen]

Wiggum,

here's what I've found to work with my projects (using VS2003); it's not the
most straightforward process, but I have gotten it to work and install to
the directory that I wanted:

1 -- build the cab files, using VS2003. When this is done, your INF file is
overwritten and replaced with a new copy. Don't know how to stop this from
happening, and there's no notifcation that it's happened (it will even blow
away a file with the read-only attribute set on), but you'll have to re-edit
the INF file at this point.
2 -- VS will normally place a file called BuildCab.bat in the OBJ\Debug or
OBJ\Release directory (again blowing away anything that was previously
there). Check the contents of the file and make sure that any references to
the INF file are using a complete directory path, no relative paths or
anything along those lines.
3 -- If that looks correct, launch that BAT file manually; that should start
up the application installer for the device, and it should recognize the
changes you made to the INF file. You can normally tell pretty quickly if
it's reading your INF file, by looking to see if it's installing "My Company
xxx" or if it's actually using the company name you specified.

If this doesn't work, sometimes it helps to move all the files to a single
directory apart from anything VS normally touches, then modify the
BuildCab.bat file to see what's going on.

David

 

[Wiggum]

Hi again. I don't know what to say here folks other than I am perplexed
beyond belief. Sergey gets it to work and it wont for me.

Dave I had tried what you suggested previously but I just finished it
all again. And yet again it just ignores what I type in. I did change
the "My Company" to "PeaceRiver" and added Sergey's
InstallDir=%CE1%\PeaceRiver\%AppName%.

Now I run the BuildCab.bat, external to VS 2003 of course. It does pick
up my change of "My Company" to "Peace River" and it does pick up my
change to AppName but it completely ignores the \PeaceRiver\ portion. I
know I am using the new .inf because the other portion of my changes
are being read.

Why? I do not know. Anyway thanks for the help. I will keep plugging
away.

Woody

 

[Sergey Bogdanov]

Can you send me your full .inf file to my email?

 

[David Owen]

Usually if any errors are detected during the process, they are logged to
the "CabWiz.PPC.log" file; is anything unusual showing up in there?

David

 

[Wiggum]

Usually if any errors are detected during the process, they are logged to
the "CabWiz.PPC.log" file; is anything unusual showing up in there?

David

Hi

No nothing unusual in there I am afraid.