VS2003 and WM5.0 Devices

[Neville Lang]

Hi all,

I have an app for consumers that has been released for a few years. It has
been built under VS2003 using CF1. For deployment, I am using a MSI file and
use RAPI to install and control everything on the Pocket PC. My app also has
some desktop side EXEs to interwork with another 3rd party program, and so
the MSI installs these too. Within my custom installer, I do a lot of
checking on both the desktop side and Pocket PC side for operating system
versions and whether .NET has been installed, particularly for older
computers using Win98 or PPCs using the PPC 2002 o/s. My custom installer
has worked very well on multiple combinations of PPC and desktop.

I am planning one more upgrade to this version of my app before moving my
app to VS2005 and .NET CF2. I still have some customers who have the PPC2002
o/s and this next update will be the last for them and will contain a just a
few more new features.

I now have a Dell Axim X51v with WM5 on it and when I tried to install my
present app onto it, without any changes, it did give some warning messages
along the way but it did finally install. I will need to "tweak" the
installer in my next update from VS2003 to avoid most of these messages for
my customers.

Some of my customers now have the i-mate JasJar PPC Phone Edition (or
similar) with WM5 and they want to continue using my app. From my research,
it seems that RAPI installations onto the JasJar are blocked due to the new
security measures brought over from the Smartphone. (My app was always
designed for the Pocket PC and not for the Smartphone.) Further reading
indicates that I might need to have my app "signed".

I would like to ask whether other developers using VS2003-generated apps
have been able to install their "unsigned" app onto the JasJar (or similar
device)?

As stated above, after this update, I intend moving my app to VS2005 and CF2
and for that release of my app I intend restricting it to WM2003 and later.
My customers who still have PPC 2002 devices will then need to upgrade their
Pocket PC for my next major release.

Have some developers applied this same strategy? Or has everyone simply
switched over to VS2005 and CF2?

Regards,
Neville Lang

 

[Alex Feinman [MVP]]

You can install an unsigned application on JasJar. First time you run it it
will display a security prompt for each unsigned module.
Some devices shipped by carriers are not this forgiving

 

[Neville Lang]

Alex,

Thank you for replying to my post.

The problem I have is that a customer who has a JasJar has reported that my
installer will not install my app at all. My customer installer relies
completely on RAPI for detecting the Pocket PC operating system version,
folder setup, transferring various files and registry setup and, as I
understand it at the moment, RAPI seems not to be activated for the Pocket
PC Phone Edition (WM5) for all external programs not "signed" due to its new
security model.

Can you advise of another approach that I might have to install my app onto
the JasJar? I do not have one of these devices specifically for testing.

Regards,
Neville

 

[Alex Feinman [MVP]]

I'm afraid your choice is either to sign the device-side RAPI component, or
use CAB-based install (also needs to be signed to avoid security prompts)

 

[Neville Lang]

Alex,

Thank you for your response on this topic.

Regards,
Neville Lang