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QA: How can I create setup.exe file that will automatically install necessart .cab file on Pocket PC?

Vassili Philippov (vasja@spbteam.com), November 14, 2001.

Question

I have created .cab file using CabWizard. Now I want to create a setup.exe file that will automatically install necessary .cab file on Pocket PC. How can I do it?

Answer

First of all you should create .ini file that describes which .cab files correspond to which platform. This is a text file, here is an example:

[CEAppManager] Version = 1.0 Component = MyProgram [Palbum] Description = MyProgram application Uninstall = MyProgram ;Because there are multiple .cab files specific to a CPU type, ;these files are relative to the installation directory. CabFiles = myprogram.arm.cab,myprogram.mips.cab,myprogram.sh3.cab

Then you should run ActiveSync (ceappmgr.exe) with this file as a parameter. You will find path to the ActiveSync executable file in registry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\CEAPPMGR.EXE.

Background

There are three items in Pocket PC Logo requirements about installation from desktop computer. Here they are:

Required: Use Microsoft Windows Powered Pocket PC Application Installation mechanism.
Applications bearing the Ready for Windows logo must be installed to the Microsoft Windows Powered Pocket PC platform using the Pocket PC Application installation mechanism. This comprises the use of 2 components: the Cabwiz SDK setup tool (to create Pocket PC-specific CAB files) and the CEAppMgr desktop application manager program (to register the application for Microsoft Windows for Pocket PC application management). We are no longer supporting the single utility on the desktop computer, PPCLoad, but a standard installation method. Using the Application Installation mechanism allows multiple installation scenarios: desktop-to-device, Internet-to-device, and CF Card-to-device.

Required: For the desktop-to-device install scenario, applications need to register the multiple processor-specific CAB files with CEAppMgr.
Applications need to register the multiple processor-specific CAB files (typically one CAB file per processor type) with CEAppMgr (by executing CEAppMgr with a CEAppMgr-specific INI file), which will determine which CAB file to install for the connected device. To work for all MIPS processors, ship with the R3910 binaries. The full path and filename of CEAppMgr is stored in the desktop registry:
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\CEAPPMGR.EXE

Recommended: For the desktop-to-device install scenario, the default install directory should be a subdirectory under the "Microsoft ActiveSync" directory
Applications using the desktop-to-device install scenario should copy all the files to the desktop PC. The default installation location on the desktop PC should be a subdirectory under the "Microsoft ActiveSync" directory. The following registry entry gives you the full path of the "Microsoft ActiveSync" directory:
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows CE Services\InstalledDir

Sample

You can use ready setup.exe (37 Kb) file for your installation. It does the following:

  1. If you pass file name as a command line argument (like myprogram.ini) then it installs program that is described in this file.
  2. If you do not pass a command line argument then it installs program that is described in install.ini file in the same folder.

You can also recompile setup.exe to use your .ini file by default. Download sources (23 Kb) and substitute install.ini string with your file name.

So your full installation (usually creted with InstallShield or Wise Installer or something like that) should do the following:

  1. Copy all .cab files, your .ini file and setup.exe into some folder (as you can read above it is recommended to copy them into a sibfolder of Microsoft ActiveSync folder
  2. Start setup.exe file and it will install your program to Pocket PC

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