Compact-Framework: Windows Installer Question

Question

I've finally finished my killer app and now I've got a bit of an issue. I've created my cab file (builds fine and installs perfectly/runs perfectly on the PDA device) and now I'm trying to create my windows installer.

I've followed an MSDN article of how to create the installer (see here), however it seems to be missing some information, i.e. what's the format of the Ini file?

I have done some digging and I've come up with this Ini file content (where AppName is the name of my application):

[ceAppManager]
Version = 3.0
Component = AppName

[AppName]
Description = AppName
Uninstall = AppName
CabFiles = AppName.cab

Is there anything wrong with that? The installer installs successfully and I get the error:

Application manager cannot install this application on your mobile device due to an invalid setup file. Reinstall and try again.

I've got this working before on another application using ActiveSync. I am currently using Windows Mobile Device Center, but surely the installers should be the same? I am guessing there's something wrong with my ini file?

I would be happy even if someone could give me a link to a better setup guide to install a cab onto a PDA.

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Looking at your revised .INI file, it looks right on. It should work -- however, Vista and WMDC are strange birds. Is it possible you're trying load the .INI file into WMDC from a location that a "standard" user doesn't have permissions to?

I don't know where your Windows installer is extracting the files to, but perhaps try a User folder?

The only other thing I can think of is that the old .INI is somehow being "cached" by WMDC and not registering the new one (it seems like I might have run into this before). You might try removing the program entry from the Add/Remove Programs applet in WMDC and reinstalling your app.

Answer 2

The version number must be "1.0" not "3.0" as in your example. The CEAppManager section may also be case sensitive - I would assume it is anyway. Take a look at the MSDN docs.

Answer 3

After encountering the same issues (yeah, I know it is 2016), finally found the critical information in this older document: Deploying .NET Compact Framework 2.0 Applications with .cab and .msi Files

It is quite more detailed than the newer document referred to by the original question, and it contain this helpful advice:

Note: When you're generating and testing your .ini files, it can be extremely helpful to turn on debug output from CeAppMgr.exe, which provides simple MessageBox outputs that report how it is parsing the .ini file. To turn on debugging, set the following registry key on your desktop computer.

[HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows CE Services\AppMgr]
     "ReportErrors"=dword:1

With this enabled, it will pop up the dialogue boxes, explaining the steps it is taking to parse the INI file and reports you all the detailed information on the errors it encounters and I quickly got my INI file working.