This is my first post, so please be gentle with me :)

I have created a Mobile application, using Visual Studio 2008 Professional. I
used VB.NET as the language.

The App works OK, so I'm now looking to deploy it neatly. I've created a
custom installer, and this works fine. The stuff that is working fine is
described here, to give you a picture of where I've got to:

User will run a Setup.exe file on a desktop, which calls the MSI file, which
deploys my cab file and resource files onto the Mobile device. The MSI file
then uses a custom action to call a custom installer to invoke the ceappmgr
to install the cab file on the device. This is all perfect.

However, I need to have two parameters specified at the point of installing
the MSI onto the Desktop PC, and the Mobile application needs to reference
those, so I need to ideally get these parameters to be present on the Mobile
device as a parameter file. Any file would be fine, but XML makes most sense.

I have been able to collect these parameters by adding a new form in the user
interface options of the MSI file. I think I am passing these correctly to my
custom installer, but am struggling to work out how to debug this.

However, how do I take these parameters that have arrived in my custom
installer class, and write them to a config file, which will find it's way
onto the Mobile device?

I can find lots of tutorials on parts of this, but nothing that puts it all
together. I'd be very grateful if someone could look at the 'ProblemPart'
marked in the custom installer script below, and let me know where I'm going
wrong !

[Code]

Imports System.Windows.Forms
Imports System.Diagnostics
Imports System.Reflection
Imports System.IO
Imports Microsoft.Win32
Imports System.Xml

<System.ComponentModel.RunInstaller(True)> Public Class SetupApp
    Inherits System.Configuration.Install.Installer

    Private Const INI_FILE As String = "\setup.ini"

    Private Sub Installer_AfterInstall(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As
System.Configuration.Install.InstallEventArgs) Handles MyBase.AfterInstall

        ' ========== PROBLEM PART ===============
        Dim path As String = Context.Parameters("path")
        Dim Webservices As String = Context.Parameters("Webservices")
        Dim SoiWebservices As String = Context.Parameters("SoiWebservices")
        'Now create an object writer to send the file to
        Dim objWriter As XmlTextWriter
        objWriter = New XmlTextWriter(path, System.Text.Encoding.Default)
        'start writing the XML document
        objWriter.WriteStartDocument()
        'starting with the root element            
        objWriter.WriteStartElement("Parameters")
        objWriter.WriteElementString("WebServices", Webservices)
        objWriter.WriteElementString("SoiWebServices", SoiWebservices)
        objWriter.WriteEndElement()
        'flush and write XML data to the file            
        objWriter.Flush()
        objWriter.Close()
        objWriter = Nothing
        ' ========== PROBLEM PART ===============

        '---to be executed when the application is installed---
        Dim ceAppPath As String = GetWindowsCeApplicationManager()
        If ceAppPath = String.Empty Then
            Return
        End If
        Dim iniPath As String = GetIniPath()
        Process.Start(ceAppPath, iniPath)

    End Sub

    Private Sub Installer_AfterUninstall(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As
System.Configuration.Install.InstallEventArgs) Handles MyBase.AfterUninstall
        '---to be executed when the application is uninstalled---
        Dim ceAppPath As String = GetWindowsCeApplicationManager()
        If ceAppPath = String.Empty Then
            Return
        End If
        Dim iniPath As String = GetIniPath()
        Process.Start(ceAppPath, String.Empty)
    End Sub

    Public Shared Function GetWindowsCeApplicationManager() As String
        '---check if the Windows CE Application Manager is installed---
        Dim ceAppPath As String = KeyExists()
        If ceAppPath = String.Empty Then
            MessageBox.Show("Windows CE App Manager not installed", "Setup",
MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error)
            Return String.Empty
        Else
            Return ceAppPath
        End If
    End Function

    Public Shared Function GetIniPath() As String
        '---get the path of the .ini file---
        Return """" & _
           Path.Combine(Path.GetDirectoryName(System.Reflection.Assembly.
GetExecutingAssembly().Location), "Setup.ini") & """"
    End Function

    Private Shared Function KeyExists() As String
        '---get the path to the Windows CE App Manager from the registry---
        Dim key As RegistryKey = Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey("SOFTWARE\
Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\CEAPPMGR.EXE")
        If key Is Nothing Then
            Return String.Empty
        Else
            Return key.GetValue(String.Empty, String.Empty)
        End If
    End Function
End Class

[/Code]

Thanks in advance, and sorry for the ultra long post :)

Cheers,

path is the variable which is essentially: "[TARGETFILE]/Configfile.xml" from
the MSI installer.

sysprowebservices and soiwebservices are the two variables entered during the
installation onto the Desktop PC.
These are the two strings of data that I somehow need to access from within
the application.

Thanks again, and hope this isn't all as confusing for you as it is for me ;)

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To reply to me, remove the underscores (_) from my email address (and please indicate which newsgroup and message).

I'm currently attempting another approach, to use CERegEditor in a 'command
line' mode to post the parameters into the Mobile Devices Registry instead.
Nearly got this working, but it will rely on the device being cradled when
the software is installed.

Do you think the RAPI method would be better than this alternative method,
and does anyone have any ideas how to make the RAPI method work in VB.NET?

Thanks,

Ian.

Hi Trevor,

Thanks for the suggestions. I am using the VS 2008 Smart Device CAB project
to create the main CAB file, and this all works perfectly.

However, the configuration settings I mention need to be entered at the point
of transferring the CAB onto the device, NOT at the point of creating the CAB
in the first place. There don't seem to be any ways to do this using the
standard VS 2008 installer.

As far as I can tell, RAPI requires the Mobile Device to be connected at the
point of running the install. I'd much prefer it if the user can do the
install offline, and sync up the device some time later. Is that true, or did
I misunderstand that? Also, this seemed a bit complex for my brain, so I
tried another method:

So far, my best option seems to be:

* Collect the parameters as part of the installer to load the installer app
onto the host desktop.
  Include the 'cabwiz.exe' and 'cabwiz.ddf' files as files in the MSI
installer package.
* Pass the parameters into the cab custom installer.
  In the 'Custom Installer', have it write a '.inf' file to configure the
creation of a second CAB file.
  This file should also contain the parameters formatted in a way to load
them to registry settings on the device.
  Then have the custom installer write a cmd file which will call CABWIZ with
the details of the .inf file.
  Then call the cmd file.
* The cmd file runs, creates a CAB file with the registry settings in it.
  Then, a final part tells CEAPPMGR to install both the original Main CAB
file, as well as the secondary config file.
  This imports the original CAB file with the man parameters, and then the
secondary CAB file with the registry settings.

Works with the device in the cradle, or out.

Simples....

Must be a better way, but this does mean the install can be done without the
device being cradled.

Or am I missing an obvious setting in VS 2008 ?

Any other suggestions?

Ian.

Thanks for sticking with me :) The current method is now working, though it's
a bit convoluted.

The ideal situation is:
1. Activesync, and my MSI installer would be installed initially by a system
administrator at the point of configuring a new mobile device. (From disk, or
over internet). Device does not have to be attached at this point.
2. The parameters are entered at the point of running my MSI for the main CAB
installation onto the Desktop. (The parameters tell the application the URL
of the main application server, so they are constant for all devices on one
customer site). In the current method, CeAppMgr is called at this point, with
a setup.ini file to tell ActiveSync to install the CAB's at the next Sync.
3. A device can then be docked (Now or later on) and the application will
automatically be installed by Activesync (CeAppMgr), along with the
parameters.
4. At any later point, if more mobile devices are docked, then the
application would be installed to that device also.

The method I mention is doing this, and the only negative at the moment is
the fact that the CMD script causes a DOS box to appear in the background,
which looks a bit ugly.

It would be very interesting to know if there's a better way, as this does
seem quite longwinded, but since it is working now, this is less critical
than it was.

Thanks for following the thread :)

Ian.

You could write a RAPI application that installs the CAB and the
configuration file, and you can get that application to run whenever a
user connects. So someone can install that RAPI program, the CAB file,
and the configuration file on a customer's "desktop", and then when
someone connects a device to that "desktop", the RAPI program will run
and install the program and config file to the device. For info about
triggering a RAPI program this way, see my 25 February 2003
contribution to a thread called "ActiveSync Module" in this newsgroup.

On Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:39:01 GMT, "ian_morgan via PocketPCJunkies.com"

-I created a config file within my mobile app and marked the file property "Copy to output directory" as 'Copy Always'

my TFS custom build script changes the WCF endpoint url based on which Client location I am building it out to.

-Within my Cab generator project I point to the mobileapp.config file from the build output location so that it will be included in the CAB.

When the CAB is installed on the device, the appropriate mobileapp.cofig is copied to the app folder on the device

- I also use a similar desktop setup project that you use and some custom actions to install the cab to the device.

Is this what you are trying to do?

I think I understand your description now.

You could write a RAPI application that installs the CAB and the
configuration file, and you can get that application to run whenever a
user connects. So someone can install that RAPI program, the CAB file,
and the configuration file on a customer's "desktop", and then when
someone connects a device to that "desktop", the RAPI program will run
and install the program and config file to the device. For info about
triggering a RAPI program this way, see my 25 February 2003
contribution to a thread called "ActiveSync Module" in this newsgroup.

-----------------------------------------
To reply to me, remove the underscores (_) from my email address (and please indicate which newsgroup and message).

Robert E. Zaret, eMVP
PenFact, Inc.
20 Park Plaza, Suite 400
Boston, MA 02116
www.penfact.com

Previous Posts In This Thread:

It sounds like you're specifying the customer specific parameters at the
point of creating the cab in Visual Studio, as opposed to this being a
parameter entered by the user when installing the MSI.

To clarify how yours works, do you have to create different MSI files for
different customers, or can you use one compiled MSI installer for all
customers? (I'm looking for one MSI installer for everyone).

As I said though, the method above works, so it's really now an academic
question to see what the best way is.

Thanks,

Ian.