Pocket PC Software | Software Reviews

Pocket PC Installer
Written by James Fielding  [author's bio]  [read 20382 times]
Edited by Derek

   

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From PocketPCinstaller.com

What happens when the PDA installer file is run on the device ?

Well, if you've chosen a background bitmap, this gets displayed as your background image. Then, the installer works it's way through your list of .cab files that you want to install, and any other files that you've asked it to copy to the device. Your .cab files will only get installed onto devices if they haven't been installed on this device already (you can override this setting), and if you've specified that you want a particular .cab file to be installed onto a device of this type. For example, you can tell it to just install ARMv4.CAB files on Windows Mobile 2003 devices.

At the end of installing/copying your files, a log file is created on the device, describing whether each files or .cab was successfully copied/installed.

And that's it !

By now, most users are already starting to scratch their heads, and are looking for the catch. Surely, a program that you run on your PC can't create two installer files for your PocketPC that are that easy to use ?!

The most common misconception is that it somehow creates a PDA installer .exe which you need to copy to your device aswell as your .cab files. No !!!

Both installer .exes that are created are standalone installer files. If you email the Desktop version to a friend, they can run that one .exe on their PC, and it'll install all of your .cabs/data files to their device. They have everything they need in that one file.

Alternatively, if you put that one PDA installer .exe on a memory card, that's it. That's everything a user would need to run on their device to install your .cab/data files.

It really does create two completely different methods of installing your PocketPC files to your device. You just have to decide which is more useful to you, and ignore the other.

All I can say is this.. give it a try.

In the time it's taken you to get this far, you could've already built your installer .exes and be seeing the recap of what it's just built for you (I really love this screen !) :

It'll even offer to copy your installer to your PDA for you. Or you can click on the "installer.exe" branch in the tree above, and it'll start running the Desktop installer that it's just created for you.

I don't want to leave on a cliche about the PocketPC Installer, but it's hard not to.

There really is nothing else like it, and there's nothing that can make PocketPC / Windows Mobile installer packages as easily as this.

We all work hard enough, getting our .Net CF programs to look good and work well. Talking our users through installing them should be the least of our worries.

Roger Fielding
PocketPCtoolkit.com

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