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Smart Device Installation Projects

InstallShield 2012 Spring Express Edition

InstallShield provides the functionality to develop installations for the latest smart devices from within Microsoft Visual Studio and from within InstallShield. InstallShield Smart Device installations can be added to your smart device solution in Visual Studio, enabling your installation to be built automatically along with your smart device solution.

What Is a Smart Device?

Smart devices are the breed of devices that are based on Windows Mobile technology. These devices include Pocket PCs, handheld PCs, Smartphones, Pocket PC phones, and Windows CE .NET devices. While all of these devices have Windows Mobile technology at their core, they all have different requirements for software development and installation.

What Is the .NET Compact Framework?

The .NET Compact Framework is a scaled-down version of the .NET Framework designed to run on resource-constrained devices, such as the aforementioned smart device examples.

What Development Tools Do I Use to Create Software for Smart Devices?

If you are developing managed code for the .NET Compact Framework, use Visual Studio. If you are developing native code, use eMbedded Visual Tools 3.0 or eMbedded Visual C++ 4. InstallShield supports creating installations for managed code, native code, or a combination of the two.

How Is Software Installed on Smart Devices?

Depending on the device, there are a number of ways to install software. For example, a Smartphone might have software installed over a general packet radio service (GPRS) Internet connection. Pocket PCs can have software installed by tethering the device to a desktop computer and synching. Other devices install software automatically when a storage card is inserted. InstallShield supports all of these scenarios.

See Also

Creating Smart Device Installations