Ahhhh... .NetCF 3.5

[ADB100]

Sorry to bring this up again but I have been reading some more and and confused over what should and shouldn't work. :confused:

I am running a ROM that is based on the official HTC 5.2.19212. In this is .NetCF 2.0 and all the .NetCF apps I have run on this ROM fine. Now I have previously tried replacing the NetCF folder in SYS in the kitchen for the newer NetCF35 package that is available almost everywhere. When I do this NONE of the .NetCF applications run - MobileCalculator.exe, LiveSearch.exe, WelcomeCentre.exe, catalog.exe etc. I just gave up last time and admitted defeat and just re-cooked .NetCF 2.0 into the ROM.

Recently I read some more and read that .NetCF 3.5 is BACKWARDLY compatible with 2.0 and that there are performance improvements so I thought I would re-investigate this. Anyway same story at the moment - i.e. it doesn't work - however I am wondering if I need anything else in the ROM as well as .NetCF 3.5. This thread seems to say sqlce3.5 is also needed but doesn't specifically say apps like LiveSearch.exe or MobileCalculator.exe will work?

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=370772

If anyone has any pointers I would be welcome as I am keen to get .NetCF 3.5 in my ROM.

Cheers

Andy

[richabi]

HKLM>>software>>microsoft>>.netcompactframework

change your values.
if you have a key of "2.0..." something version in that string, change the value to 0
the "3.5..." whatever key should be changed to 1

[ADB100]

HKLM>>software>>microsoft>>.netcompactframework

change your values.
if you have a key of "2.0..." something version in that string, change the value to 0
the "3.5..." whatever key should be changed to 1

Yep, already tried that and still have the same issue.

It seems a lot of people have removed .NetCF 2.0 from their customised ROMs and replaced it with .NetCF 3.5, which is exactly what I want to do. I assume other people don't have the issues I am seeing as pretty standard things like LiveSearch, MobileCalculator and the GettingStarted thing wouldn't work?
If someone could explain what they did when they re-cooked their ROM from the official HTC 5.2.19212 to get .NetCF 3.5 to work I would appreciate the explanation?

Thanks

Andy

[raiisak]

You should checkout the cabs in viper series (post #2), you got a good 3.5 cab there whit a configurator. My soft and office version are running 2.0 & 3.5 whit the configurator so you can swap for A to B with ease ;)

[ADB100]

You should checkout the cabs in viper series (post #2), you got a good 3.5 cab there whit a configurator. My soft and office version are running 2.0 & 3.5 whit the configurator so you can swap for A to B with ease ;)

I am not really sure why this has been moved as it is ROM cooking related :confused: Ho hum....

Anyway looking at the Viper Soft & Office versions you state that .NetCF 2.0 & 3.5 are unistallable so I assume you are installing them post flash using the 'config.txt' (extended ROM like), so you aren't actually cooking both into the ROM. I would be happy to just have .NetCF 3.5 in the ROM but I want my .Net applications to work.....

I specifically read yesterday that .NetCF 3.5 was BACKWARDLY compatible with .NetCF 2.0 and as far as I can tell it isn't, either that or as I said originally I am missing something.

Anyone else able to offer any advice?

Thanks

Andy

[ADB100]

Can anybody please help with this as I assume all the Chefs who have removed .NetCF 2.0 and replaced it with .NetCF 3.5 must have hit this issue?

I have re-cooked a ROM and included .NetCF 3.5 and SQLCE 3.5 (replaced the older packages in SYS). If I try and start MobileCalculator.exe (or any other .Net application) I get a dialogue box with the title 'MobileCalculator.exe' and it says: Cannot open 'MobileCalculator.exe'. A critical component is either missing or cannot start because program memory is unavailable. Tap Start > Settings > System tab > Memory, stop programs that did not automatically stop, and try again.

There is obviously nothing else running as this is directly after a re-flash.

Desperation here.... :(


Andy

[Snowreaper]

net cf here

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=E3821449-3C6B-42F1-9FD9-0041345B3385

[ADB100]

I am loosing my mind over this and I am positive someone has been through this already and has a solution but for some reason they are not willing to share it...... :rolleyes:

OK, testing I have done so far:

1. Build ROM with .NetCF 2.0 in ROM and then install .NetCF 3.5 via the .CAB file - This works and if you change any of the Application Policies via the .Net Configuration tool they seem to work with both .NetCF 2.0 & 3.5

2. Build ROM with .NetCF 3.5 in ROM using one of the OEM packages available - This does not work and none of the .Net applications will run. .NetCF configuration tool shows only .NetCF 3.5 available

3. Build ROM without .NetCF 2.0 OR 3.5 in ROM and install ONLY .NetCF 3.5 via .CAB file - This works and all .Net applications run file. .NetCF configuration tool shows only .NetCF 3.5 available


So based on this testing it seems that .NetCF 3.5 IS backwardly compatible, however getting it cooked into a ROM seems to be a black art. If anyone can help I would be very grateful.

Andy

[ADB100]

OK, after much faffing around I have got this to work but I am not sure why. I believe the problem was the OEM packages and the 6 modules that are in all of the OEM packages of .NetCF 3.5 I have downloaded. The modules get converted to files during the cooking I am led to believe? However I don't quite understand the module versus file thing?

The 6 modules/files are: cgacutil.exe
mscoree3_5.dll
mscoree.dll
netcfagl3_5.dll
netcfd3dm3_5.dll
netcfmail3_5.dll

After much re-flashing, installing/unistalling the .CAB file, manually copying files and exporting/importing of registry entries I ended up extracting the files from the .NetCF 3.5 .CAB file and replacing the 6 modules in the .NetCF35 OEM package. I then re-cooked the ROM and my .Net CF applications are now running again :) and I only have .NetCF 3.5 in the ROM :)

I can't believe that all the OEM packages of .NetCF 3.5 I downloaded are flawed as they must work on some devices?

Andy

[ADB100]

OK, before I started out I did search. In fact I asked this question a while ago and searched then too.

However, I thought I would search again and widen it a bit (search for only 'netcf' instead of '.netcf 3.5' & 'include in ROM'). There was one thread I found:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=350279

And in here it seems other people were suffering the same issue. Although the answer in that thread is similar to the conclusion I have arrived at, neither thread is quite complete - i.e. why the OEM package with modules doesn't work, but repacked using the files instead of modules does?

If anyone can explain why/how this works like this I would appreciate the explanation or provide some links (I have previously looked into modules but never found a good explanation).

Cheers

Andy

p.s. and after all that I can't really tell the difference in speed of the Kaiser or any of the .NetCF applications...... Maybe I need some native .NetCF 3.5 apps?