Problem Deploying Program to Tablet PC

[evilbungle]

Hi, I have created a program in VB.Net using Visual Studio 2008, the program works fine and everything is working until I try to install it.

I need to be able to add it to a flash drive so I can load it up on a handheld device. I have gone through the publish wizard on my PC and created the Application Manifest and other Files on my PC, I have then copied this folder onto a memory stick and then accessed it through the handheld and run the set up. everything seems to work but when I try and access the program I get an error message stating that the program can not find the database file; it tells me to check the path [Data Source = database1.sdf] i have searched for my database and it does not appear that it has been deployed.

No idea what the problem could be as this is the first time I have tried deploying an SQL Server compact database with a program. I am sure that I have missed something but can not find anything in the tutorials that would cause my problem.

The device I am deploying too is a panasonic Toughbook which is running Windows XP, it already contains an application which runs an SQL Server DB so This can't be an issue.

Any help would be really appreciated.

Thanks

Adam

[David Gluth]

Hi Adam

I haven’t done this for a while, but If memory serves you will need press the “application Files” button on the publish page and ensure that the database1.sdf file is included in your deployment.

Dave

[evilbungle]

Hi Thanks for getting back to me,

Database1.sdf is listed under application files it says Publish Status: Data File (Auto) and Download Group (Required)

Also Database1.sdf.d eploy is one of the application files in the folder I am installing from.

[David Gluth]

I have had occasions where the settings “Auto” and “Required” were selected but, in my case, the DLL was not included in the deployment. I manually changed the “Auto” to “Include” to force its inclusion.

[evilbungle]

Thanks again but this still hasn't worked.

Should I have files downloaded onto the device anywhere? the files are not being copied which I think may be the issue.

[David Gluth]

Sorry Adam I have been away for awhile. Are you still having issues?

When you ‘publish’ an application no files are copies to any place that you can locate on the local computer. The idea is that the user will always go to the link that you provide. Then when you make updates they will always get the latest version of you program, This is not really designed to be a setup replace although you can get there with a lot of overriding and stuff.

If all you want to do is put the program on the tablet, copy the contents of the bin\release file to your thumb drive , include your .sdf file. You will need to ensure that the datasource in your connection string has the correct path to where you put the sdf file on the tablet (you could probably run directly from the thumb drive depending on the size of your database.