Software Deployment

Those instructions are correct and I have already used them without error.

The only thing I suggest is dont try to copy and paste any custom actions.....make them all by hand. Also double check your file paths to make sure the inf file is copied correctly

Hi Fstepina,

I just finished packaging this for 2 seperate 2000 seat rollouts, and its a world of pain.

What I found best for one environment was to not repackage, it comes as an MSI but to run the installation recording the setup (eg "Setup.exe /r /f1c:\temp\bb\blackberryinstall.iss") then once its installed, run the desktop manager with this command line ("DesktopMgr.exe /r C:\temp\bb\BlackBerry_Install") and set all your default settings. They will be recorded in 3 xml files in the directory specified. Take the .iss file and those 3 xml files and put them in your install directory. To deploy, simply run:

setup.exe /s /f1blackberryinstall.iss /f2c:\temp\bbinst.log

You'll need to insert the path to your blackberryinstall.iss after the f1 but note there are no spaces.

I found this MUCH easier than repackaging, and I followed that document you are looking at, its been referenced in various forums around the place. I spoke to guys at RIM who said its unsupported and when they plan deployments they don't use that method.

HOWEVER

For another site, I found that the isscript.msi that the vendor supplied package installs (grrrr hate isscript) conflicts with the version that PCAnywhere 9.02 installs, so users who had that on their machines, the install ALWAYS failed - sadly I didn't do the package for PCanywhere for that client and it was really bad, and had a corrupt isscript installation that wouldn't uninstall, wouldn't let another version install over the top, wouldn't repair, it was really messy. Rather than rebuild the workstations, I repackaged blackberry doing a snapshot. The only thing I found was that I had to run a script to manually register some files (in vbscript):

Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
X = WshShell.Run("""c:\Program Files\Common Files\Research In Motion\USB Drivers\BbDevMgr.exe"" /RegServer", , TRUE)
X = WshShell.Run("regsvr32 /s ""c:\Program Files\Common Files\Research In Motion\USB Drivers\BbDevMgrPs.dll""", , TRUE)
X = WshShell.Run("""c:\Program Files\Common Files\Research In Motion\RIMDeviceManager\RimDeviceManager.exe"" /RegServer", , TRUE)
X = WshShell.Run("regsvr32 /s ""c:\Program Files\Common Files\Research In Motion\RIMDeviceManager\RimDeviceManagerPs.dll""", , TRUE)

Hope one of those methods helps you out :)

Paul

Hi Jim/FStephina,

To be honest I never tried that method (http://www.blackberry.com/knowledgecenterpublic/livelink.exe/fetch/2000/8179/271477/Repackaging_the_BlackBerry_Desktop_Software_Installer.pdf?nodeid=348354&vernum=1)
as the guys at RIM told me a catologue of errors that they have seen when clients try this method, errors in synchronisation to the handheld, users not being able to change settings in the PIM synchronisation settings (MSOutlook vs Wireless sync etc) and various other things - some of which sounded like permissions problems to me, but at their advice I went down other paths. Sounds like I should have given it a shot, could have saved me some hassle :)

Still, multiple methods of deployment is always preferable to just one in my opinion.

Rgds

Paul

Thanks all for the pointers...

I did create the custom action by hand and only copied in the dll and inf. I'll check the inf path again and rebuild my package.

(I am using AdminStudio 5.5 to create the package, sorry I did'nt mention that before. Don't know if that may change the procedures in any way.)

~Frank

I have never a more dauting task than packaging the Blackberry CLient. I have read the pdf instructions from RIM but I can't find the location of those DLLs mentioned in the documents.

If any1 knows, please let me know asap as I have missed 3 deadlines for submission and my job is now on the line for this damn Blackberry

If this helps in any way...

As I added the suggested entries to the tables, I downloaded the dllwrap.ini and dllwrap.dll from the web sites mentioned:

http://www.blackberry.com/knowledgecentersupport/kmsupport/KnowledgeBase\Dllwrap.ini

http://www.blackberry.com/knowledgecentersupport/kmsupport/KnowledgeBase\Dllwrap.dll

I then saved them in my project files and referenced the location in the build.

For the ISDLLWrapper table, I exported the table from the sample XP/Outlook .msi and then imported it into my project.

Good luck.

Hi Jim,

I followed this document for yet another client using blackberry, and ran into a problem. The package installs fine, and seems to run fine, yet when users go to the Intellisync settings, then to PIM settings and go to change the synchronisation settings, it won't keep any of the settings that the users set.

I've been looking at this for a few days, thinking permissions, files missing etc, but I'm stumped. Anyone else stumbled into this?

Oh instead of using WininstallLE I used Installshield, its a contractual obligation with the client that all packages are done in Installshield.

When I do a log of the install, the custom action DLLWrapCleanup says "Skipping action due to msidbCustomActionTypeFirstSequence option"

I also sometimes get the "protocol error" problem where you have to register a few dll's, but not all the time. Seems a little shakey to me, so I'm sure I've done something wrong. I jsut can't see what, I've gone through that process in the document about 4 times now with the same results each time.

I again tried this method, this tike using WinInstallLE and Orca, and now get a "Failed to extract dll_.ini from the binary table" - I did an export from the binary table and the file is there, and everything else I've gone over character by character and it looks fine - any hints?

Plangton,

One of the guys here had the same problem with the package and he said it was permissions......also the notes.ini file location was important because we use Lotus Notes.

I have since repackaged the Blackberry and used this method.

https://adelie.ucs.ed.ac.uk/dstwiki/index.php/device%20drivers

It all works fine now.

Hi Jim,

I just found the solution myself and tested it about 10 minutes ago (it was corruption of an .ini file, Installshield not capturing it properly), and came here to post not to worry about it :) Thanks for that, I bookmarked that link, I saw it in another post of yours, it looks good but I'm under client orders to use these instructions this time (otherwise I would have done it the way I did previously for another client).

Thanks for that!

Rgds

Paul

Hi all,

Following on from the RIM USB driver issue -

I was going to use the DifxApp merge module to register the Blackberry USB driver, but it looks like the RIMUSB driver is not signed as it doesn't have a CAT file.

Strangely, there's a RIMUSBNT set of files that does have a CAT file, but the featurewhich installs them is conditioned to install on NT machines only.

Am I missing something here?

Can I use the RIMUSBNT drivers on XP/2000 machines?

Kind Regards,

Nookz

I followed this thread with interest after having many many problems repackaging blackberry.

Here is some good discussion in which (it is claimed) you can just extract the MSI from the vendor install and run it (with a few tweaks, of course). I cannot verify the truth of this.