Building a Run-Time Image (Windows CE 5.0)

After you complete your OS design, you can build a run-time image by using the Platform Builder integrated development environment (IDE).

Before building a run-time image, choose the active configuration. A configuration specifies a board support package (BSP) and build options. On the Build toolbar, the Select Active Configuration list shows available configurations.

Note   If you copy your workspace (.pbxml) file from one development workstation to another, only the configurations corresponding to CPUs installed on the destination development workstation are available for selection.

If you change platform settings for your OS design, your changes apply to the active configuration selected in the Platform Settings dialog box.

If you change the active configuration after you changed the platform settings for your OS design, your changes are not included in the run-time image. To include the new settings for your OS design in the run-time image, you must run another build.

For information about the characteristics of a run-time image built from each configuration, see Levels of Debugging Support. When deciding between a debug or release image, be sure to consider the final size of the build. Because a debug build includes much more information than a release configuration, the composite size of the debug DLLs might exceed the virtual memory space available. That is, a debug build fails with certain BSP Design Templates. In these cases, the run-time image is simply too large for the allocated space.

The following list shows the BSPs and associated Design Templates that are affected by this issue.

BSP Affected Design Template
ARMV4I MainstoneII Enterprise Web Pad
ARMV4I SMDK2410 Enterprise Web Pad
MIPSII BCM91101SP Enterprise Terminal
Enterprise Web Pad
Internet Appliance Consumer
Set Top Box
MIPSII DBAU (1000, 1100, 1500) Enterprise Web Pad
MIPS (II, IV, FP) SG2_VR (5500 and 4131) Enterprise Web Pad

If you are creating an OS design for one of the BSPs listed in the preceding table, you might need to create a build that combines debug and release bits. In this build configuration, debug elements are included only for selected components, rather that for the entire Windows CE system. A combined build configuration is much smaller than a full debug build, and can be successfully built for all supported BSPs.

For more information about creating a combined build, see Combining Debug and Release Bits.

To build a run-time image

  1. From the Build OS menu, choose Set Active Configuration.

  2. Select an active configuration, and then choose OK.

    If you expect the size of your run-time image to exceed 32 megabytes (MB), enable support for a large run-time image in the settings for the configuration. For information about enabling support for a large run-time image, see Enabling a Run-Time Image Size Larger Than 32 MB.

    Note   Run-time images built from a Debug configuration are typically larger than run-time images built from a Release configuration. If you chose a Debug configuration and your OS design contains many Catalog items, it is likely that the size of your run-time image will exceed 32 MB.

    The status bar in the Platform Builder IDE shows the estimated size of the run-time image.

  3. Do one of the following to create a run-time image:

    Task Actions
    To run the Sysgen tool on the files that have changed since the previous build.
    1. From the Build OS menu, verify that Make Run-Time Image After Build and Copy Files to Release Directory After Build are selected.
    2. From the Build OS menu, choose Sysgen.
    To perform a clean before running the Sysgen tool on files in the tree for the OS design.
    1. From the Build OS menu, verify that Clean Before Build, Make Run-Time Image After Build and Copy Files to Release Directory After Build are selected.
    2. From the Build OS menu, choose Sysgen.
    To build only the files that have changed since the previous build.
    1. From the Build OS menu, verify that Make Run-Time Image After Build and Copy Files to Release Directory After Build are selected.
    2. From the Build OS menu, choose Build and Sysgen.
    To delete existing intermediate and output files before building and running the Sysgen tool on files in the tree for the OS design that have changed.
    1. from the Build OS menu, verify that Clean Before Build, Make Run-Time Image After Build and Copy Files to Release Directory After Build are selected.
    2. From the Build OS menu, choose Build and Sysgen.
    To stop the build process.
    • From the Build OS menu, choose Stop Build.

      It is recommended that you do not stop the build if you selected Clean Before Building.

    For more information about the options on the Build OS menu, see Build OS Menu Options.

  4. Verify that your run-time image is being built by observing the output messages in the Build tab of the Output window in the IDE.

When the build process is complete, Platform Builder adds a count of the warnings and errors generated during the process to the output in the build window, using the following format: (XX warnings, XX errors).

This count is based on the number of messages containing the strings "warning" and "error" that are generated during the build process.

See Also

Run-Time Image Build Process | How-to Topics | How to Connect to a Target Device for Debugging | How to Use the IDE to Create, Customize, and Build a Run-Time Image | How to Add a Media File to a Run-Time Image | How to Configure and Build a Run-Time Image for a CEPC | How to Create a Device Driver | How to Decrease Run-Time Image Size on a CEPC | How to Implement a Control Panel Application | How to Customize the Appearance of Common Controls | How to Use Remote Call Profiler to Find Performance Problems | How to Use Remote Performance Monitor to Observe Performance | How to Profile and Optimize a Display Driver | How to Debug a Run-Time Image on a CEPC | How to Use Platform Builder to Connect to Multiple Target Devices

Last updated on Thursday, February 02, 2006

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