How to Add a Device Driver to the Catalog

Other versions of this page are also available for the following:

Windows Mobile Not SupportedWindows Embedded CE Supported

8/27/2008

You can add a device driver to the Catalog by using Platform Builder as a part of the larger process of creating a device driver for use with Windows Embedded CE.

You should add your device driver to the Catalog after you create and build a driver that correctly interacts with both your hardware and the Windows Embedded CE operating system (OS).

You can also distribute custom Catalog items, along with their corresponding source driver modules, to third-party developers. Then, the third-party developer can view your device drivers in the Catalog and can use the Catalog Items View to include them in their custom OS designs.

Hardware and Software Assumptions

  • You are familiar with creating and building drivers. For more information, see Developing a Device Driver.
  • You are familiar with editing Catalog (.pbcxml) files. For more information, see Catalog Files.

Steps

Step Related information

1. Open an existing OS design, or create and build an OS design.

Opening an OS Design

How to Use the IDE to Create, Customize, and Build a Run-Time Image

2. If you have not built the run-time image yet, build the run-time image so that the build configuration files can be processed by the Catalog.

  • On the Build menu, choose Advanced Build Commands, and then choose Sysgen.

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3. If you do not have an existing driver selected, create a driver.

For example, you can use the existing Power Management sample driver, located at %_WINCEROOT%\Public\Common\Oak\Drivers\PM\Test\Devsample.

How to Create a Device Driver

4. Create a new Catalog file that will represent your driver in the Platform Builder Catalog.

Make sure that you save the new file in a Catalog folder in a directory for a feature. The following list shows the locations where you can save your Catalog file:

  • %_WINCEROOT%\PUBLIC\<ANY_DIRECTORY>\CATALOG\*.pbcxml
  • %_WINCEROOT%\PUBLIC\<ANY_DIRECTORY>\CATALOG\<ANY_DIRECTORY>\*.pbcxml
  • %_WINCEROOT%\PLATFORM\<ANY_DIRECTORY>\CATALOG\*.pbcxml
  • %_WINCEROOT%\PLATFORM\<ANY_DIRECTORY>\CATALOG\<ANY_DIRECTORY>\*.pbcxml
  • %_WINCEROOT%\PLATFORM\COMMON\SRC\SOC\<ANY_DIRECTORY>\CATALOG\*.pbcxml

%_WINCEROOT%\PLATFORM\COMMON\SRC\SOC\<ANY_DIRECTORY>\CATALOG\<ANY_DIRECTORY>\*.pbcxml

Using the Catalog Editor to Create a Catalog File

5. Customize the Catalog file by setting property values by using the Catalog Editor.

This provides Platform Builder with information that is required to display your device driver in the Catalog.

Creating a Catalog Item that Represents a Device Driver

6. Validate the Catalog file.

  • In Catalog Editor, choose Validate to validate the changes against the XSD schema.

Cc440212.note(en-US,WinEmbedded.60).gifNote:
If you have installed Visual Studio 2005 SP1, copy the XSL schema to the directory where you saved the .pbcxml file, or remove the xsi:schemaLocation attribute from the <CatalogFile> XML element, before you validate your .pbcxml file.

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7. Edit the build-configuration files to bring in the Sysgen variable for your module.

Editing OS Design Configuration Files to Add a Catalog Item

8. Import the .pbcxml file into the Catalog.

  1. On the View menu, choose Other Windows, and then choose Catalog Item View.
  2. Choose the Refresh catalog tree button.
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Catalog Items View is available only if step 1 is complete and an existing OS design is open in Platform Builder.

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9. In Catalog Items View, expand the Third Party node to verify that your driver has been added to the Catalog.

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10. Select the check box associated with the new Catalog item to add it to the OS design that is currently open in Platform Builder.

If a red X appears in the check box, this indicates that the item is excluded from the OS design. To troubleshoot this issue, view the Excluded Catalog Item Dialog Box.

The next time that you build the OS design into a run-time image, the new Catalog item should be included in the run-time image.

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See Also

Concepts

How to Add an Application to the Catalog
Catalog Item Icon Types

Other Resources

How-to Topics