ZfH software distribution allows you to distribute Handheld Application objects to handheld devices as part of software distributions. Handheld Application objects contain collections of files that you want copied to your handheld devices.
Handheld Application objects usually consist of applications to install on handheld devices, for example, .PRC files (for Palm OS devices) or CAB files (for Windows CE devices).
The following sections contain additional information:
When creating Handheld Application objects, you can select files, directories (and subdirectories), or both as the components of your object. You can also specify wildcard characters as a source file specification.
The following sections contain additional information:
Only standard Palm OS file types should be selected when creating handheld application objects targeted for Palm OS devices. Supported file types include:
Because Windows CE devices support different processor types, ZfH ensures that only CAB files compatible with the processor are copied to the Windows CE device when it synchronizes.
If CAB files are included in the handheld application object, they will be automatically extracted and installed.
For recurring software distributions (distributions that are scheduled to run more than once, for example, weekly), ZfH automatically scans the application's source directories at the scheduled time and includes new or changed files with the software distribution.
This allows an administrator to copy new or updated files to the source directory for distribution to handheld devices without needing to create a new Handheld Application object.
For example, you distribute sales data weekly to your sales staff. Each Monday, before sending out the distributions, ZfH scans the application's source directory. If there are any new or changed files added during the previous week, they will be included in that Monday's application- distribution. The handheld device will receive only the files that have changed.
To ensure that the handheld device gets the most recent versions or additions to the sales data files, the administrator only needs to copy the new or changed files into the application's source directory; a new application does not need to be created within ZfH.
If the source directory has no changes during the week, the application is not sent (unless new handheld devices have been added to the list of recipients).