What is a Device Update?

Many new devices are put on the market between releases of the Mobile Internet Toolkit. Therefore, Microsoft developed a process to support many of those devices. This process is called a device update.

A large number of mobile devices are currently available to consumers, and manufacturers are continually releasing new ones. One core architectural feature of the Mobile Internet Toolkit is the abstraction of device capabilities. What this means is that controls do not render markup. Controls use what is called an adapter to render markup. Controls select an appropriate adapter based upon the capabilities of a requesting device. A device update typically adds new device capability sections to the global configuration file, Machine.config.

It is extremely important to provide Mobile Internet Toolkit customers with the capability to easily update their mobile Web application to support new devices. The following instructions describe the contents of the device update, including how to install it and how to preserve customizations made to your existing installation of the Mobile Internet Toolkit, typically made in the Machine.config.

The list of devices that Microsoft has tested with the Mobile Internet Toolkit is found here.

The Device Update Process

This device update consists solely of a new browser capabilities (<browserCaps>) section for the configuration file, Machine.config, which replaces your existing <browserCaps> section to add support for a number of additional devices. The device update does not contain additional device adapter code. The previously released device adapter code works correctly with the new configuration file to support the additional devices.

In general, any device that has been tested on a previous release will also have been tested on the current release.

Installing the Device Update

During installation, the device update performs the following tasks:

• Checks whether the <browserCaps> section of your existing Machine.config file has been modified.
• Saves the <browserCaps> section of your existing Machine.config file.
• Replaces the <browserCaps> section of the Machine.config file.

You can download the latest device updates from the Web here.

To install this device update, perform the following steps:

• Install the device update by either saving the .exe file to your local machine and then double-clicking the .exe file, or by running the device update in place.
• Follow the subsequent on-screen instructions.
• Copy the custom changes into the <browserCaps> section of the Machine.config file.

Normally, the device update process displays a dialog box during the update if it finds changes in the <browserCaps> section of the Machine.config file. The dialog box warns you that the <browserCaps> section, including your changes, is replaced during the update. If you choose the quiet update option (-q), the device update process does not display anything to you, but silently installs the device update, including replacing the <browserCaps> section in the Machine.config file.

In either case, the device update process always saves your existing <browserCaps> section.

Changes to Machine.config

The Mobile Internet Toolkit setup process places distinct entries into a number of sections in the Machine.config file. Since this device update does not contain any new adapter sets, the device update process modifies only the <browserCaps> section of the Machine.config file.

Changes to <browserCaps>

The <browserCaps> section of the Machine.config file contains information about each tested device. This information is incorporated in a MobileCapabilities object when a request is received. The device update process replaces the existing <browserCaps> section with a new <browserCaps> section. This new section contains not only information about the existing set of tested devices, but also information about the new devices.

Comments Added for Device Update Information

The device update procedure adds comments to the Mobile Internet Toolkit entries. These comments help identify where you should make device-specific changes.

Preserving Changes to <browserCaps>

The device update process saves the <browserCaps> section to a backup file after you install a device update. The update procedure saves your old <browserCaps> section, including custom changes, to %FrameworkDir%\%FrameworkVersion%\Update\DeviceUpdateN\oldbrowsercaps.config, where N is the device update version. Once the device update process is complete, you can copy the custom changes into the <browserCaps> section of the Machine.config file.

If you modified a device capability section in the Machine.config file and you want to keep that change after the device update, you must copy your custom device capability section into the new Machine.config file.

Other Issues

Changes to ScreenCharactersWidth Property

The initial Mobile Internet Toolkit release used full-width Japanese characters when calculating the ScreenCharactersWidth property for i-mode and J-Phone devices. This is not consistent with how the ScreenCharactersWidth property is calculated for other devices, which use half-width characters.

If you have code that performs custom actions for i-mode or J-Phone devices using the ScreenCharactersWidth property, you will have to change your code to allow for this change.

Modify your custom i-mode or J-Phone device code to divide the value returned by the ScreenCharactersWidth property by 2 if you expect ScreenCharactersWidth is in full-width Japanese characters.