Deploy a Desktop Shortcut to a Device running Windows CE 4.2 (VS2005)

I have an application written using VS2005 in C# targeting the Compact Framework 2.0 SP2. As part of the solution, I have CAB deploy project which deploys to the device without a problem. What I can't do is create a shortcut to my application on the devices desktop.

I have spent several hours reading various bits of documentation (why is the search at the MSDN site so bad?), followed the instructions but no joy.

What I've done is:

• Add the "Windows Folder" node to the File System
• Created a folder underneath that named "Desktop"
• Created a shortcut to the Applications Primary Output and placed that in the "Desktop" folder

What am I missing?

A Windows CE shortcut (CE of any version or flavor, including WinMo) uses a ASCII-text based file. They are in the form:

{XX}#{PATH}

Where:

• XX = the number of the characters in the path, to include the number a # sign
• PATH = fully qualified path to the file to run

For example:

20#\Windows\calc.exe

The other option is to use the CEShortcuts section of the INF file used to generate your CAB.

In the [DefaultInstall] section of the INF, set the CEShortcuts to a section name of your choice (something like "Shortcuts"), then add that section with your shortcut descriptor. MSDN details it here.

MSDN also has an article on creating a deployment project to generate the cab (available here), but in all honesty, the project capabilities are limited and IMO the tool just generally sucks. To this day we still use direct calls to CABWIZ (which also sucks, but it's our only choice) with hand-written INF files.