The Installer

The Installer application, which is run on the Device or Emulator, is used for installing applications to Quartz.

Applications are normally delivered as packaged installation files (called sis files) and are usually located on a device or removeable media such as a CF or MMC card. The Installer makes the task of locating and installing these installation files easy.

An installation file may also be installed over the air when it is in a wep/wap browser or an e-mail attachment — this is called OTA (Over The Air) installation.

Installing software to Quartz using the Installer is very simple:

• Start the Installer from the Launcher on Quartz. This launches an Install what? dialog showing a list of installation files/packages and their current locations.

• Select the software package for installation.

  At this stage, just before the actual installation takes place, the Installer carries out some pre-installation checks:

  • The integrity of the software package is checked. If the package is corrupt, non-unicode, or simply not compatible with Quartz the Installer reports it and the installation is aborted.

  • The authenticity of the digital signature and certificate is checked. In the event of a problem a warning is given and the installation process is paused. It can be resumed, with some risk, by selecting Continue or cancelled by selecting the Cancel button.

  • Whether the same version of the software has already been installed. If so, the installation process is aborted, otherwise it proceeds as normal.

  Once these checks have been cleared a Install software dialog is displayed showing the name, version number, and supplier of the software. It also includes buttons for viewing certificate and signature details, if available.

• Select Install to start installing.

  At this stage, just before the actual installation starts, the Installer makes the following checks:

  • Checks if a different version of the software is already installed. If so, a Replace software dialog is displayed allowing the previously installed software to be replaced.

  • Checks whether the package offers a choice of language. If so, a Select language dialog is displayed allowing the selection of a language.

  • Checks whether the package includes optional components. If so, a Installation options dialog is displayed allowing the selection of software components for installation.

  Once the checks have completed the process resumes and a Installing software dialog is displayed showing the progress of the installation.

  Note that the installation process can be cancelled at anytime. To cancel select Cancel on the Installing software dialog, this suspends the installation process and displays a Cancel installation dialog, and then select Yes to really cancel.

When the software has been successfully installed a Installation complete dialog is displayed showing the software's name, version, supplier, and if its an application, its icon.

• In an OTA installation the Installer is automatically launched when a installation file in a browser or e-mail attachment is selected. In this case the instructions, given above, on starting the Installer and selecting a package should be ignored.

• Software will not be installed when:

  • sufficient memory is not available

  • components required by the software are missing without which the installation cannot proceed.

    Note that this will not occur under normal circumstances as packages usually contain all the required components.

• Software is used in a generic sense and refers to all types of software such as applications, system components, plug-ins etc.