Catalog Item Management (Windows Embedded CE 6.0)
1/6/2010
In Platform Builder, the Catalog Items View window shows all the Catalog items that you can add to the operating-system (OS) design (.pbxml) file, including board support packages (BSPs), core OS features, transport layers, and device drivers. You can also use filters to display only the Catalog items that are currently included in your OS design. For more information, see Catalog Items View.
Catalog Items
A Catalog item is specifically included in the OS design by a design template or by the OS developer. A Catalog item might also be automatically added during the build cycle if it is a dependency of another item.
The Cesysgen.bat file controls additional batch files, which contain dependency rules that Platform Builder compares against the items in your OS design. Platform Builder automatically includes additional Catalog items that are required to support the Catalog items initially included in the OS design.
Each time you add a Catalog item to, or remove one, from your OS design, or perform any other action that would require performing a Sysgen of the OS design, Platform Builder refreshes the display of Catalog items in the Solution Explorer window. The Build tab in the Output window also displays a list of Catalog items added due to dependencies.
Each time the build process is initiated, Platform Builder starts with only required Catalog item functionality and no dependent items. For more information about the build process, see Build Phases.
At that point, you can delete Catalog items that the design template or OS developer included in the OS design. For more information, see Modifying an OS Design.
After dependent items have been added to the OS design, you can remove a Catalog item that has been brought in by dependency, but only after the items that depend on it are removed.
Also, to ensure that a child Catalog item is not removed if its parent Catalog item is removed from the OS design, you can select the child and then choose Add Item to User Specified Catalog Item(s) from the context menu. This explicitly includes the child Catalog item in your OS design. If, at a later point in the development process, you no longer want to keep the child Catalog item in your OS design, you can reverse this process. To do this, select the Catalog item and then, from the context menu, choose Remove Item from User-specified Catalog Item(s).
For more information about dependencies, see Catalog Item Dependencies.
For more information about migrating a Catalog item created using Windows CE 5.0 to Windows Embedded CE 6.0, see Migrating a Catalog Item.
Catalog Items in an OS Design
You can include an item in your OS design in one of two ways:
- Explicit inclusion through setting or clearing a Sysgen variable, which is an environment variable that corresponds to a specific feature, or by choosing the Catalog item from the Catalog.
Explicitly included Catalog items are called user-specified Catalog items.
For information, see Setting or Clearing an Environment Variable (Visual Studio) and Adding Catalog Items to an OS Design. - Indirect inclusion due to another item or feature depending on it to function.
These indirectly included items are brought in by dependency. To remove an indirectly included Catalog item from your OS design, you must remove all Catalog items that bring it in by dependency. For more information, see Catalog Item Dependencies.
In the Solution Explorer window IDE, you can determine whether a Catalog item is explicitly or indirectly included by examining its icon. For information about icons used in the IDE, see Catalog Item Icon Types.
** For more information about setting Sysgen variables, see Sysgen Variables.
Drivers in an OS Design
In contrast to Catalog items, most drivers are included in a board support package (BSP) specific manner through a combination of Sysgen variables and BSP variables. For more information, see Driver Dependencies.
To determine which drivers are supported by your OS design and your BSP, the last stage of the IDE dependency analysis compares the list of core OS modules in your OS design with the list of BSP variables set by the batch file for the BSP you are using.
The IDE then automatically displays these drivers as indirectly included Catalog items in your OS design.
Special Notifications
To examine the list of special notifications associated with Catalog items in your OS design, in the Solution Explorer window, select the icon for your OS design, and then, from the context menu, choose Show Notifications. A dialog box appears that lists the special notification summaries for your OS design.
Catalog Item Creation
You can create a new Catalog item to represent a third-party device driver or a third-party application. For more information about how to create a Catalog item for a device driver, see How to Add a Device Driver to the Catalog. For more information about how to create a Catalog item for an application, see How to Add an Application to the Catalog.
For information on how to package the new Catalog item for distribution to a third party, see Exporting a Catalog Item from the Catalog.