Specifying files and registry entries in a package project file

Because files and registry entries are a key component of each object in a package, it is important to understand how files and registry entries are specified in package project files.

Files

To include a file, use the File element, which is a child of the Files element. The following XML example shows the schema definition of the File element.

<xs:complexType name="fileType">
   <xs:attribute name="Name" type="xs:string" use="optional"/>
   <xs:attribute name="Source" type="xs:string" use="required"/>
   <xs:attribute name="DestinationDir" type="DevicePathType" use="optional"/>
   <xs:attribute name="Attributes" type="attributesType" use="optional" />
   <xs:attribute name="EmbeddedSigningCategory" type="xs:string" use="optional" />
</xs:complexType>

This element has the following attributes.

Attribute	Definition
Source	Required. Specifies the source path of the file to be included in to the package. This path can be an absolute or relative path. It is also valid to use macro references within the path. Note   The file must exist, or package generation will fail.
DestinationDir	Optional. Specifies the destination folder on the device for the specified file. This path must start with a globally defined macro for a folder. If this attribute is not specified, the default location depends on the owned object.
Name	Optional. Specifies the name for this file on the device. If a name is not specified, the file name in the source path is used.
Attributes	Optional. Specifies the file system attributes for this file on the device. This value can be a combination of the following separated by a space character Archive Hidden Offline ReadOnly System Temporary SparseFile NotContentIndexed When not specified, a predefined default value is used. Note   Although the above attributes can be specified, the file system might not support all of them.
EmbeddedSigningCategory	Optional. Specifies the type of code signing that should be used for the file during package generation. The string that is provided for EmbeddedSigningCategory is passed unchanged to the sign.cmd tool that is used in package generation. For info on the available signing options for sign.cmd, see Sign binaries and packages. For example, to specify that HAL binaries should be signed using the –oem and –hal option, add the EmbeddedSigningCategory attribute as shown. <Files> <File Source="MyHalFileLocation\HalExt1.dll" EmbeddedSigningCategory="-oem -hal" /> <File Source="MyHalFileLocation\HalExt2.dll" EmbeddedSigningCategory="-oem -hal" /> <File Source="MyHalFileLocation\HalExt3.dll" EmbeddedSigningCategory="-oem -hal" /> </Files> For general information about code signing, see Code signing.

 

Registry keys and values

InWindows 10 Mobile, registry keys are instead specified in the package project XML file by using the RegKey element.

The RegKey element has only one required attribute, KeyName, which is the full path of the registry key. KeyName must start with a globally defined macro, but it does not require the trailing slash at the end of the key name.

Under the RegKey element can be zero or more RegValue elements. Each of these elements represents a value under the registry key. The RegValue element has the following attributes.

Note  

The MUI_SZ registry key type has been replaced with the REG_SZ or REG_EXPAND_SZ type. Developers should use either of these and change the code to use the RegLoadMUIString function to do the same. The format of the value is "@[path]\dllname,-strID" and an example would be "@%SystemRoot%\System32\msxml3r.dll,-2". This change occurred because the Windows kernel does not support a MUI_SZ type.

Attribute	Definition
Name	Required. String that specifies the name of the value. The symbol “@” can be used to specify the default value. Additionally, macros can be used in the attribute value.
Value	Required. String that represents the value of the key. This attribute is dependent on the value type.
Type	Required. The type of the value. The following list shows the possible type values and the required format for the paired Value attribute. Type valueDefinitionValue attribute REG_SZ A plain text string. Note   A NULL terminator character is appended to the end of this string automatically. If for some reason you don’t want the null terminator, you must use REG_HEX with a raw hex dump. “test value” REG_MULTI_SZMultiple text strings separated by ‘;’. *See note.“value1;value2;value3” REG_DWORD32-bit number represented in hex format, with no “0x” prefix.“1234ABCD” REG_QWORD64-bit number in hex format, with no “0x” prefix.“1234ABCD1234ABCD” REG_BINARYByte array in hex format, separated by ‘,’, with no “0x” prefix.“1A,2B,3D” REG_EXPAND_SZSame as REG_SZ. REG_HEXA byte array (same as REG_BINARY) with a type prefix in the form of “hex(x):” where x is the hex number for the type.“hex(7):1A,2B,3D”   Note   * Given that the ‘;’ character is the delimiter for REG_MULTI_SZ, the ‘;’ character cannot be used inside the string because it would be parsed as the separator of two strings. A workaround for this is to use the REG_HEX type instead and specify the string with the hex dump, e.g.: “hex(7):<exact hex dump of the string>”.

 

File and registry key groups, language/resolution expansion, and CPU filtering

For most objects, File and RegKey elements cannot be directly specified. Instead, they must be grouped under the Files and RegKeys elements. A Files or RegKeys element must have at least one File or RegKey element, respectively.

Both Files and RegKeys have some special attributes used for language/resolution expansion and CPU filtering.

Attribute	Definition
CpuFilter	Optional. Restricts the elements (File or RegKey) to a specific CPU architecture. Currently this attribute supports the following two values: ARM X86 The attribute is case sensitive and values must be specified in uppercase letters. Note   This attribute can be used along with the Language or Resolution attribute.
Language	Optional. Indicates to the package generator that the contents under this group are language specific and must be distributed to the corresponding language package. This attribute can be specified with the following values: “*”: The “*” character means that the elements under this group are language specific and are supported for every language that is being built. For each language built, the contents are inserted into the correspondent language packages. To target different files for each language, you can use the built-in global macro $(LANGID), which is expanded to the language identifier of the target language package. “(en-US;zh-CN)”: This syntax is used to indicate to the package generator that the contents are language specific, but are only available for the given languages. The contents will then be inserted only into the specified language packages. “!(en-US;zh-CN)”: A ‘!’ in front of the language list explicitly excludes the listed languages from receiving the contents. The contents will not be inserted to those listed languages. Note   This attribute can be used along with the CpuFilter, but it cannot be used at the same time as Resolution.
Resolution	Optional. This attribute is similar in usage to the Language attribute, with the exception that it requires the use of a resolution identifier instead of a language identifier. A resolution identifier is in the form of “<width>x<height>”, for example “320x240”. A built-in macro $(RESID) is available for the use of all child elements. Note   This attribute can be used along with the CpuFilter, but it cannot be used at the same time as Language.