CAB files for gauges

[MaddogK]

I know this has been answered many times, but the posts with the answers are long gone, so I'll ask again:

Now that my XML gauge file is complete, how do I turn it (with my resources) back into a CAB file that FS9 can read ?

[Moparmike]

MD,

You don't need to put everything back into a CAB file. Just place all the goodies into a folder with the gauge name inside your FS*/Gauges folder. I'm assuming this is how you did your testing.

If you want to CAB them back up, head over to Microsoft's SDK site check out the Cabdir SDK page.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc526962.aspx

Or...instead of doing it the long/hard way and you don't want to use any custom command switches, just drag your gauge's folder and drop it on top of cabdir.exe and it'll do an automatic CAB job for ya.


Here's the gory details from it...

To create a .cab file

1. Open a Command Prompt.
2. Type cabdir [switches] source_dir [dest_cab].

Notes

1. source_dir is the name of the directory containing the source files.
2. dest_cab is the destination cab file that will be built. If dest_cab is not specified, a cab will be created in the parent directory of source_dir with the same name as source_dir.

Switches

You can use the following switches with Cabdir.exe.
Switch - Description

/? Displays help information for cabdir.exe.
/R Recurse into sub directories. This is the default.
/R- Does not recurse into sub directories.
/F Flattens the directory structure. No subdirectory pathnames will be stored.
/COMPRESS Compress all files. This is the default.
/NOCOMPRESS Do not compress any files.
/NOCOMPRESSBGL Compress all files except .bgl files.
/AUTOCOMPRESS Compress only those files more than 10% compressible.
/BATCH Allow cabdir to run with no user interface.
/D Deletes non write protected files after CAB is created.
/V Verbose output into MS-DOS window.
/X Maximal compression at the expense of random-access. Not recommended for normal use.

[MaddogK]

Ahh, thanks. I'll give it a try. I have the 'gauge' in it's own folder within the gauges folder but would prefer a compressed file that FS9 can use instead of the dozen or so loose files for my gauge. I've tried MS' CAB studio but can't get the output CAB readable by the sim, I'll try the cabdir utility. Thanks for the help.

[ddeuce]

I know this has been answered many times, but the posts with the answers are long gone, so I'll ask again:

Now that my XML gauge file is complete, how do I turn it (with my resources) back into a CAB file that FS9 can read ?

If you want to create .cab files use a handy little freeware cabmaker called Zip Wrangler it is free, and very accurate.... and you can get it here........ http://www.cursorarts.com/ca_zw.html :ernae:

[Moparmike]

Good find ddeuce! I've got my CAB needs covered but that looks like a nice little program.

And welcome to SOH! :welcome:

[oldjoe]

Try this one:

http://efliq.ef.ohost.de/gaug_data/xgau_06_l3.html