Packaging a .NET Compact Framework Application

Once you finish building, testing, and debugging your application, you will need to distribute it to your eager customers in a simple, reliable manner. In the .NET Compact Framework, this is done in two steps. First your application must be packaged into a self-extracting cabinet file. These files usually have the .cab file extension and will here be referred to as CAB files. One CAB file contains all the files required for your application, which reduces the chances of partial installation.