Powerful Symbian SIS file Packer / Unpacker

YAMGui Plus Is a very usefull handy piece of software for all symbian power users, this great software allows you to make sis files, un make sis files, preview themes and much more. Currently YamGUI Plus does not support 3rd edition sis files, this might be implemented in the future releases of YAMGui.

Main features:

• Create SIS Files
• create sis files
• grab UID from .sis and .app
• grab app name and version info from .sis
• add popup from textfile or type new one
• set type of popup
• choose position of popup (begin/end)
• preview popup
• embed sis in sis
• set default directories to easy the browsing
• save as .pkg file to process later
• process .pkg file
• Unpack/Rebuild SIS rebuild sis files, good for themes when you get Series60SkinSupport error
  files are rebuilt with same name, UID and target platform Series 60 v0.9 (all)

SIS Info/Extract features:

• view all info from sis file
• view appname for all languages
• view all languages
• view behavior of sis files with If, Else and Options
• extract all files
• choice to extract all languages or only one
• save the listing in txt file

Preview theme:

• preview a theme is sis format
• ability to show icons
• ability to save preview images

New features:

• added option to Unpack/Rebuild SIS files this is a very usefull option for those amongst us that are experiencing problems when installing themes (series60skinsupport messages)
• currently it will only show the Idle screen background of some themes
• expanded the theme preview feature, it will now show Idle screen
• Calendar background
• Menu background
• Favorites background
• Menupopup
• added the ability to show Signal and Battery level
• added the ability to show Icons if any exists
• added the ability to save the preview images
• you will be asked for a save path, the names will be like they are show preceding by the theme name ex.: Hitman_Calendar.bmp
• fixed a bug that caused runtime error 53
• created a proper installer

SIS Info tool for Symbian 9.1 SIS files

A new python utility to get information from a Symbian 3rd edition SIS file accoding to the new format (.sisx).

Signing Error Messages Series 60 (S60) 3rd Edition

If you have been reading discussions at Forum Nokia Developer Discussion Board recently, you may notice there are many questions about signing in S60 3rd Edition. It seems the new security feature in Symbian 9 has led to frustration for some developers.

I would like to share what kind of error messages I have seen when installing signed/unsigned application in S60 3rd Edition phones. There is a hint that explains what may cause a particular message. I may not be able to cover all error messages because I may not have seen all of them.

Read also a nice blog posting from S60 team, Signing applications for S60 3rd Edition.

Message: Certificate error. Contact the application supplier.

Hint: You may have tried installing unsigned application. Note that signing is mandatory S60 3rd Edition. You can use self-signed certificate or developer certificate from Symbian Signed to sign your application.

Message: Unable to install. Constrained by the certificate.

Hint: This message pops up when you attempt to install developer certificate in the unsupported device. The developer certificate from Symbian Signed can only be used in a limited number of devices. Remember that you have to send your IMEIs to Symbian Signed when requesting certificate. You cannot use the certificate in other devices that is not in your IMEIs list.

Message: Required application access not granted

Hint: Check that your certificate can be used to sign all capabilities needed by your application. For example, if you use self-signed certificate, you can only sign basic set capabilities, i.e. NetworkServices, ReadUserData, WriteUserData, LocalServices and UserEnvironment. If your application requires one of the extended capabilities, for example SwEvent, you cannot sign it with self-signed certificate. In this case, apply for developer certificates from Symbian Signed.

Message: Unable to install a protected application from an untrusted supplier

Hint: If you use self-signed certificate, make sure that your application uses unprotected UID, i.e. 0xA0000000 - 0xAFFFFFFF. If you use protected UID (0×20000000 - 0×2FFFFFFF) or legacy UID (0×10000000 - 0×1FFFFFFF), you will get this message.

Message: Unable to install

Hint: This message may come up when your installation file (.sis/.sisx) copies files to other application’s private folder, i.e. \private\uid. Note that Symbian 9 introduces data caging concept, it means you don’t have access to other application’s private folder.

SIS format changes documented

Very much for anyone planning to develop applications or Flash Lite content for Symbian OS 9 devices, Symbian have released a new paper documenting all the changes in the SIS installation file format and their implications.