Problems with Signing and the ReadUserData Capabilty

[greumatt]

Hi all,

i have developed an application, and it's ready no to send to a test house - but on symbiansigned.com while submitting you have to say which capabilities you are using and which API. And there is the problem, to install sucessfully my app on my N95 testphone, i need the ReadUserData Capability, but I've checked the API documentation of that Capability and I am not using any API there specified in my source code!

I'm accessing *.txt files (read/write) in the private folder of the application, do I need that capability for that, or what is the problem? When I try to install I get the error: "Required Application Access not granted". I have absolutly no idea why I need that cap, so if anyone has an idea, please help

[A.A.M.]

Accessing your own private folder does not require any capability. ReadUserData/WriteUserData is needed if you want to access user's personal data, such as contacts or calendars.

[ltomuta]

And there is the problem, to install sucessfully my app on my N95 testphone, i need the ReadUserData Capability, but I've checked the API documentation of that Capability and I am not using any API there specified in my source code!

Which capability is needed for an application is not something that you find reading the tea leafs. The subject is decently documented and governed by clear rules. There are also tools that would allow you to determine the exact needs like the epocwind.out log file or Carbide's Capability Scanner and Epocwind.out Scanner plug-ins.

You start by specifying CAPABILITY NONE in your project's MMP file and only add/remove capabilities to/from your project when you know that such action is needed and why.

[greumatt]

First, thanks for your fast reply. This Capability Check from Carbide cornered the problem a little. However, the result says me, that I would need to include Capability "DEPENDENT". As I found out, this means depending on runtime context one or another cap is needed. But I still don't really know which.

	RFs myFs;
	User::LeaveIfError(myFs.Connect());
	myFs.MkDirAll(KFileName);

MkDirAll causes one of the problems, and KFileName is accessing C://documents. This is not in the private folder of the app, so do I need WriteDeviceData for it?

The other issues are RFile.Open(),

 err = file.Open(aFs,KDescriptionFile,EFileRead);

and RFile.Replace()

 err = file.Replace(CCoeEnv::Static()->FsSession(), KDescriptionFile, EFileWrite);

In both cases it's again DEPENDENT. But here, KDescriptionFile is in the protected Application Folder - so why do I need here a Capability?

Last, RConnection.Start() and CRepository.Get() are listed as DEPENDENT as well, but I have included NetworkService Capability, I think that 2 warnings can be ignored, though.

Thanks for your help in advance

cheers
matt

[greumatt]

Hey all,

okay I solved the problem by now, I was to fast to ask again, instead to turn on my brain and figure it out for myself

I think to access the C:\documents\ directory i need the WriteUserData Capability.

[edit]
Well, after longer thinking, is this really the right cap? I think this cap is more used to access the calendar/contacts ? But I can install it on the phone, though.
[/edit]

Cheers,

Matt

[ltomuta]

Matt,

capabilities are required only when accessing !:\resource\..., !:\private\... or !:\Sys\... and those would be very restrictive capabilities (AllFiles and even TCB depending on location and access type).

All other locations in the file system are free for you to access (read and write) regardless of the capabilities your application might have.

Update: About DEPENDENT, it is not a capability, it is just tool's way of saying that, as specified above, the same API may require diferent capabilities depending on the source/destination of the file operation.

[greumatt]

Hi Itomuta,

thanks for your reply. The error was really not with reading and writing. Problem was, that this carbide capability scanner didn't work properly (i'm using vista). So I had do delete the "Capability" folder in epoc32/data. That way the scanner gets correct information from the web and it listed me another code line, where I needed the "writeDeviceData" cap.

Cheers,

Matt

[Paul.Todd]

As you said yourself,

I think this cap is more used to access the calendar/contacts

This is almost certainly the reason why you need read user data.

[paipeng]

You start by specifying CAPABILITY NONE in your project's MMP file and only add/remove capabilities to/from your project when you know that such action is needed and why.

This is a really good way!!

Thanks.

Pai