Sometimes I can be a bit of a dope…
You can ignore my previous post about side loading widgets which are deployed via a web server… There’s a much easier way.. the entire post was based upon incorrect assumptions and feedback from a couple of people with actual WM6.5 devices (hacked XDA-developers.com based ROMS no less…).
I’ve since discovered that most widgets should automatically install (without hacks) if you simply provide a hyperlink to the *.widget file directly. Although the crappy internet explorer dialog with less than obvious “open” option is still part of the installation process which may trip up less technology savvy users (or at-least require additional guidance on the download page).
Depending upon your webserver you may need to alter your mime types however to get the file correctly detected. If this is the case, add an entry for the .widget file extension with the mime type specified as “application/widget”.
Gerr… sometimes it really pains me the lack of developer documentation and support for WM6.5. This is not the first time I’ve gone down incorrect paths.
If you have access to an actual WM6.5 device with non hacked ROM, I would love for this to be verified. I’m sick of second guessing emulator behavior vs actual released ROM behavior.