I have an application written in VB.NET that I want to move to Win10. It will always be a desktop application, however I would like it to have a start icon / tile in Win 10. Looking around I found this exact question which suggests to create a Metro App (now I believe called Windows App) which launches the desktop app. This is also discussed in this thread. So the questions;
These threads are a little old is the best way in Win10 to give a desktop app a Windows App Tile by using a Windows App as the Launcher for the desktop app?
It appears that in Win10 Microsoft has now allowed non-store apps to be installed in Update Security > SideloadApps. This needs to be enabled to install the App, but does this need to be always enabled. For example what happens after install if the user turns it off, will the app then not start?
For example I see in this link that there are 2 Registry keys to change, basically AllowAllTrustedApps and AllowDevelopmentWithoutDevLicense. Is it possible for my desktop installer to change these keys, install the Windows App (and everything else) and then change the keys back again?
Uninstalling? If I created a Windows App which only launched my desktop app then there is a possibility that the user uninstalls or deletes the Windows App, meaning my desktop app would be orphaned and lost. Any suggestion on solving this?
According to your description, I think what you need is Desktop Bridge. There is no need to use a Windows App as the Launcher for the desktop app.
You can try with Desktop App Converter, with this you can bring your existing desktop apps written for .NET 4.6.1 or Win32 to the Universal Windows Platform (UWP).
And after converting, you can replace the Assets generated by Desktop App Converter (DAC) automatically to provide custom Tiles/Icons. For more, you can refer to Manually convert your app to UWP using the Desktop Bridge.
Related
Detailed explanation:
Windows 8.1 targeted app package bundle for x86 and ARM architectures was uploaded to the Windows Store;
Windows Store approved it as a valid app, and published it using targeted distribution (Beta release for specific e-mail addresses), and gave me two different links for each Store: Windows 10 - www.microsoft.com/store/apps/some_code; Windows 8 - apps.microsoft.com/windows/app/some_other_code;
Both links redirect to the same page in the web version of Windows Store (and instantly opens the Store App with the game page open): www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/games/game-name/another_code;
When you click the Windows 10 store link on Windows 10 machine, the Store App opens, and app is downloaded smoothly and easily;
BUT when you open the link to the Windows 8.1 Store on a Windows 8.1 machine, Store App opens, refreshes one time, but instead of displaying the app page, it shows the Home page, and you cannot download the app at all from the official Windows 8.1 Store, even though the browser page includes Windows 8.1 in supported OS'es list;
Some additional comments:
in both machines I am connected to the Store using an account, which is in the list of targeted distribution partners (e.g. in the "whitelist" of beta users);
App is working normally both on Windows 10 and Windows 8.1 when I am installing them using the ".ps1" PowerShell script Visual Studio generates when building a release package;
I tried to change regions in the Store (UK, LT, US, etc.), but none of them works.
If you need more information - comment, I will try to explain more details :)
Finally, I have found an answer here:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/uwp/publish/set-app-pricing-and-availability
"If you want to hide your app in the Store but still make it available to certain people, select one of the following options to limit your app's availability. Note that customers on Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 won't be able to get the app at all if you choose any of these options."
Since our app was hidden, e.g. "targeted distribution" (with certain e-mail addresses in the "white-list"), we couldn't test the app in the Windows 8.1 store. (Don't ask why, but..) Microsoft does not allow this functionality on Windows 8.1 machines, as mentioned in the article above.
I'm new to windows phone, and I don't have a real device to test on.
I know that one can install .XAP files from SD card.. but does this process reqires internet access to check that the app is on the store or I just installs it as in Android?
Thanks in advance
You can debug your app on your physical device in Visual Studio. Your device has to be connected via usb cabel to your computer and has to be developer unlocked. You can developer unlock your phone with the Windows Phone Developer Registration Tool, which is a part of the Windows Phone SDK. You can find more information about the process here.
No, you cannot install the xap package on other people devices until unless their phones are not developer unlocked. When you build a .xap package in Release mode, you need to first upload it to Store where the Microsoft team checks package for security concerns. Once that has been checked, package verified, then the packages can be installed, basically uploading the app.
To debug the app, its better to unlock your friend's phone and then test it on it. After that if you wish you can also un-register the phone to revert back to original developer locked mode.
There is one more method which I use when my app is completed but do not wish to release the app on store, but instead, I wish that first these apps be used by my friends first, they give feedback and after that I finally submit the app on Store.
To do this, I submit the app in private visibility on Store. There is an option while submitting the app which indicates whether you want that other users can see your app on phone. I mark it Hidden. Once my app is verified and is on store, I download the app from store by going to the appropriate link of app on store which is given in app profile at dev-center. I choose 'Download and Install Manually' option to download the xap. This xap can be installed on other devices without unlocking their device.
Okay, okay - this should be simple, but I just can't figure it out, and Google isn't helping. I just bought a Lumia 635 for developing apps for the Windows store, and I'm using Blend to make my apps in HTML and JS. I've been getting along just fine so far, but it seems that I'm unable to select my WP as a target device.
I've already "unlocked" my windows phone device so that I can use it to develop. I don't believe it's to do with drivers since I would assume Win8 has the drivers inbuild. I'm wondering, is this even possible from within blend? There is a separate program named "Windows Phone App Deployment". Do I have to use this? There seems to be very little concise documentation on this, so I'm assuming it's not possible.
For universal apps, the available deploy targets are based on which project you choose as your startup project. By default the Windows App is the startup project, so it gives you deploy options like Local Machine and Simulator (Windows Tab). Change your startup project to Windows Phone App and you'll see the device option as well as different phone emulators.
I am developing apps (for MAC) which will NOT be hosted on the app store.These apps will be installed by dmg file. Can someone please confirm my assumptions?
Even if I dont sandbox the apps, app will still work on OSX 10.7 and above (provided see point 2 below)
If the security setting is "Mac Appstore and identified developer", in a non sandboxed scenario, user needs to right click and open the dmg file instead of double click it and installer can install apps to Application folder. Once installed applications can -
-Interact each other
-Access files
Yes, out of the app store apps don't have to run in sandbox.
The security setting has nothing to do with how your app is installed. If you build a installer (Xcode can do it for you) or you if you send the .app bundle in a dmg to be dragged into applications folder is a thing of your choice. An app that is not running in sandbox can interact with any other app and with any system resource, only limit is user permissions. OS X is still Unix and the fact that app store has rules about sandbox doesn't change the world out of app store.
I have been tasked with writing a simple one-time-use Metro/windows store/modern UI (whatever you want to call it now) app for windows 8; it wouldn't be appropriate to try to get it into the store, because we only plan on deploying it to about 4 or 5 devices. I noticed that when I installed Chrome on the machine, it somehow managed to sneak a metro version of itself into my start menu.
I am not looking for a way to deploy a metro app to another machine, I can already do this a variety of ways (including add-appxpackage and via the remote debugger tools with visual studio 2012), I am only curious how Chrome managed to side-load a metro app, and what process they used.
Anyone have any ideas?
There was no side-loading of a Windows App when Chrome was installed. Browsers get special treatment, and the default browser (and only the default browser) can act as a Windows Store app if it implements the appropriate functionality.
There is a downloadable white paper about how this works on MSDN:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/hh465413.aspx