I need to switch between metro apps backwards and forwards. Is there a way to get an array of metro apps or the number of metro apps running?
I am making a desktop app!
No, your app doesnt know what other apps are running. This is also a security feature and by design.
If all apps are made by you, you could use URI protocols (Can I open a Windows 8 application with a URL?) to make the apps call each other. But this is not really "switching", it's a protocol activation which starts an app if it's not already running. As far as I know, this is the only way of making one Windows 8 app call another Windows 8 app (except for other (unsuitable) activations such as file activation).
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I need to integrate Skype deep into one of my Windows 8 Store application for Windows 8 Pro. We need to show the online status of the user and trace if the call was placed successfully.
We have tried to use Skype4COM but apparently, Win8 Store Apps can only access limited set of COM components.
I am not open to use to use Skype URIs as i would require to trace the status of the call also.
Any pointers or any help would be awesome!!!
At this time, the Skype API is not a Windows Runtime Component so it can't be used in a Windows Store app. Even though COM objects are similar, they don't work in Windows Store apps because they have a different interface, security model, etc.
Right now, Skype URIs are your only option for a Windows Store app. You can find more information on Skype URIs and Windows Store apps # http://dev.skype.com/skype-uri/skype-uri-tutorial-win8.
I would like my Windows store app (Windows 8 + Windows rt) to integrate real time voice conversation with other users of the app (aka VoIP). Are there any in-app communication solution or SIP client for this?
I know about a solution for Windows Phone 8, but I'm looking for a solution for Windows 8/RT:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsphone/develop/jj206983.aspx
I would be able to host a server (FreeSwitch for instance) and to pay for a product if needed. My conditions is it integrates in a Windows store app (compatible WinRT).
I am pretty sure you've already looked over the Windows 8 Real-time communication sample!?
If you've already checked it out please share your experience with it. I am trying to use it for a video-chat functionality of my app, but this sample is "not very mature" - to put it mildly. Good luck with your voip solution!
Looking to migrate my application to Windows 8 as a side-loaded LOB app but I inherently require 2 monitors. One for full-screen 1080p video and one for touch-input. Is this possible? Thank you.
Just to update the answer to this question.
As of Windows 8.1 RTM you can now run metro apps on multiple monitors simultaneously.
Windows Store apps do not support running on more than one monitor, no.
When you launch a Windows Store app, it will appear on whichever monitor shows the Start Screen when the Windows key is pressed. The end user can change this, if desired, using the Win+PgUp or Win+PgDn shortcut keys.
I understand that for Multi-Touch support, we need to have a device in place for testing the Androind application.
In this context, I am wondering if I can do the testing of touch based actions on Android application through Android emulator which is running on a touch enabled Windows 8 laptop?
I'm not an authority on the topic, but I have installed BlueStacks and used Android apps with touch on Windows 8 without a problem. At least the basic testing can be done, but as to whether or not it's capable of doing refined or performance testing I'm not sure.
I have a traditional Win32 program which gets some data using WMI (and it cannot be fetched using API available to Metro apps). Now I want to make a tile with part of this information. As I've understood, it's impossible to simply send this data from Win32 program to the Metro application. What's the preferred way to do such thing?
There is no direct app to app communication method. What you want to do can be accomplished in several ways, however. Your Win32 app could write data to a location on the file system that a Metro style has access to. Also, you could synchronize your Win32 app with your Metro style app using the cloud. You need to be careful, however, as this might violate some of the app certification requirements.
If you are simply writing something for yourself (not concerned with publish your app), you might consider taking the functionality that currently have within your desktop app and encapsulating it within a wcf service running on localhost. Metro apps can call wcf services.
One option would be to have your Win32 program create the tile XML and deposit in Windows Azure storage (or really anything accessible via a URI) and then your Windows 8 Store application could subscribe to that tile via a Periodic Notification.
There are some constraints here which may or may not be relevant to your application - like the refresh rate of the tile (discrete periods from 30 minutes to 1 day) and the machine must be connected to the network when the poll from the URL is made.
You might be able to incorporate a background task to do something similar.