Code for custom taskbar hover-over buttons? - windows-8

Windows Vista, 7 and 8 all display a preview of the application; when the application icon of an open application is hovered over in the taskbar.
Some developers have added custom options in this tooltip, like Windows Media Player:
Given an application written in C++ which uses the Windows Template Library, how would I code in a custom button to an application tooltip preview?

The feature is known as Taskbar Extensions - Thumbnail Toolbars. WTL does not provide any helper/wrapper classes to implement support for thumbnail toolbars, so you have to use the API directly, using ITaskbarList3 interface.

Related

Theme resources for Windows Store

In Windows Phone 7/8 we had this handy Theme Resources like PhoneTextTitle1Style that would reflect the users selected Theme.
What is the equivalent in Windows Store apps?
A good way to find the styles that can apply to a control such as TextBlock is to select the control in the designer, go to the properties pane, click on the square next to the "Style" property, and choose the System Resource or Local Resource menus:
They are also documented and demonstrated in the Guidelines for label (or text block)'s XAML style gallery for Windows Store apps
These styles will reflect the app's current theme (dark or light) or high-contrast mode, but are not directly personalized by the user.
Windows doesn't expose the start screen background colour to apps. Windows Store apps are supposed to use their own branded colours and don't have anything analogous to Windows Phone's PhoneAccentBrush.

Adding an Appbar in xaml (Universal App)

How do I add an appbar with buttons to a Windows Phone 8.1 app using the Hub template?
I do not see any clear examples of how to do this.
Specifically, using the Hub template, I want to add appbar menu items to the ItemsPage.xaml.
In Windows Phone 8.1 projects you have to use the CommandBar API.
Take a look on this guide, it's for Windows 8.1, but the syntax is exactly same. Note that you have to only use the BottomAppBar where the PrimaryCommands are displayed as standard AppBar buttons as we know them, and the SecondaryCommands are displayed as Menu Items.

Windows 8.1 In-App Search Control AND Search Pane (Search Charm)?

I'm trying to use the new 8.1 SearchBox Control in WinJS, but if I already have a Search Contract bound to my app for the Search Charm, I get an access denied error:
Can't hide this app in the search pane because the app has already accessed the search pane.
Can I not use both the new Search Control and the Search Pane at the same time?
According to MSDN documentation, no you can't:
An app can't use both the search box (Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls.SearchBox for Windows Store apps using C++, C#, or Visual Basic, WinJS.UI.SearchBox for Windows Store apps using JavaScript) and the SearchPane
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/dn301949.aspx

Overlay over multiple pages on Windows Phone 8

I trying to build a Windows Phone 8 Application which is able to sync data from a webservice.
While I'm syncing the data I want to display a little Popup / overlay / flyout but I still want to be able to navigate between my pages while my overlay persists between this pages.
I did this successfully with a Windows RT App: I simply added a Frame-Control on a RootPage which also display the flyout. I navigated then within this frame and the flyout was always there.
How can I achieve this goal within a Windows Phone 8 Application?
You can do it as you did on Windows8 which is to restyle the ``RootApplicationFrame to add your indicator. For an example see http://www.jeff.wilcox.name/2011/07/creating-a-global-progressindicator-experience-using-the-windows-phone-7-1-sdk-beta-2/
Or you could just use the progress indicator in the system tray of the page to add indication there. This is probably the most common approach taken in apps. See how at http://blog.duc.as/2011/10/08/using-the-system-tray-to-show-progress-in-windows-phone-7-mango/

Hiding a Mac application from the dock

I am trying to create an application with the only purpose to implement a Applescript dictionary, and extend Applescript.
I have read of faceless applications (agents), but my application allows Applescript scripts to show some dialog boxes.
What can I do to avoid my application icon appears in the dock when it is invoked by Applescript?
Agent applications can show dialog boxes if they want to.
The Agent overview here mentions this.
To set it specify LSUIElement as 1 in your info.plist file.