SetWindowPos failing to bring windows to front in Windows 8 when Windows 8 apps are running - vb.net

I have a chat application written in VB.net. It uses SetWindowPos function to set the window to top when a new chat message is received. It works fine also.But in windows 8 it will not bring the window to front when windows 8 apps like reader or photo is running.These apps will be running with full screen mode in Windows 8. So my chat application windows is not appearing at the top when popup occurs. So how can i make it to appear even when these windows 8 apps are running in full screen mode.

Applications with 'UIAccess' are allowed to display on top of the full screen apps. Look at the answer to Windows 8 Layered Windows Over Metro Apps. This question is about layered windows, but that makes no difference. Eric's problem was the same as yours, that his window was not displaying on top of the Metro interface.
In short, you need to:
Declare uiAccess="true" in your application's manifest
Your executable needs to be digitally signed with a trusted certificate.
Your application needs to be installed in a trusted location, i.e. Program Files

Related

Questions about Windows App (Metro) Tiles/Icons for desktop applications

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.

Windows 8.1 app exists in Windows 10 Store, but not in Windows 8.1 Store

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.

Back button for Windows 10 hosted app

I am making a Windows 10 hosted Webb app following this. Now when the user press the back button on the phone, it seems that it just quit the app. I want the app just go back to the previous page.How can I do that? I have read this but this is for C#. How about the case for Web App? Thanks!
Since Windows 10 UWP apps are being shipped without any templates, there is a GitHub project which contains many code examples to add to your Windows 10 application. Here's the project which implements a back button and multiple navigation features utilizing controls. It works on both Windows 10 Mobile and Desktop.
Link to project which implements SplitView (Back button and hamburger):
https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=A818A6F7EAABB150!451776&authkey=!ABr-Lk3FsiRAelY&ithint=file%2czip
Link to original project (Didn't compile in VS 2015, so I fixed it in the app linked above)
https://github.com/Windows-XAML/201505-MVA/tree/master/SplitView/SplitView/SplitView-Template10
Screenshot:

Windows 8 Kiosk Mode For "Non Windows" Applications

I have an external kiosk application that I'm trying to run it on tablet computer which has Windows 8 OS.
The thing is, that Windows 8 doesn't allow to use any external applications in kiosk mode. Only applications that based on Win 8 are allowed.
The problem with my kiosk application that while running you can drag it with the finger and the task bar and the desktop background are revealed and I don't want that to happen.
I want it to be locked to the screen without any option to move.
The application starts automatically when the win 8 goes up.
1)I tried to search at the registry to cancel part of the touch options. Without any actual result. There are few options to cancel some of the windows widgets at the left and right corners of the screen or cancel the touch option at all.
2)I've got the option to use a 3rd party applications, but I'm trying to prevent it for now.
Forget about windows internal kiosk mode as nightmare - it not works as expected and you can't change this. Create new user 'kiosk' and use next registry key for your app:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]
"Shell"="C:\\full\\path\\to\\your\\application.exe>"
And configure autologin for this user:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
"AutoAdminLogon"="1"
"ForceAutoLogon"="1"
"DefaultUserName"="kiosk"
"DefaultDomainName"="<place here pc hostname>"
"DefaultPassword"=""
And you will get the result you want.

Metro app working properly when deployed in windows 8 desktop machine & emulator, but not working properly on surface RT Tablet?

i am developing a C#/XAML windows 8 Metro app,
The application works properly on a Windows 8 machine and emulator, but not on the Surface RT tablet. For example, I have a combobox in one of my screens and I bind the data to the combobox and set a default item by
combobox.selectedItem = "some test";
This data appears in the Windows 8 desktop machine and emulator, but the combobox is showing empty on a Surface RT tablet.
Does the combobox control have any problem on a Windows RT tablet?
I a used AnyCPU Configuration, built in Release mode and tested that package on the device which is generated. For the Surface RT do I need to generate an ARM build?
There's not enough information to answer this problem. I would guess that whatever source you use to populate your combo boxes is not accessible from the devices. If it's some sort of file on your computer, that won't work and you need to send it over as a resource. If it's a service call, you may have an authentication issue.
You might try it from a different desktop machine if one is available. This may or may not confirm my guesses.