With windows 8, is it possible to create an application that is always visible? For instance, in previous versions of windows, there is the task bar with quick launch icons. Can I create something similar to the quick launch icons that are always on the screen?
If you are referring to a Windows 8 Store app then the answer is no. You can have a live tile and toast notifications that provides updates to the user which may cause the user to launch your application.
A good article to read to understand how your Windows Store apps will run on Windows 8 go here to learn about Application lifecycle (Windows Store apps). This will explain the App execution state.
It is not possible in the RT version, but the same is possible in the desktop version. If you have a desktop app, you can pin it to the taskbar. But any Window store app cannot be pinned to the taskbar. What you can do instead is move the app to the beginning of your Home screen, so anytime you click the Windows button your app will be visible right in front.
Do you mean always visible in the Star Menu screen? If so, you can add tile updating functionality to your application. As long as the user has the application pinned to the Start Menu, he would see the updates. Check the link below for an introductory tutorial.
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windowsappdev/archive/2012/04/16/creating-a-great-tile-experience-part-1.aspx
"Quick Launch" has a very specific meaning, which you may or may not have been referring to in your question.
Below is the Quick Launch bar in Windows 8 - essentially a toolbar pointing to a location in your %AppData% directory. Prior to Windows 7 it was available by default, but the ability to now pin items directly to the taskbar rather supersedes it. Here's how you can restore Quick Launch if you really want to :)
It's, of course, available only in the Desktop mode and not on the Modern UI, where pinning a tile is the best you can hope for, and it's all up to the user to pin it AND to determine where it shows up on their Start Screen.
Another option worth mentioning (although more like system tray than quick launch) is lock screen presence. If the user chooses so and your app supports that, he can add it to his lock screen:
either as a a badge (up to 7 apps)
or as a tile notification (single app only)
This is not a way for the user to quickly start your app (other answers have already covered these options) but a way to stay visible and keep your user informed.
Related
I have a chat application written in VB.net which is used to chat between users who are connected in LAN inside a office . The application popups whenever user gets new chat message. It works fine in windows XP. But sometimes in windows 8 the application fails to popup the chat window. So my chat window is not appearing at the top when popup occurs for new messages.
I have tried using setwindowspos, form.Show(), form.BringToFront() which can bring the form to topmost. But sometimes this will not work properly.
So is there any other method other than those three(which i have mentioned above) i have used which can make the form popup and bring it to front.
Your WinForms app is a desktop application, so it's likely that the reason the pop-up is not being displayed in Windows 8 is because the desktop is not visible.
Remember that Windows 8 brings with it a whole new Start Screen interface and relegates the desktop to an alternate mode. All desktop applications still run, but they run in this separate mode and cannot interact with the new Metro applications (or whatever they're calling them nowadays). Yes, it's too bad that the usability folks at Microsoft didn't listen to Larry Tesler and have decided instead to mode us in, but c'est la vie.
So anyway, the pop-up is still being displayed, but it's being displayed on the desktop, which is not visible. Bringing it to the top isn't doing any good because it's already at the top of all the other windows on the desktop. If you click on the "Desktop" tile in the Start Screen, you should see your window.
Fixing this problem is going to take some work. Forcing a focus switch to the desktop mode is a horrible idea from a usability perspective, and I'm not sure it's even possible. A better solution would be to look into using Toast notifications instead, which can be done from a desktop application.
I've started doing Windows 8 Store app development for some projects at work, but I do not have a touch screen device of my own at home. If I write a personal app for submission to the store, I must use my own hardware since I can't use the work computers for personal projects. My concern is getting into a situation where I submit an app to the store, then have touch-screen users describing issues that I can't replicate on a non-touch-screen device.
Are there any functions or capabilities or interactions that behave differently in a Windows 8 store app when using touch vs. using only a mouse? Are there any scenarios I could encounter where I would be at a loss to reproduce or troubleshoot a user's problems if I do not have a touch screen?
As Konstantin suggested, a tablet is strongly recommended.
The next best thing is to use the device simulator in Visual Studio. It will let you change screen sizes, and allows you to simulate basic touch gestures with the mouse. This MSDN link has more info: Testing Windows 8 apps using Visual Studio 2012
Microsoft have introduced events that are pointer agnostic meaning that they should function the same way regardless of whether you are using a touchscreen, a mouse or a pen. Those are the MSPointer events. Here's some documentation. Using event handlers for these events mean that you should not be getting complaints from users about the touch friendliness of your application. However I still strongly suggest that you acquire a surface and test your application on it. Not just for the touch friendliness but also because of performance differences.
I am developing an app that allows the user to make certain changes to tiles on the Windows 8 start screen. When a change has been made within the app, the user will be shown a "View my changes" button. Clicking the button should bring the user back to the start screen.
I have looked into different ways of closing/suspending the app programmatically (and thus taking the user to the start screen), but I have not found a way to achieve this using WinJS. Throwing an exception closes the app, but this seems like a very dirty workaround. Any suggestions?
I'm assuming you are creating secondary tiles and want to show the users what they look like? #mydogisbox is right in that this kind of functionality has probably been deliberatly excluded.
I'd recommend to just do an in-app 'view changes' of whatever changes to secondary tiles the user might have made. In general, I'd argue that this would be a better user experience because you will keep the user engaged within your application and not be essentially kicking them out of the experience.
Can a WinRT app continue to run while Screen Off?
I know that a WinRT application can create a Background Task that periodically executes even when the application is not running. Handy, but not what I am asking. What I am asking is, when the user clicks the power button and invokes Connected Standby, is there anything an app can do to remain active. Can it ask for some special capability?
Example - in Windows Phone there is a handy Running and Walking app that keeps track of "where you are" while it is running - then tallies your distances, etc. Even when the screen is off! Turn the screen on and the "where was I" map is up-to-date. Is this type of application possible in WinRT?
I've been looking into the same thing recently, and unfortunately it seems that what you want to do isn't possible with WinRT.
Why don't you use Background task to simulate what you are trying to achieve. When the user starts the app again, you could have the info populated to the latest data by looking at the store where the background process updated. Just a thought.
How do I create a Cocoa app that runs in the background (not in the dock, and not in the menu bar either; just in the background).
Does the app need admin privileges? I hope not. Actually it shouldn't, because it's enough that the app runs in the background for that user only, i.e. not for all users.
And I guess I can make it "launch when log-in" by just adding it to the user's Account Preferences, so that shouldn't be a problem.
In your Info.plist set LSBackgroundOnly to 1.
In your Info.plist, set LSUIElement to the string “1”.
The main difference is that a UI-element agent can have a UI (order in a window). A background-only app should be completely faceless; whatever UI it has should exist in a separate application or preference pane.