I'm trying to make my windows 8 app block another app from being launched or launch another app depending on user settings. For example block a browser from opening and launch a media player.
Is this possible?
No, Windows Store apps are running in sandboxed environment and you definitely cannot block any app from being used from another app.
Related
I have a UWP that also contains a desktop bridge component. The UWP contains the interactive code, including handling session management (login and logout). The desktop app runs in the background - it displays no UI most of the time - but must always be running when the app's user is signed in (the UWP and desktop components share auth). If the desktop app is not running when the UWP starts, but the app is signed in, the UWP needs to start the desktop app. Similarly, whenever the UWP signs in a user, it needs to start the desktop component (if it isn't already running). Signing out a user doesn't strictly require exiting the desktop app, though it wouldn't hurt. Critically, the desktop component must not (automatically) exit when the UWP exits, so there's no guarantee on launch of the UWP whether the desktop app was launched by a previous instance (and is still running) or not.
The problem is, I can't find a way for a UWP to detect whether its desktop bridge component is already running, or to kill an already-running instance. The methods in FullTrustProcessLauncher do not return a Process object or any other way to monitor the desktop app.
How can a UWP detect if its desktop bridge component is running? If it is running, can the UWP stop the desktop bridge app?
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.
I know that Windows 8 apps can't directly launch executable files, but recently I downloaded an app that can launch something similar. The app could launch Steam games (which are run in executable files). I figured out that the app did this because any Steam game can be launched using a URL, for example for Alan Wake the URL is steam://rungameid/108710 (I got this by creating a desktop shortcut for a game in Steam and viewing the shorcut's properties)
How can I create these kinds of URLs for other application .exe files? (using a desktop app is fine, but using a Metro app would be even better)
The technique is known as protocol activation (JavaScript reference | C#/VB/C++ reference) and you set most of this up in the manifest (see image below). If there is only one application that's installed and set up to handle protocol "XYZ" then that app will launch for the given URI; if there are multiple one that can handle it, then the user is prompted for which app they would like to launch.
Jerry Nixon has a great walkthrough on his blog as well.
Is it possible to create an app that "only" shows while using Share charm? I do not want the fullscreen app to be opened via live tile as there is no content to be displayed. I want it to be displayed only through Share charm.
No, it is not possible for an app to be shown only as a Share target. All Windows Store apps have a tile on the Start Screen that can be used to launch the app.
I don't have a WP7 device yet. Everything is functional in My App on a Simulator, but when my customer test it, app does not function at all. e.g. VDO is not playing.
Is there a way to get a crash log from Windows Phone 7? (like iPhone).
You can easily create your own crash report. Basically this is what you have to do:
In your App class add an handler for the UnhandledException event
inside the handler prepare a log with everything you need (stacktrace, memory allocated, etc.)
use an email composer Task to send the report.
You can also check BugSense which is a cross-platform(iPhone,Android and Windows Phone) tool that collects and analyzes crash reports from mobile apps.
Disclaimer: I have developed the WP7 plugin.