I have been recently familiarizing myself with the windows desktop sharing api, and i have a question i cant seem to find the answer to. Is it possible to build an application with the api that only shares the screen of another application that is currently running? Instead of sharing the whole desktop, just the presentation level of a given application that is already running. I appreciate any feedback. Thanks in advance.
Yes that is possible. According to the details given here you can share desktops, regions or individual applications. It sounds like regions is what you want to share.
Related
I have created one desktop application using MFC. It contains different tabs like settings, about etc. I want to know hit count of these tabs i.e. how many times user clicks/opens these tabs. Can I use Application Insights or is there any other method to do so.
To get started though, from SDK perspective we can support other types of apps like desktop apps. Here are the steps required to setup it up manually and the code required to get metrics, events, traces, etc sent to the application insights service.
Desktop App with App Insights
This feature, it seems, is quite wanted and you can vote for it on the official site: https://visualstudio.uservoice.com/forums/121579-visual-studio/suggestions/5484795-add-support-for-desktop-apps-to-application-insigh.
I also agree this will be awesome if they make it available for desktop applications, so fingers crossed!
edit: As it seems, on the upper link I provided, on December 05, 2014 they added support for this in the following matter:
While desktop apps are not listed as targeted app types for Application Insights, it’s possible to get instrumentation for desktop apps using Application Insights SDK. Please refer to this thread for more details: Application Insights for WPF Application. At this point Application Insights team believes this should unblock most of the users who voted for this feature, and we are closing this item and releasing your votes back to you. Please let us know if there is another aspect that blocks using AppInsights for desktop apps.
In "old" times I created simple tool for Windows users, which tracks what they were doing in the front of computer (where simple activity monitor). I was using Win32 api and functions like GetForegroundWindow, GetWindowThreadProcessId, etc.
Yesterday I installed new Windows 8 and tired to run my program. I got 50% success: for "classic" desktop it works like always:).
For Metro UI I just got one application: WWAHost :( without any details.
So my question is: is there a any way for tracking active application in Metro UI?
Thanks for help
UPDATE:
I'm trying to access Metro UI app from Win32, I know that accessing Metro app from another Metro app is impossible
You see, in WinRT, your application is the top-most application. And when your app is not the top-most application then your threads are suspended and the kernel will not schedule any more operations for your app. End of story.
This means what you are wanting to accomplish cannot be done in WinRT. You are thinking more like a resident app or a service with access to the desktop. Those apps have two advantages. 1) they are always running. And, 2) they have the API to do what you are wanting.
WinRT intentionally puts apps in a sandbox so that the user's experience, performance and battery life are protected. Your scenario and scores more like yours underscore the continuing need for desktop apps. (as long as there is a continuing need for those types of apps ;)).
Sorry, if this is bad news.
As for enumerating other apps. This is also not possible. You cannot know if another app is installed or if it is running. You can call out to another app through protocol activation or file activation or (in a sense) through the share contract. But you are unaware if they get the message and if the user has it installed in the first place. And this is by design.
It is worth mentioning that you can pinvoke to Win32 APIs in your WinRT application. It causes lots of problems and can create a headache to get certified into the store. But even then, not all APIs are open to you. And you will find this particular use case is a non-starter.
I am sure this will not be possible. With Windows 8 'Metro' only a single application is active. All other applications will be in a suspended state whilst the topmost application is running. This makes it impossible to write an application that monitors other applications which are currently executing.
See the numerous articles on the Windows 8 app lifecycle.
I have a windows phone 7 application which I need to distribute to elements of my company. How can I achieve this? I do not want the application to be on the marketplace because it is a corporate application which should only be visible and used by elements of the organization.
Is this possible?
Best regards,
Bruno
There are 2 options currently open to you:
You could use Beta distribution as Tom says, but that's limited to 90 days and no updates.
You could also publish the application on Marketplace, but make it hidden so that other users cannot search for it. You would need to send your users a link so that they could install the app. See MSDN documentation.
However for the 2nd option you should beware that anyone would be able to install the application if they know the link for it. So if you need it to be secure you need to provide some other mechanism to lock it down.
There has been news about a private distribution model for corporate applications, but this is not available yet. For now you can use the private beta distribution for this purpose, all you need is a list of the Live IDs used by the people within your company.
I wrote a blog explaining private beta functionality, you can find it here
In developing a number of WP7 apps, I have a need to show clients how the app will be when deployed. The clients are a) not in the same location as I am, b) not technical at all, and c) may not even be using a PC. The purpose is to demo, get feedback and make any needed changes.
I'm not finding any realistic options to just simply show them what it would look, feel and run on a Windows Phone 7 (using the ApplicationBar, etc.). I found this link - http://www.redmondpie.com/standalone-windows-phone-7-series-emulator-9140536/ - but it's rather hacky for me to ask someone to do to set up an emulator on their machine without also installing VS Express, etc.
Does anyone know of any links to an official emulator that can be run on a PC, has a simple install and can load WP7 apps?
Have you considered using a product such as Citrix GoTo. Clients do not need to be particularly technical to join such a meeting, you can then take them through a demo. This will cost you though.
A free alternative would be to set aside a PC running the emulator with your software loaded. Create a VPN for you clients to connect to and let them use Remote Desktop Connection to connect to the PC. They can then play around with it remotely.
Have you considered using SketchFlow? Although by default the UI is "sketchy" (sorry), you can apply styles to the controls you drop on your pages, including the very same styles that are used by Windows Phone controls.
If you use a Silverlight SketchFlow project, you can deploy the content to a web server and provide a link that can be consumed on any machine that will render Silverlight content...they can go through the navigation, provide feedback, etc.
Christian Schormann has a writeup on what is required to use it in the pre-release tools... http://electricbeach.org/?p=573
You should take a look at this: http://justinangel.net/WindowsPhone7EmulatorAutomation. I believe it will answer your question exactly.
i have search high and low on the internet and it does not exist. i cant find a single website that shows a few applications created with realbasic. i saw a video that shows the user going to realbasic.com/community/ and it shows a load of applications created using realbasic. would anyone know where i can find this information. that link that i gave doesnt even work by them.
The Made with REALbasic section at the Association of REALbasic Developers contains a list of many applications created with REALbasic:
http://www.arbpmembers.org/index.php?option=com_resource&view=list&category_id=10&Itemid=49
(Disclaimer: I am a board member of ARBP)
My site, RBDevZone, also has a community section:
http://www.rbdevzone.com/community/
There is also a fairly lengthy thread on the REALbasic Forums. Direct link: http://forums.realsoftware.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=25866