List installed apps - windows-phone-7

There's absolutely no way to get the list of installed apps on a wp7 ? I mean via the development SDK. I'm writing an app that absolutely needs to have a simple list of installed apps.
Any hints are welcome,
Thanks in advance

The whole point of programming for Windows phone is that you work in a sandboxed environment, with no trust. So informations about the system, like the list of installed apps, are off limit for security reasons.

I dont think that's possible the sdk works as a sandbox

Related

Is it possible to distribute signed mac apps (with a free dev account) without the mac app store?

This might seem a silly question, but I come from iOS development which is a bit more restricted as we (all) know.
My question is partially answered here:
Is the mac app store required?
But I still have a doubt. Basically what I want is to develop a simple app with some 3rd party frameworks in and then give it to a friend for normal usage.
Are there any restrictions in any regard? I have a free iOS and Mac developer account.
Yes, you can do that. You do not need a Mac developer account at all. I would still suggest that you code-sign the app bundle though.
The only caveat is the user would needs to change a setting on their Mac to allow it through Gatekeeper.

How to detect the presence of app in universal Windows plateform

I try to find a way to detect dynamically if an app is installed on a computer inside of another UWP. Is there a way to access user app list or is there a workaround ?
You can use the other app's URI to detect it.
Here's an article I found from 2015 that discusses it.
http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/UploadFile/6f0898/inter-app-communications-in-windows-10-uwp535/
Let me know if that doesn't work for some reason or if you need newer info, then I do some more digging to provide more info.
All the best!

What is the easiest way to test/debug Symbian applications on the phone?

I am currently experimenting with programming for my Nokia 5800 XpressMusic (running Symbian 9.4). Setting up the development environment (Carbide C++) was already a huge pain, but now that I am actually able to build something the pain doesn't stop! It seems there is an incredible overhead involved when you actually want to test an application on the phone. But I really hope somebody more experienced than me knows some easy way to do it.
If I understood right every application has to be signed. I can sign applications myself, so this is not a problem and it seems to work fairly well. But then it seems not all capabilities are available if I do this, and the one I need is amongst them. So now I have the option to buy a publisher ID to get a developer certificate (current cost: 200$ - no thanks) or I have to upload the application every time to symbiansigned! Every time I change the code and want to test on the phone I have to upload the thing using a stupid web form!
But now I was excited to find that you can do some remote debugging stuff with a thing called TRK (maybe this spares me the signing?). I hoped that I could use this to connect Carbide and my phone. But this doesn't quite work. My phone doesn't show the application required for this connection although it installed properly. I had a look at the supported Symbian version number and it seems to be 9.2, so not mine :( Stuck again?
And the emulator is no option because it doesn't support sensors and cameras :(
So what am I doing wrong (and sure there must be something)? Is the only way to test my app on the phone to actually upload it every time, wait for it to getting signed, download it again, install it and test - just to see it didn't work and that I have to repeat this process over and over again?? PLEASE no...
follow the instructions here http://www.forum.nokia.com/Distribute/Packaging_and_signing.xhtml to get yourself a free certificate for 5 testing devices, then you can use this certificate to sign your applications directly without using open sign.
When you use TRK, your application is still installed on the phone (in background, with so called silent installation API - by the way, you can use it too, but it's offtopic), because the only eligible way for a binary to get into the phone is the Installer Service. So you still need some certificate. All three options to get certificate mentioned here are ok, though the last, free one (from Mahdi Hijazi), I suppose, is the preferred. :)
Please go to
http://www.opda.net.cn/register.php
then apply for a OPDA Developer Certificate and download signer tool from the site and use it to sign your symbian applications.

Running a Windows Phone 7 app on the desktop

I have an application for Windows Phone 7 that I need to bundle up and send to several doctors for a content review. Ideas on how this might be done? I can't expect the docs to install the full SDK, but if I could bundle the emulator with it that might work, or if there's an easy way to convert the app to a Windows EXE that would as well. All suggestions welcomed!
While the theory is that since it's SIlverlight it should just run on the desktop. Years of Compact Framework development have taught me that this theory is almost never correct and getting it to work is often a real chore.
Microsoft has not yet delivered a stand-along WinPhone emulator (no idea if they will, but they did for WinMo) so for now that option is off the table. Getting your end user to install the stand-alone emulator is a fair bit of work anyway.
To be honest, my experience has been that just doing a Camtasia capture of the developer screen while you step through the app is one of the easiest ways to get ideas across to these types of groups. No, the end result isn't interactive, so they can't clock on buttons themselves, but if you walk through the feature they want to see, you can usually answer 95% of the questions this way.
When you need to address that other 5%, my experience has been that it's easiest to just send them a physical device with the app installed.
If they are (or have ready access to someone who is) fairly tech-savvy, shipping a Virtual PC image of a PC with the emulator installed and the app installed on it sometimes works.
Dot NET code using MS libraries is partially upwards compatible and most runtime classes present on a mobile device are also available on desktop Windows (see MSDN docs for details). So create a copy of your source code, ask visual studio to create a desktop .exe from it, it'll tell you it can't for several reasons, and you will need to recode some sections of it, resize the frame window etc. to make it work.
If one is careful about what methods one uses, I have managed to actually use the exact same .EXE file on the desktop without problems!
You simply cannot present the application without the SDK, since Windows Phone 7 applications rely on a completely different subset of .NET Framework and require an emulator to run XAP packages. Although you might say that it's the same Silverlight, don't forget about Microsoft.Phone and derivatives - you need the SDK in order for those libraries to be properly handled.
Also, you cannot convert a WP7 application to a Windows executable due to difference in platform architectures.
What you could do is simply allow the doctors to test your application through TeamViewer or similar products.
i think a "killer app" for winphone7+silverlight would be a desktop browser based emulator. want to try the app? just have the store run the emulator in the browser. (yeah, lots of technical hurdles, limited multitouch etc, but it would be pretty slick!)

Non-dev-tools Windows Phone 7 emulation

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.

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