I'm trying to create an application for windows 7 that has taskbar tasks that are available even if there is no window like Media Player has.
I'm using the Windows API Code Pack and I've been able to add custom tasks but they are only available after a window is created and as soon as the window closes the tasks are removed.
Any idea how this can be achieved?
Make the window transparent? You can also have it minimized if it is ok.
Related
On Windows 8 they've replaced the Start Menu with a Start Screen using Metro GUI.
Desktop applications can be run from this screen, but when they exit the user is left at the desktop.
Is there a Windows setting that will return to the Start Screen automatically when the application is closed, if it was launched from Metro?
Or is there an API available so that the application itself can detect whether it was launched from Metro and then switch back to it as it is shutting down?
(I want something automatic or programmatic. "Press the Windows key" is not an acceptable solution.)
Window 8 metro GUI is working like Start menu so I will change my application's setup program to put some command line options for desktop menu shortcut and pick it up from Param array.
When closing I would try sending Windows button combination (Ctrl+Esc) to windows. Actual code to do that depends on the language used to develop your app. If developed in .Net following class can be helpful
System.Windows.Forms.SendKey.Send
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.forms.sendkeys.send.aspx
following library may also be useful
http://inputsimulator.codeplex.com/
We have a windows app, written several years ago and maintained over time. We do not have any specific code to handle any Windows 7 UI features. Just plain old Winforms and WPF. We are seeing issues with closing windows using the Taskbar's preview and close button.
On some workstations, when the window is re-opened (calling the same tool via a menu), it is empty (white/blank). On other workstations, the same window is drawn outside the screen.
While there might be some custom code to initialize the window and restore it in the right location, what is troubling us is that none of those issues exist if we close the window using the standard close button on the title bar or using a "close" command.
Does anybody have any idea what is different between the closing of a window using the Taskbar and the standard button?
Regards,
Eric.
I have a VB6 executable we use as a Starter executable for our real program.
The problem is that windows 7 shows a new icon in the taskbar for the new process, instead of the one i clicked on to start my program (of course, because the starter exe has already ended, and the new exe seems to be a new program).
Currently I use the Shell object to start the other exe. Is there a better way to do it from vb6, maybe by using a native C function with declare that does start an exe in the current process, without spawning a new process?
EDIT:
Thanks to atzz for the great information about Application Model IDs. I now have a shortcut to my app starter with a well defined id, and my app also sets the ID when started, and is now accesssible beautifully from the right icon in the toolbar. However, two problems persist:
The app is a Java App started with Exe4J, and I don't have any chance to set the AppID before Exe4J shows the splash screen, so while showing the splash screen there is a second icon in the taskbar.
If I don't manually drag my starter app icon from the Desktop to the toolbar, but instead use my apps icon and set it to be "sticky", the real app is sticked, and not the launcher.
Both problems would be beautifully solved if my launcher would start the app from within its own process. I heard something of using exec() instead of fork() for linux programs to achive this... is there something similar for windows?
I believe there is a way to accomplish what you need via Windows 7 taskbar API, though I never did it myself and thus don't remember clearly enough what I've read on the subject. Look around the Application ID concept.
Some links:
Developing for the Windows 7 Taskbar – Application ID
Inside Windows 7 - Introducing The Taskbar APIs
If the problem is the icon, why not give both programs the same icon (and the same App.Title). Then the user won't be able to tell the difference between the two taskbar entries. Presumably they aren't both visible at the same time.
Alternatively set your starter app not to appear in the taskbar (Form property ShowInTaskbar = False in the design view)
When I install a virtual desktop manager on Windows 7, and I switch to a different virtual desktop, all the current windows disappear, also disappearing from the Start Menu.
I want to hide some of a particular application's windows, but not all of them, in a similar manner. How can I hide a window like this?
In particular, I need to hide a VirtualBox Seamless mode window, so I'm not sure minimizing the window will work. It does, however, disappear when using virtual desktop managers.
The same window cannot appear on multiple desktops. If you need your application window to appear on multiple desktops you need to create a separate window for each desktop. The desktop a window appears on depends on the thread that creates the window. You can change the desktop thread assignment using the SetThreadDesktop function.
The answer is simply ShowWindow(SW_HIDE) and ShowWindow(SW_SHOW). I think "Virtual Desktop Managers" just hide windows and show them as necessary when the desktops change.
I have an application that manages patient demographic information. Along with this data a user can scan a picture of a patient and assign that picture to a patient. When the user clicks the scan button a separate application is opened as a dialog in order to scan the image. When running this on XP everything worked fine. The imaging application loaded up fine and gained focus. On Vista however occasionally the imaging application will not gain focus and will popup behind the main application. When running full screen or through 2008 Application Server you cannot see the application, you only get a locked screen and it appears nothing has happened. Is there any way to change the window focus management on Vista to work the way XP did? I'm looking for a way to solve this without making changes to the actual application if possible.
I think you will have to make changes to your application to allow the imaging application to take the focus. I'm going to assume that your application launches the imaging application through ShellExecute or CreateProcess. If so, you can get the process handle of the launched process either through SHELLEXECUTEINFO.hProcess (for ShellExecute) or PROCESS_INFORMATION.hProcess (for CreateProcess). Immediately after launching the imaging application call the AllowSetForegroundWindow API:
AllowSetForegroundWindow(GetProcessId(hProcess));
This will allow the imaging application to place its main window/dialog in the foreground when it's starting up.
You could try the following steps:
1. Right Click on the exe
2. Select Properties
3. Select the Compatibility Tab
4. Check the Run this program in campatibility mode for:
5. Select Windows XP (Service Pack 2)
You could iterate through all top level HWNDs and identify the scanning application via its window class, then send an appropriate message to raise the window.
I don't believe this is Vista vs XP related. I think that simply this imaging app takes longer to start on Vista.
Since Windows 2000, the window manager has prevented background applications stealing the foreground. When an application is launched, it has a window of opportunity to create and show a window that will take the foreground. If it takes too long, the window manager thinks that the current window should keep the foreground, and inhibits the other app taking the foreground when it does finally launch.
I can't think of any specific way to avoid this... other than using FindWindow to search for the other apps window after launching the app. When you eventually find it, call SetForegroundWindow on it to bring it to the foreground.