Develop Reference

How do I create custom Widget for my c# app

How do I create custom widget for my c# application.
Example :
I wrote an app that shows in Windows 10 menu just like other apps (example firefox) -
screen
How can I create custom "widget"? To show on my app with some from current state of application.
This application is running on user PC all the time, each hour it refresh some informations and I want them to display on this "widget".
How can I achieve this?

The icons on the Windows start screen are known as "Tiles". The tiles that are dynamic are known as "Live Tiles". I share your frustration about not knowing what to search for in the search engines when you don't know what the correct terminology is.
Although I have never created a Live Tile, I did find this site:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/dn857365.aspx
which discusses Live Tiles and has some sample code, which might point you in the right direction.
It doesn't look like a complete solution for what you are looking for, but it should give you enough background to know what to search for.

Minimize Windows 8 Store App while tracking location with GPS

I'm working on a metro app and am having trouble finding how not to show the application.
We recently deployed tablets to our field reps, and need to add gps tracking. GPS is much easier to deal with in the metro libs (it's like 4 lines of code vs. unmanaged) so we're hoping to be able to push a metro app instead of spending time coding a winforms/wpf desktop app (the tablets are full version windows, so it's an option if we can't hide a metro app. I feel like it should be possible though as the start screen tiles update automatically without opening the main program).
In WPF, it's fairly simple to make a window invisible. I'm creating the metro app in wpf, but it uses different libs than desktop and I may just not know how to do it.
In desktop programs, it's fairly simple. You do something along the lines of:
<Page
x:Class = xxxxxxxx
..
Visibility="Hidden">
Unfortunately, with metro, the only options I have are collapsed and visible. Collapsed doesn't seem to have any effect, unless it's just because it's not deployed and visual studio shows it anyway...
So basically I'm trying to figure out if there's a way to start the program minimized or hidden so that it doesn't interrupt the field reps every time it takes their location.

If you really want to make a metro app and want it to run "minimised" you will need to look at background task. To start the background task the user would still need to start the app at least once, futhermore background task have limitation how how often and how long they can run. Also there is a lot of constraint on deploying a windows store app if you cannot publish it in the store.
If your goal is to just have access to GPS through C# apis, the GPS is actually one of the winRT api you can use from the desktop, you can find a tutorial on how to access winRT api from the desktop here
Here is the complete list of winRT api accessible from the desktop (You can find Geoposition class among them).

Have you looked into creating a background task that transmits GPS? The background task can run without the app running.

I am not entirely certain you can voluntarily minimize a Windows Store App on a user's behalf. I see nothing in IntelliSense about it, nor have I found anything online or see any app do it.
However, be aware that deploying the app without using the Windows Store -- sideloading -- requires Windows 8 Enterprise edition computers joined to the domain OR Windows 8 Pro with a sideloading key ($30 per key, purchased in packs of at least 100.) Perhaps a WPF app with unmanaged code is worth the money and effort.

Capture visual output of a DirectX application - even in background?

I need to capture the visual output (like a screenshot) of a DirectX window.
Currently, I use this approach.
But, when the window is in background, it captures whatever is in front of it.
I see that DirectX windows render even when minimized or in background, so this should be possible.
But, how? (It also needs to be fast, and it needs to work on Windows XP too, unfortunately...)
Edit: I am very busy these days... Don't worry, I'll put the bounty back if it expires.

To capture Direct3D windows that are in the background (or moved off screen), I believe you have the following options:
Inject and hook Direct3D within the target application via the link you have already posted or this more up-to-date example (EasyHook can be difficult to get setup but it does work really well) - you can always ask for help about getting it working. I have used that technique for capturing in a number of games without issues (most recently for an ambilight-clone project). The problem with this approach is your concern about game protection causing bans, however FRAPs also uses hooking to achieve this, so perhaps your concerns are exaggerated? I guess gamers being banned for a screen shot is an expensive way of finding out.
For windowed applications on Vista/Win 7 - you could inject and hook the DWM and make your capture requests through its shared surface. I have had this working on Vista, but have not finished getting it working on Windows 7, here is an example of it working for Windows 7 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G75WKeXqXkc. The main problem with this approach is the use of undocumented API's which could mean your application breaks without any warning upon a windows patch release - also you would have to redo the technique for each new major Windows flavour. This also does not address your need to capture in Windows XP.
Also within the DWM, there is a thumbnail API. This has limitations depending on what your trying to do. There is some information on this API along with other DWM API's here http://blogs.msdn.com/b/greg_schechter/archive/2006/09/14/753605.aspx
There are other techniques for intercepting the Direct3D calls without using EasyHook, such as substituting the various DLL's with wrappers. You will find various other game hooking/interception techniques here: http://www.gamedeception.net/
Simply bring the Direct3D application to the foreground (which I guess is undesirable in your situation) - this wouldn't work for off-screen windows unless you also move the window.
Unfortunately the only solution for Windows XP that I can think of is intercepting the Direct3D API in some form.
Just a clarification on Direct3D rendering while minimised. During my fairly limited testing on this matter I have found this to be application dependant; it is generally not recommended that rendering take place while the application is minimized (also this reference), it does continue to render while in the background however.
UPDATED: provided additional link to more up-to-date injection example for point 1.

A quick google and i found this Code Project which relates to Windows XP. I dont know if you can apply this knowledge to Windows Vista and 7??
http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/5051/Various-methods-for-capturing-the-screen
EDIT:
I found this article as well:
http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/20651/Capturing-Minimized-Window-A-Kid-s-Trick
This links off from Justins blog post here from the comments. It seems he was working on this with someone (i see thats your link about).
http://spazzarama.com/2009/02/07/screencapture-with-direct3d/

The code that you linked to (from spazzarama), which you said you were using in your project, captures the front buffer of your DirectX device. Have you tried capturing the back buffer instead? Going from the code on your linked site, you would change line 90 from
device.GetFrontBufferData(0, surface);
to
Surface backbuffer = device.GetBackBuffer(0, 0, BackBufferType.Mono);
SurfaceLoader.Save("Screenshot.bmp", ImageFileFormat.Bmp, backbuffer);
This would also involve removing lines 96-98 in your linked example. The backbuffer might be generated without the obstructing window.
EDIT
Nevermind all of that. I just realized that your linked sample code is using the window handle to define a region of the screen, and not actually doing anything with the DirectX window. Your sample code won't work around the obstruction because your region is already drawn with the other window in front of it by the time you access it.
Your best bet to salvage the application is probably to bring the DirectX window to the top of the screen before running the code to capture the image. You can use the Wind32API BringWindowToTop function to do that (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms632673%28VS.85%29.aspx).

How to create a launcher application for two Air desktop aplications

I know that my question is very general and I don't expect very detailed answer either, just a lead would be great.
Here is what I want to achieve.
I have build two desktop applications using Adobe Air from Flash AS3 files. Both applications are parts of the same project. They're displaying over two screens, each app on one screen, and whatever you do in one it reflects the other, because they are communication each other through local connection class (AS3).
In fact those two applications are One Multi-screen Application. However to install them on the desktop computer you have to first install one Air app and after that the second Air app. The procedure with launching the apps is the same. You have to click on one icon for the first app to open , and than you click on the other icon for the second app to open, and only then you have whole application up and working.
So I'm looking for some solution which would allowed me to "pack" two installation Air files into one package. The user would have to click only on one "instal.exe" icon to fire up installation of those two air apps.
Maybe it needs to be use some external small C++ scrip, or application launcher - I have no Idea
Pease help me with this case, as I couldn't find it anywhere. I would be very grateful even far the smallest lead.
Thanks in advance

Not real sure but could this help ?
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/air/articles/air3-install-and-deployment-options.html

Depending how large / complicated your applications are maybe you could redactor it into one application and use Native window to then launch two windows each one containing the separate app logic.
This may even offer advantages over using the local connection class, and of course help ease development and maintenance of two separate apps.

Windows application using Silverlight

I want to develop a windows based application in silverlight. I went through many articles and every where I found that "Silverlight is for web based application". I don't know whether I am wrong or right, as my superiors told me that in Silverlight5 we can develop Windows based application. Can any body help me to give a clue for how to start. Any help would be highly appreciated.
Thanks in advance

If you mean a Windows based application which can connect with internet you go for Out of Browser application which silverlight supports but if you want simple plain desktop application, there is no point in using Silverlight, WPF would be the right choice in that case.
Look at this article for building an out of browser app using Silverlight.
Silverlight specializes in building rich UI based Web applications and WPF is best for making UI rich applications for Desktop.

You can run silverlight apps "Out Of Browser", its just a setting in the config. Here's a video with more info: http://www.silverlight.net/learn/videos/all/out-of-browser-experiences/

silverlight is a web-based technology that runs on the client machine. it is, basically, Microsoft's version of Flash.
Now, that being said, you CAN write silverlight apps that run out of the browser. but, they are not "really" windows apps. silverlight is a sub-set of WPF. However, you can also make WPF apps that run in a browser. Confused yet?
The bottom line is that WPF is for desktop apps and is full-featured with access to the machine resources.
while silverlight is a light-weight version of WPF that is intended to be run in a browser, similar to flash. it does not have all the features of a full desktop application due to security model and that sort of thing.
Both have elements that cross into the domain of the other.

Like all good things, the answer is "it depends on what you're trying to do". If you want an application that can run inside the browser, outside the browser, plus on Windows and Mac then Silverlight is the answer. You also get for free/are restricted by a security sandbox; you can get around this sandbox by requiring additional permissions from the user. If you're trying to do something that requires multiple monitor support, access to COM objects, stroke/pen/stylus input, 3D hardware acceleration, or access to a large local file store then WPF is probably the better answer. Silverlight out of browser applications also have a nice "phone home" feature that will automatically download updates; WPF requires you to roll this by hand.
Some folks have mention XBAPs (running WPF inside of a browser). Stay away from this error prone steaming pile of stuff. It's good for demoware, but is not something which you'd want to support.

You heard right.
This is called "out of browser":
Silverlight-based applications typically run within Web pages, but you can enable users to install them from the Web and run them outside the browser.