Windows 8 Store Import - c#

Reading the following (and skimming other areas of the site):
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/windows/apps/br211361.aspx
It seems as though I have to re-write a program I've been writing in VC# 2010, to be able to put it on Windows Store. Is this true? Can I simply import my project into VC# 2013 and then put it out there? Is there a reason I shouldn't do that even if I could (i.e. it looks different than other Windows 8 apps and users will be off-put by it)?
If I can't import and release my project into Windows Store directly, and this is a little bit of a tangent, but, can I at least import it into Visual Studio 2013, and then begin rewriting/adding the parts I need to to be able to make it compatible with Windows Store? I've never used app stores before, so please be gentle.

In most cases, opening a VS2010 project in VS2013 is not a pain.
You can find 2 kind of apps in the Windows Store :
Modern UI apps (aka Metro)
Desktops Apps
If you want to create a Modern UI app you need to target the .Net 4.5 framework. To do so you need to upgrade to VS2013.
But most of your work will be to rewrite a huge part of your program as the modern UI is not compabible with WPF (and you will need to manage touch devices). Other assemblies also doesn't have all the features of the desktop ones, so you will probably have a little bit of work in that area too.
Here is a link that explain the process of publishing an app in the Windows Store : http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/jj657972.aspx
If you want to publish a desktop application it seems to me that you only need to provide an URL to download your package. Be careful it is not possible to submit that kind of app with a personal account, you need a company account to do so. You can find more information about that process on MSDN: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/desktop/dd535817

Related

Create non UWP apps in C# and XAML?

Short backstory, I need to create an App for my computing coursework, and since I'm quite the procrastinator I wanted to make an app that shuts down processes that users waste time on.
Therefore I looked up how to make Windows 10 apps and stumbled across Microsoft's own "C# Fundamentals for Absolute Beginners" and "Windows 10 Development" for absolute beginners. I spent over 20 hours watching these videos over the past few weeks.
Now I have designed nearly all the UI in XAML over the past few days and now when working on the Code behind in c# I noticed that System.Diagnostics.Process could not be found, I tried to work out why and eventually stumbled across this answer which made my jaw drop (TLDR it's because it's a UWP app): Missing reference to System.Diagnostics.Process
I do not need my app to run on the Windows Store, all it needs to run on is my computer however messy the solution may be, but I really need access to that class to shutdown processes. I really want to make the app in C# and XAML though and I'm not sure if I can do this whilst having access to the System.Diagnostics.Process class.
I am really running out of time for this project and I can't just change my idea as the problem definition essay has already been marked, etc and that would take forever to rewrite.
I am open to the idea of just writing the application fully in C# if there's really no way I can use XAML without making a UWP app. But I'm not sure what's the easiest way of doing this/what project type so any help would be appreciated.
I feel very angry at Microsoft for not making it clear that "Windows 10 Development for absolute beginners is" actually "Windows Store Development for absolute beginners". I do not want my app on the Windows Store so if I could force reference the process class that would be great!
You need to develop a Desktop app (WPF). With WPF you also use C# and XAML, however you can use all .Net Framework.
UWP (Store apps) need to run in devices like Surface RT (Windows RT), Lumia 920 (Windows 10 Mobile), XBOX and Hololens so they use only a part of the full .Net Framework (they use the .Net Core Framework). UWPs run in a sandboxing so they usually don't have access to system APIs (low level access like create a IP package). In this case you should use WPF.
Your problem is one of the reason, I think that StackOverflow use the tag uwps and win-universal-app.

Possible to launch an application in the "Metro" environment and desktop environment? - Windows 8/8.1

Ok, so I'm a major amature to the world of programing and I want to make an app that can be deployed through the Windows Store. This is mainly because it seems easier and cheaper than if I were to distribute it myself. I'm using Visual Studio Ultimate 2013 (hooray for free college software!) and I plan on using c# and JSON to pull some data from a public api.
My question is: If I develop an app so that it can be downloaded and installed from the Windows Store to be primarily be used in "Metro" mode, can I also add a button that makes it switch over to desktop mode like Google Chrome has?
Note: I have done some research on the subject and I think this is doable, but I could never find specifics on how it's done. I appreciate any insight you can provide!
AFAIK, as of Windows 8.1 there is no built-in support in WSA to run in a window on the desktop, unless you find that Snap mode suits your needs (it does for me). Primary browser is an exception, but it's not strictly just a WSA.
However, there are 3rd party solutions to do precisely that, e.g. ModernMix, so technically it's possible, but goes outside of what you have access to during WSA development.
There are also talks about Windows 8.2 supporting this out of the box: dailytech

Porting C# Windows GUI to C# web app : how to get it work out-of-the-box for Win, Mac & Linux?

I would like to rewrite an application that currently works as a Windows GUI in C#. The problem is, it works well on Windows, but is not adapted for Mac and Linux because of GUI issues with Mono.
So my idea, was to continue with C# (needed because of an essential sub program that needs to run C# and cannot be ported) and try to rewrite it as a web application that any user on Windows, Mac or Linux could access easily and make it work.
It is also important that my application remains working "out-of-the-box" because it aims high accessibility.
I've looked for solutions like :
KayakHTTP but it does not support POST data ! (needed for a web GUI)
XSP2 from Mono and make an ASP.NET MVC web app, but will it really work with my web app to make an out-of-the-box application ?
Alternatively, do you have any other idea for me to have a C# web app working out of the box for the end users ? The only thing needed would be to install Mono on Mac and Linux.
Thank you very much for your help.
EDIT 1 : I realize that I have not explained all aspects correctly. In fact, there are 2 applications in my project :
The CORE application which is written in C# and is too big to be ported or rewritten and thus must use Mono for running on Mac and Linux
My GUI application using Windows Forms which is written in C# too and controls the CORE application
My goal is to convert my GUI application into a web app application so there's no more the Windows Forms GUI hassle on Mac and Linux.
Is it necessary for your core application to run on the client?
If NOT, then the best approach is to rewrite everything as a web (ASP.NET) application which is going to run on a Windows server. Users on all your target platforms will then access this app through a web browser.
If YES, then a web app is not a good idea. You really don't want to require a web server on your clients. You have two possibilities:
Take a look at the GUI toolkits available for mono and select one that is available on all your target platforms to avoid having different front ends for each of your platforms.
To ensure best user experience on all platforms you should choose the native GUI toolkit for each of the platforms and write a different front end for them: either using Mono or using a native development environment as long as your core application has an interface that can be accessed from it (e.g. command line or similar).
This is a duplicate question, but I don't have time to find the duplicate.
Briefly, the answer is: don't do this. You cannot translate a desktop application to a web application on a one to one basis: the two paradigms are too different.
I recommend instead refactoring your current application to remove all dependencies on the GUI. Then, write a totally new web application to meet the requirements, and have the web application call the code you refactored out of the desktop application.
Be aware of the big, hidden difference between the two platforms: the web application will be running on a server. It will be used by multiple users at the same time, and by multiple threads at the same time. While you are refactoring, be certain to note any code that would be sensitive to the difference. For instance, code that uses static member fields now could work in the desktop application because there is only one user at a time. In a web application, that static will be shared across all users and all threads.
This may not be what you had in mind.

Accessing other processes in Win8 Metro-style app

I am trying to build a Windows 8 "metro-style" app that will operate as a "app killer". For those of you who have used Win8 (Tech Preview) you'll notice that once you open a metro-style app you cannot close it (without going into Task Manager and ending the process).
My challenge is that I cannot access 'System.Diagnostics.Process' from my metro-style app, nor do I know if there is an comparable alternative within the WinRT. I also thought of building a separate app that hosts a service for my metro app to interface with, but I'd like to do this with a single app.
Fundamentally, I am looking for a pattern for building Metro-style apps that leverage .NET 4.0 components, specifically to be able to enumerate and kill other processes running on the PC.
CLARIFICATION: I am less concerned with this specific application than I am with access that type of .NET functionality within a Metro-style app
Thanks
To your specific question, this functionality is not available. Apps are not allowed to interact or interfere with other apps.
To answer your more general question, the APIs available to Metro style applications is limited compared to what is available to desktop applications. C# has a subset of the .Net library available, much like Silverlight does. The same is true for C++ where a subset of the desktop Win32/COM APIs are available.
From what I understand (watching Build2011 videos) a Metro App won't be able to do that...
Interaction between processes is severally limited to specific Contracts (the charms on the right: Search, Send-to).
Think Phone, not Desktop.
You might be able to build a non-Metro Win8 app though.
Don't waste too much time on this. I expect that in a beta a close option (perhaps even a charm) will be included. Until then use a keyboard Alt-F4 or the Task Manager
C++:
Window::Current->CoreWindow->Close();
or
Window::Current->Close();
I haven't explored the difference between these two (more precisely, I don't know how CoreWindow differs from Current. I could assume though...
I'm using an Oracle VBox with Win8 on my Win7 machine to develop a C++ Metro App using VS 11. I used both of the above methods. I verified in Task Manager the app was not running on both Win8 and the Simulator.

Windows embedded 2009 service

I'm developing an application that will be executed in a ThinClient with Windows Embedded 2009. It's written in C# 3.5. But, when I played for the first time with the ThinClient, I noticed that it has a lot of features disabled.
For example, there is no MyPc, or I can't have access to it.
So, my app needs to run when the client is turned on, but I can't find a service manager in embedded 2009.
Is there a way to make my app run every time the client is turned on?, I thought about a service, with automatic start. Can this be done like a windows service with no problems?
And another thing. My app also has to shut down the client. I've found a way to make it, but, I'd like to know if is different in Wndows Embedded.
Btw, the device has no hard disk.
Any other suggestion, will be very appreciated.
Have a nice day.
In the older Embedded there is a "startup"-folder (located on the flash-card containing the win-image)

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