How to run Metro Style App directly in desktop?

Question

As we know, Metro Style App must be run from container by click the App tile, but Visual Studio 2011 can start up Metro Style App directly by press "F5" or "Ctrl + F5", how can i complete the same feature in my Win32 App to run a Metro Style App directly?

Answer 1

Hello,

there will be more info on this in the upcoming release.  In the developer preview (11.0.40825.2), they are doing a CreateProcess to C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\Common7\Packages\Debugger>vsdebuglaunchnotify /ActivateImmersive:e1f06d0d-5ebf-4001-953a-b3365e2d008b_s312dhpftz30r!App  (go to your package.appxmanifest to get the package family name).  This worked for me in a non-administrator command prompt.  I believe that vsdebuglaunchnotify is calling into the Application Activation Manager (IApplicationActivationManager::ActivateApplication) to do the activation.  In future releases, it will possibly be a direct call using the COM Application Activation Manager object.

much appreciated,

mike

Answer 2

IApplicationActivationManager is available in the developer preview and defined in shobjidl.h and shobjidl.idl.

In most cases applications will be better off calling ShellExecute to launch a document or protocol in its default handler.  If the default handler chosen by the user is a Metro style app then this will launch a Metro style app.  If the default handler is a desktop app then it will launch a desktop app.

If you are writing a tool such as Visual Studio which needs to activate a specific application directly then the tool can use the ApplicationActivationManager similarly to the following:

#include "targetver.h"
#include <Windows.h>
#include <ShObjIdl.h>

#include <stdio.h>
#include <tchar.h>
#include <strsafe.h>

int _tmain(int argc, _TCHAR* argv[])
{
	LPCWSTR appId = argv[1];

	CoInitialize(NULL);
	IApplicationActivationManager* paam = NULL;
	HRESULT hr = E_FAIL;
	__try
	{
		hr = CoCreateInstance(CLSID_ApplicationActivationManager,NULL,CLSCTX_INPROC_SERVER,IID_PPV_ARGS(&paam));
		if (FAILED(hr)) return 0;

		DWORD pid = 0;
        hr = paam->ActivateApplication(appId,nullptr,AO_NONE,&pid);
		if (FAILED(hr)) return 0;

		wprintf(L"Activated  %s with pid %d\r\n",appId,pid);
	}
	__finally
	{
		if (paam) paam->Release();
	}

	CoUninitialize();

	return 0;
}

--Rob

 

 

Answer 3

Hello,

Thanks for the code. Using this, I am able to run a Metro application directly in Desktop through my C++ console application. However when I make my desktop application as a Win32 service an the code attempts to activate the Metro app, I get an error

hr 0x80270253 : Metro style applications can't be activated by Administrator users without a split token.  

Any pointers on how this issue can be resolved?

My goal is to have a Win32 service (Desktop mode) that will monitor for a system event and then spawn the Metro app directly into the desktop. Can this be done?

Thanks in Advance.

Answer 4

I am too facing the same issue. When tried to activate from a win32 service I get this error: hr 0x80270253 : Metro style applications can't be activated by Administrator users without a split token. 

Krj2, were you able to resolve this issue?

Answer 5

I also had a similar issue. I suspect some security policy preventing the Metro app to be launched in such a way.

I followed the approach suggested by Rob, and my Win32 application was able to launch  Metro applications using IApplicationActivationManager, only if the Win32 application is located somewhere other than C:\Program Files\

If my Win32 application is installed  under C:\Program Files\, it failed to launch any Metro app with a return error code:

hr 0x80270254 : This Metro style application does not support the contract specified or is not installed.

Rob, can you shed some lights on the limitations of this approach?

thanks!

Answer 6

Yes, i have been able to resolve the issue

Here is what I did:

* Service running in localsystem (default) account

* WTSGetActiveConsoleSessionID

* WTSQueryUserToken

* DuplicateTokenEx

* STARTUPINFO si, set the lpDesktop to winsta0\default

* CreateProcessAsUser (launch a console application)

In the console app, I have the code to activate the metro app:)

Answer 7

I'm trying to encapsulate this into a dll and run it from a c# WinForm project but it isn't working.   The hr i get back from the
hr = paam->ActivateApplication(appId,nullptr,AO_NONE,&pid);

is 0x80270251.  I can't find any information on this but I'm guessing the failure has something to do with security.  I am trying to run this from Program files like Barry (above) but I've tried outside of Program Files and get the same error.

Questions:

1.  Can this be done directly in C#?
2.  If not, what do I have to do to make this work as a dll?

thanks,

hrp27

Answer 8

Rob, is there a way to activate an app with the Search contract? I tried to replace the "!App" from the AppId with "!Search" but that resulted in an "unknown contract" error.

Answer 9

Hi Rob,

How can I get the appid of a metro style app? I have tried the packageID but it didn't work!

Thanks!

Answer 10

Hey Rob,

Could this snippet be open sourced?

Do you mind if I post it as a solution on Github?

Thanks!

Answer 11

Hi Rob,

Thank you first! I want to do same in C# for UI test. I am new to even C# coding. Please help me.

Thanks!