#Install4j uwp desktop bridge trial
#Install4j uwp desktop bridge series
#Install4j uwp desktop bridge download
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Just remember that, to create this sample app, we’re using the approach provided by Visual Studio 2017 to launch the Windows Forms app inside the UWP container: as such, the solution can be opened only by Visual Studio 2017 RC with the proper extension installed.

#Install4j uwp desktop bridge download

Including a reference to the Universal Windows PlatformĪs we’ve just mentioned, the starting point will be the same Windows Forms app used in the previous article, which you can download from GitHub: So, let’s do it! In this article we’ll start from the same Windows Forms application we’ve created in the previous post, but we’ll add a new feature: every time the text file is created on the desktop, we’re going to show a toast notification to the user to confirm that the operation has been completed with success.

#Install4j uwp desktop bridge trial

The Universal Windows Platform includes a set of APIs to integrate directly with the Store and easily enable scenarios like in-app purchases, advertising or trial modes.Īs you can see, there are tons of scenarios where integrating UWP APIs into a Win32 app makes a lot of sense. And what if you want to receive a notification when the app isn’t running? In this case, you would need to create a Windows Service or keep the app always opened, even if minimized, instead of relying on more efficient architectures like push notifications.Īnother great example is monetization: if you’re a developer, you’ll know how hard it’s to sell and monetize a desktop application: you need to create a website, promote it, establish a payment account, etc. A toast notification generated by a UWP application, instead, has a UI consistent with the rest of the operating system it gets stored in the Action Center, so the user can always retrieve it even if he missed it it can be actionable, so the user can perform tasks without evening opening the app. But these approaches don’t fully integrate with the Windows ecosystem. Think, for example, about notifications: a Win32 app has always been able to notify an event to the user through a popup or a message in the system tray. These are all scenarios which are greatly supported by the Universal Windows Platform and that can be implemented in a much easier and powerful way compared to what you can do now with a traditional Win32 app. In this new post we’ll continue exploring the second scenario but, this time, we’re going to expand the existing Win32 application to start leveraging some new UWP features.Ī Win32 developer may wonder why he should do such a thing: due to the higher security restrictions, in some cases a UWP app has to deal with some limitations compared to a Win32 app, so why a developer should be interested into integrating these kind of APIs?Īs I’ve already stated in the previous articles, the digital world has gone through a deep change in the last years and now users are acquainted with new and different ways of interacting with computers and devices: speech, pen, notifications, touch screens, etc. Starting from an executable or a Visual Studio project, which can be converted either manually or by leveraging an extension for the preview of the next Visual Studio version (codename VS15). Starting from an installer, which gets converted and packaged by a tool called Desktop App Converter. So far, we’ve learned two different approaches to convert a Win32 app into a UWP app:

#Install4j uwp desktop bridge series

We’ve learned how the Desktop Bridge is a series of tools created to bridge the gap between the existing Win32 world and the new UWP world, with the goal of combining the best of both of them. Update: this post has been updated on to reflect the official name of Visual Studio 15 announced at Connect() 2016, which is Visual Studio 2107