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tripntango
5 Posts |
 Posted - 03 Apr 2008 : 18:07:40
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I'm working with a BitsyX. I have successfully modified the adsload.reg to suppress power management, sound, etc. I need to emulate the "Kiosk" feature of Windows CE by suppressing the shell, too. However, when I do, my application does not automatically startup anymore. Please note that I said "anymore" -- I've already proven that my application will run. I'm using Windows CE 6.0 and my registry settings are as such:
; Shell
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Platform\BitsyX]
"LaunchCEShell"=dword:0 ; 1=show desktop, 0=suppress desktop
; AppLaunch Suppression
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Platform\LaunchApps]
"LaunchEXE"=dword:1
"LaunchVB"=dword:0
"LaunchADSEXE"=dword:1
; Sound
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Snd\Event]
".Scheme"=".NoSounds"
; Backlight
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power]
"BattPowerOff"=dword:FF
"ExtPowerOff"=dword:FF
"WakeupPowerOff"=dword:0;
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\Backlight]
"BatteryTimeout"=dword:0 ; 0 minutes;
"ACTimeout"=dword:0 ; 0 minutes;
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Platform\Backlight]
"BLightLevel4on"=dword:0 ; operating backlight level (0-FF)
"BLightLevel4off"=dword:FF ; backlight level when "off" (0-FF)
; Mouse
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Drivers\Display\Intel]
"EnableMouseCursor"=dword:0
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beitman
63 Posts |
Posted - 03 Apr 2008 : 18:20:08
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When you say doesn't launch anymore, what happens? Do you have any debug output?
It is possible that your application is dependent on the Explorer shell. If so it will fail when it starts without Explorer shell running in the background. It is not uncommon for this to occur when disabling the Explorer shell. |
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tripntango
5 Posts |
Posted - 03 Apr 2008 : 18:35:10
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Thank you for the quick reply.
Hmmm...very interesting. I did not realize that. My application is dependent on .NET 2.0 but, aside from that, I'm not sure how to tell if it has in implicit dependency on the explorer shell. By "launch" I mean program execution (\Storage Card\Startup\Program.exe). There is, at this time, no useful debug information. I will continue to investigate.
Thanks again. I appreciate your help and welcome any feedback you might have. |
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tripntango
5 Posts |
Posted - 04 Apr 2008 : 13:27:20
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beitman,
You're correct -- it was a dependency on explorer that kept my application from running. I created a little console application to verify. Now, the trick is getting my .NET application to run in Kiosk mode. If you have ANY helpful hints with regard to *that*, I would love to read about them!
Thanks again. |
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beitman
63 Posts |
Posted - 04 Apr 2008 : 14:04:48
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I think that you have a catch-22. I beleive that the .NET CF is dependent on the Explorer shell. But you are not running the Explorer shell. Microsoft really should have avoided that dependency.
You can run the Explorer, but make sure that your app is always on top and is full screen.
If that isn't an option, you may need to replace Explorer with your own application that exposes the necessary API set. I am not suggesting that this is easy, or that we have experience doing it that we can use to guide you. You might do some WEB searching, you can't be the first to need to solve this problem. |
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mplaum
11 Posts |
Posted - 08 Apr 2008 : 16:28:28
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You might want to turn on LaunchVB.
See topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=227
We use the ADSCopy.exe program in the \Storage Card\Startup folder, and use ADSCopy.inf file in the \Storage Card\Startup\ADSCopy folder to ensure all the required DLL's are copied in the correct places and registered (e.g. SQL CE, etc.). Our application is launched in the final command in the INF file:
;start application
'"\Storage Card\Program Files\OurApp\OurApp.exe"' -e
HTH,
Markus
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ctacke
877 Posts |
Posted - 16 Apr 2008 : 22:37:16
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| CF applications with a UI require the a shell to be registered - there's no reasonable way around it. The best route is to find and disable the taskbar when the device starts and then make your app full screen. A custom shell that doesn't have all of the Explorer goodies may be a better route, but it's a bit of work. |
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tripntango
5 Posts |
Posted - 17 Apr 2008 : 14:32:58
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I've found out quite a bit more since my last post. At first it seems as though DotNet applications (CF) are dependent on the shell...but they are not. They do, however, require some sort of "loader" or shell equivalent. The replacement shell only has to launch your CF application and does not require "shell.exe" or "explorer.exe" to be running. You will be required to launch "shell.exe" and "explorer.exe" if you intend on debugging your application through ActiveSync...and even then, after launching the shell applications you will need to reestablish the USB connection for ActiveSync to properly recognize the device. All in all, the replacement shell application is much more trivial than anticipated. I now have a real "Kiosk" system for my CF application.
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