Luís Henrique Demetrio

How to install Visual Basic 6.0 on Windows 10

Luís Henrique Demetrio — Mon, 03 Dec 2018 15:34:11 GMT

Yes, believe it or not, there are a lot of companies that still developing or supporting applications developed in Visual Basic 6.0. I was onsite in two companies that were facing the exactly same error when they were trying to install the VB6.0 on Windows 10. The VB6 was freezing in the installation step "Setup is updating your system": By default, the only the TrustedInstaller account has full control permission on this hive: To fix this issue, it is necessary to grant full access to the Admin user (used to install the VB6) on the registry key: HKCR\RDSServer.DataFactory\Clsid Once the VB6.0 is installed, it is also necessary to run it elevated, as administrator, in the first launch. After have installed the VB6, don't forget to restore the hive permissions. I hope that it helps.

4 Cool things in Windows 10 version 1809

Luís Henrique Demetrio — Mon, 12 Nov 2018 18:40:56 GMT

I wrote this post to share some of the great features available on Windows 10 version 1809 that I really liked.

Dark Mode in File Explorer

The option to enable the dark mode is available under Settings > Personalization > Colors. It is possible switch between Light and Dark app mode. After switching between the App modes, any App or Windows UI that support theme will be updated including File Explorer.

Notepad enhancements

You can zoom in to text now on Notepad by pressing CTRL + or CTRL -. That is pretty useful during presentations. Finally wrap-around to find or replace is now available in Notepad too. Notepad now allows you to search on Bing by selecting the text and pressing CTRL+E. That simplifies a lot the cases when you need to copy a test and search for it on Internet. F5 in Notepad inserts the current date time.

The new clipboard

Pressing Windows Key + V you have access to the clipboard history. That is really cool and save a lot the time allowing us to get the copied content back from the historical clipboard. You can also enable this functionality under Settings > System > Clipboard. Observe that the clipboard also shows the images that were copied and gives you the option to pin the items to use all the time: In addition to the clipboard history, it is also possible to copy the content across the devices that have at least Windows 10 version 1809 version. The Windows + Shift + S, used to capture a screenshot, now displays a toast notification that open up the Snip & Sketch App: If you click on the toast notification the Snip & Sketch App is opened:

Registry autocomplete

Windows 10 1809 comes with an autocomplete function for the registry editor. That saves a lot of time to navigate to the hives. This was an introduction to the new functionalities of Windows 10 version 1809 version. I hope you liked.

The Configuration registry database is corrupt

Luís Henrique Demetrio — Mon, 22 Oct 2018 12:26:41 GMT

This post is about an error that happened to an Desktop Bridge application that was published on Microsoft Store. The following error was happening for machines with the Windows 10 build higher than 17763.55 and I could reproduce the issue in a machine with the version 1809.



The Configuration registry database is corrupt

It was happening because the App package had a file called user.dat in the root of the package that was causing the failure. In this particular case, the user.dat file inside the package wasn't a Windows Registry file but a database file. This error started to happen after the launching of MSIX, that now has the User.dat and Userclass.dat files to capture the registry keys. Since the developer's user.dat file was not registry keys, Windows throw that error message informing that the registry is corrupt. The reason the package works on the 1803 build of Windows is that Windows didn’t look for the existence of that user.dat file in 1803 – that check is a new feature (MSIX). More details about the user.dat used by MSIX at: Customize your Enterprise apps with Modification Package MSIX documentation I hope that it helps.

Microsoft Developer Kits for Windows Mixed Reality and Project Kinect for Azure

Luís Henrique Demetrio — Thu, 28 Jun 2018 14:49:50 GMT

Did you know that you can apply for the Windows Mixed Reality and Project Kinect for Azure development kits? If you have a project you would like to build using Project Kinect for Azure or Windows Mixed Reality, you can be selected to receive the development kit for the respective program. Follows the links to apply to the program: For Mixed Reality:

https://aka.ms/iwantmr

For Project Kinect for Azure:

https://aka.ms/iwantkinect

Please don't hesitate in contact me in case you need anything.

Could not load file or assembly System.Private.CoreLib

Luís Henrique Demetrio — Tue, 15 May 2018 09:51:05 GMT

This post to help those that are facing the following error when trying to install an UWP and Desktop Bridge .NET application:


Exception type:   System.IO.FileNotFoundException

Message:          Could not load file or assembly 'System.Private.CoreLib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.

This error occurs because Microsoft Store no longer accepts packages with mixed UWP and Desktop .NET binaries that have not been created with the proper packaging project (Visual Studio Packaging Project). This is to ensure the UWP binaries get the proper .NET native compile in the cloud (which is not applicable to the Desktop .NET binaries). To package an UWP App with a Win32 extension, consider to use the new Visual Studio Packaging Project template, and then create the store package out of that project in VS. If your Win32 EXE is not built in VS and you just want to include the binary in your UWP project you should still use the Packaging project. Make sure the Win32 EXE gets dropped into a subfolder of the package. See screenshot below for this type of project structure. Details are in the following blog posts:

Example #3 for this specific case:

https://blogs.windows.com/buildingapps/2017/12/04/extend-desktop-application-windows-10-features-using-new-visual-studio-application-packaging-project/#uvfV1r7937WrSkX2.97

Package a .NET desktop application using the Desktop Bridge and Visual Studio Preview

https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/appconsult/2017/08/28/package-a-net-desktop-application-using-the-desktop-bridge-and-visual-studio-preview/

Sideload Scenario

To install the App in a sideload scenario (without use Microsoft Store), it is necessary to install the corresponding AppPackages folder that has the “_Test” suffix and install the appxbundle that is in that folder, since the assemblies in the .appxupload generated by VS (in all projects) are IL, not yet compiled with .NET Native. Don't forget to double-check if the App is compiled in Release mode with .NET native compilation enabled. For more info/examples, look here: https://stefanwick.com/2018/04/06/uwp-with-desktop-extension-part-1/ https://blogs.windows.com/buildingapps/2017/12/04/extend-desktop-application-windows-10-features-using-new-visual-studio-application-packaging-project/ (see example #3) I hope it helps.

Publish your application in Microsoft Store for Education using Windows Bridge

Luís Henrique Demetrio — Fri, 09 Feb 2018 14:17:04 GMT

Did you know that Microsoft has a unique store and infrastructure for the education sector? If you have any Desktop application that fits in this sector, contact me that I can assist with the application publication with no cost. I can even provide the voucher for the developer account Registration in Microsoft Store. The application does not need to be Universal Windows Platform (UWP), it can be encoded in any programming language, including non Microsoft. More details from Microsoft Store for education at: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-store/microsoft-store-for-business-overview

Publique sua aplicação na Microsoft Store for Education

Luís Henrique Demetrio — Fri, 09 Feb 2018 14:13:03 GMT

Fica a dica para quem possui uma aplicação Desktop voltada para a área de Educação.

A Microsoft possui uma loja e infraestrutura exclusiva para o setor de Educação.

Caso tenham alguma aplicação Desktop que se enquadra nesse setor, entrem em contato comigo que eu posso ajudar na publicação sem nenhum custo.

Eu consigo inclusive fornecer o voucher para o cadastro da conta do desenvolvedor na Microsoft Store.

A aplicação não precisa ser Universal Windows Platform (UWP), ela pode estar codificada em qualquer linguagem de programação, inclusive não Microsoft.

Maiores detalhes da Microsoft Store for Education em:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-store/microsoft-store-for-business-overview/

Everything you need to know before publishing a Microsoft Desktop Bridge application

Luís Henrique Demetrio — Mon, 06 Nov 2017 13:20:44 GMT

After a long work, the App Consult team finally published a blog post about best practices and common issues related to Desktop Bridge applications! The post outlines the most common issues that App Consult Team identified when testing a package, both technical (writing to installation folder, not compatibility with Windows 10 S, etc.) and around policies (don’t use 3rd party monetization systems, don’t prompt the user to download traditional executables, etc.) Here is the link: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/appconsult/2017/11/06/desktop-bridge-best-practices-and-common-issues/

How to validate if your application is compliant with the Windows Store polices (Windows 10 and Windows 10 S)

Luís Henrique Demetrio — Wed, 16 Aug 2017 14:01:48 GMT

If you want to publish a Desktop application in the Windows Store, be sure to check out the latest version of WACK that brings up validations to see if the application complies with the Windows 10 S polices. https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/appconsult/2017/08/16/how-to-validate-if-your-application-is-compliant-with-the-windows-store-polices-windows-10-and-windows-10-s/ I hope you liked it.

Como testar se sua aplicação está de acordo com as políticas da loja do Windows 10

Luís Henrique Demetrio — Mon, 14 Aug 2017 23:21:54 GMT

Conforme comentei no post Traga sua aplicação Desktop para a loja do Windows, agora é possível publicar aplicações Desktop (desenvolvidas em qualquer linguagem) na loja do Windows 10. Para publicar uma aplicação Desktop no Windows 10, a aplicação precisa estar de acordo com as políticas da loja do Windows 10. A melhor forma de realizar essa validação é através da ferramenta Windows App Certification Kit que faz parte do Windows 10 SDK. Durante a instalação o Windows 10 SDK oferece vários recursos para download, nesse caso, estamos interessados no recurso Windows App Certification Kit. Após a instalação, basta digitar Windows App Cert Kit no menu do Windows 10 para localizar a ferramenta. A seguinte tela será exibida quando o Windows App Cert Kit (WACK) for carregado: É necessário clicar na primeira opção, Validate Store App, para verificar se a aplicação está de acordo com as regras da loja do Windows 10. Após clicar em Validate Store App, existem duas formas de realizar a validação:

Através do arquivo Appx que contém a aplicação empacotada no formato da Windows Store
Através de uma aplicação já instalada na máquina em que o teste será realizado

O resultado será o mesmo independentemente da opção selecionada. Após informar a aplicação, será exibida uma tela com os testes de certificação. Mantenha todos as opções de testes selecionadas e clique no botão Next para iniciar a validação. A seguinte tela será exibida com o status da validação: Ao final da validação o resultado da validação será exibido na tela informando o resultado da validação. A ferramenta gera um arquivo xml que contém os detalhes de cada teste realizado. Na imagem a seguir, é possível visualizar alguns dos testes: A partir da última versão do Windows 10 SDK (10.0.15063.468), o WACK também valida se a aplicação está de acordo com as políticas de execução de aplicações no Windows 10 S. Para quem não sabe, o Windows 10 S foi anunciado no início de Maio e tem como objetivo executar apenas aplicações da loja do Windows. No Windows 10 S, existe uma série de verificações de integridade de código que, por exemplo, torna impossível a execução de processos que não fazem parte de um aplicativo baixado da loja, incluindo os mais comuns da Microsoft como CMD. EXE, REG. EXE ou REGEDIT. EXE. Também não é permitido instalar manualmente os pacotes de Apps que não são assinados com o certificado digital fornecido pela loja. Por enquanto, o Windows 10 S não está disponível para download e ele é instalado no Microsoft Surface e alguns dispositivos de OEM. Consulte o seguinte artigo para saber como simular o ambiente de testes do Windows 10 S.

Porting and testing your classic desktop applications on Windows 10 S with the Desktop Bridge - https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/appconsult/2017/06/15/porting-and-testing-your-classic-desktop-applications-on-windows-10-s-with-the-desktop-bridge/. Para maiores detalhes dessa atualização, não deixe de conferir o seguinte artigo (em Inglês): https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/appconsult/2017/08/16/how-to-validate-if-your-application-is-compliant-with-the-windows-store-polices-windows-10-and-windows-10-s/ Espero que tenham gostado! Referências

Tools mentioned in this article - https://github.com/sbovo/DesktopBridgeTools
AppConsult Blog: post Porting and testing your classic desktop applications on Windows 10 S with the Desktop Bridge - https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/appconsult/2017/06/15/porting-and-testing-your-classic-desktop-applications-on-windows-10-s-with-the-desktop-bridge/
Unsupported Windows 10 S operations - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/install/Windows10SDriverRequirements#blocked-inbox-components
Test your Windows app for Windows 10 S - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/uwp/porting/desktop-to-uwp-test-windows-s#next-install-the-policy-and-restart-your-system
Compressed file from the Store team which include the policies files and the AppxTestRootAgency certificate - https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=849018