Walkthrough: Configure a device using Employee apps (Handheld 8)

Article
03/17/2015

2/18/2014

In this walkthrough, you will use the Employee apps feature to configure your Windows Embedded 8 Handheld powered device to make only Alarms, Calculator, and Calendar available from the Start screen. You will also disable the Search Handheld8 hardware search icon button button, and will make Settings phone start icon settings unavailable to prevent users from changing device settings. Lastly, you will make Employee apps available from the App list so that you can change the lockdown settings later.

Define the XML

The Employee apps feature reads the lockdown information specified in the employeeApps.xml file (located in the root directory of an SD card) to determine how to configure the device. You have to manually author this XML file to specify which applications and hardware buttons will be available. See Employee apps reference for the schema details.

For this walkthrough, copy the following sample employeeApps.xml file to the root directory of an SD card that you can use with your device.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<HandheldConfig version="1.0">
    <AllowList>
        <Application>
            <Name> Alarms </Name>
            <ProductID>{5B04B775-356B-4AA0-AAF8-6491FFEA560A}</ProductID>
            <ShowOnStartScreen> true </ShowOnStartScreen>
        </Application>
        <Application>
            <Name> Calculator </Name>
            <ProductID>{5B04B775-356B-4AA0-AAF8-6491FFEA5603}</ProductID>
            <ShowOnStartScreen> true </ShowOnStartScreen>
        </Application>
        <Application>
            <Name> Calendar </Name>
            <ProductID>{5B04B775-356B-4AA0-AAF8-6491FFEA5612}</ProductID>
            <ShowOnStartScreen> false </ShowOnStartScreen>
        </Application>
        <Application>
            <Name> Employee Apps </Name>
            <ProductID>{892E3992-8909-4443-81E2-3D8281981975}</ProductID>
            <ShowOnStartScreen> false </ShowOnStartScreen>
        </Application>
    </AllowList>

    <ButtonConfig>
        <SearchAndLongTapOnStart> false </SearchAndLongTapOnStart>
        <Camera> false </Camera>
    </ButtonConfig>
</HandheldConfig>

Specify which applications are available

The <Application> elements nested within the <AllowList> element specify which applications will be available from the Start screen and App list on the device. Including an application in this list does not install it. Other applications may be installed on the device, but only the applications specified in this list will be available from the Start screen and App list. In this case, Alarms, Employee apps, Calculator, and Calendar will be available on the locked-down device.

Important

Ensure that you make Employee apps available in your Allow list if you want to reconfigure the device later; otherwise, you will not be able to access the Employee apps feature to apply a new employeeApps.xml file.

The <ShowOnStartScreen> element specifies whether the associated application will be pinned to the Start screen. In this case, Alarms, Employee apps, Calculator, and Calendar will be pinned to the Start screen. The user can unpin and re-pin these applications, and can change the size of the tiles, if they want. However, when the device is rebooted, those changes will be lost.

Applications display on the Start screen in the order that the applications appear in the employeeApps.xml file. The following illustration shows the ordered layout.

Layout of apps in the employee app screen

The <Name> element provides a friendly name for the application. Its only purpose is to make it easier for the author of the XML file to see which application an element refers to.

The <ProductID> element identifies the application that you want to make available. There are various ways to obtain the product ID for an application:

See Employee apps reference for a list of product IDs for applications that are available in Windows Embedded 8 Handheld.
Go to the Windows Phone Store and click on an application. Note the URL in the address bar. The product ID is located at the end of the URL (for example, https://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/microsoft-it-showcase/54b12a7a-9c4f-4409-9bd7-2cead2b6dc9a).
For applications that you create, see Get the product ID for applications that you create.

Enable or disable buttons on the device

You may disable buttons on the device that let the user access the web browser or start an application that they are not authorized to use.

The <Camera> element, nested within <ButtonConfig>, specifies whether the Camera button is disabled. You may want to disable the camera not only to prevent the user from taking pictures, but also to prevent the user from accessing the web browser through the camera user interface (UI).

The <SearchAndLongTapOnStart> element specifies whether the Search Handheld8 hardware search icon button button is enabled. Disable this button to prevent users from accessing the web browser. This element also specifies whether press-and-hold on the Start Phone hardware start button button (which activates the Speech feature in the web browser and can also be used to start applications that the user is not authorized to use) is enabled.

Run Employee apps to configure the device

Before you run Employee apps, copy the employeeApps.xml file that you authored earlier to the root directory of an SD card. Insert the SD card into your Windows Embedded 8 Handheld powered device.

To start the Employee apps feature, in the App list, tap on Settings phone start icon settings > System > Employee apps.

Settings page showing Employee App feature

If Employee apps successfully finds and validates the employeeApps.xml file on the SD card, you see the Configuration File screen. Tap Apply to apply the employeeApps.XML configuration.

Employee apps: Configuration file found

You will then see a message that the configuration was applied. To restart your device, press and hold the Power Handheld8 power button button until you see Slide down to power off, and then flick down. After the device is off, press the Power button to turn on your device again. When the device restarts, the device will be locked down according to your settings in the employeeApps.xml file.

Troubleshoot errors

If you do not see the screen above, try one of the following:

Ensure that the name of the file is correct (employeeApps.xml) and that it is located in the root directory on the SD card.
Use the location information in the error message to determine the problem in the employeeApps.xml file. Ensure that you have included all the required elements according to the Employee apps reference. For example, the <SearchAndLongTapOnStart> and <Camera> elements are not optional and must be present.
If you do not see an application that you added to the allow list on the Start screen or App list, verify that the product ID in the <ProductID> element is correct.
You may find it helpful to open the employeeApps.xml file in an XML editor to see visual highlighting for any syntax errors in the XML.

Reconfigure a device

If Employee apps is available on the device from either the Start screen or the App list, the device administrator may rerun it to update a device’s lockdown settings at any time. Device lockdown settings that were previously configured are reset to reflect the settings in the new employeeApps.xml file.

Add or remove applications from the Allow list

To make an application visible on the Start screen or App list that was formerly inaccessible, add the application to the employeeApps.xml file and rerun the Employee apps feature. You may also change the <ButtonConfig> section to change which buttons are enabled.

Ensure that you add Employee apps to the <AllowList> section if you want to be able to reconfigure the device later.

To reconfigure the device, run Employee apps per the instructions in Run Employee apps to configure the device. Be aware that, because you did not include Settings in the Allow list, while you did include Employee apps, you will find Employee apps in the App list instead of in Settings.

Reset the Allow list

To reset the Allow list so that all applications are available on the device from the App list and Start screen, remove the <Allow List> element, and its children, from the employeeApps.xml file. The following example shows an employeeApps.xml file that restores the full App list.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>  
<HandheldConfig version="1.0">  
</HandheldConfig>

To reconfigure the device, save this example to the root directory of an SD card as employeeApps.xml, and run Employee apps per the instructions in Run Employee apps to configure the device.

Get the product ID for applications that you create

For applications that you write for a Windows Embedded 8 Handheld powered device, the product ID GUID that you specify in the employeeApps.xml <ProductID> element can be obtained in the following ways:

In the Visual Studio.proj file for your application, the product ID GUID is in the <ProjectGuid> element: <ProjectGuid>{19444DF1-58B2-4166-94D8-4D2D61FB6516}</ProjectGuid>

In the output of the Execdth.exe command, the product ID is specified. The following example execdth.exe screen output shows how the product ID follows app://.

 Launching application with URI: app://19444DF1-58B2-4166-94D8-4D2D61FB6516/_default
** Connected to CoreUI Session Manager
** Calling LaunchNewSession:
       app://19444DF1-58B2-4166-94D8-4D2D61FB6516/_default
** Successfully sent request to Session Manager
TH: Completed Successfully.
Exit Code : 0

Servicing model

The standard servicing model for Windows Embedded 8 Handheld also services the Employee apps feature. It is updated when an OS update that includes an update to Employee apps is applied to the device.

Applications that are serviced through the Windows Phone Store will not be updated if Store is not included in the Allow list. However, adding Store to the Allow list defeats the purpose of locking down the device because then the user can add any applications that they want.

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