DeviceCapability (Windows 10)

Article
10/24/2022

Declares a device capability required by a package. On Windows 10.0.10240.0, can contain up to 100 Device elements. On Windows 10.0.10586.0, can contain up to 1000 (for syntax and examples, see Examples).

Element hierarchy

<DeviceCapability>

Syntax

<DeviceCapability
    Name = 'A string with a value between 1 and 50 characters in length or a GUID in the form xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx.' >

  <!-- Child elements -->
  Device{0,1000}

</DeviceCapability>

Key

{} specific range of occurrences

Attributes and elements

Attributes

Attribute	Description	Data type	Required	Default value
Name	The name of the device capability, either specified as a friendly name or a device interface class GUID.	A string with a value between 1 and 50 characters in length or a GUID in the form xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx.	Yes

Child elements

Child element	Description
Device	Declares a function for a device that is associated with the DeviceCapability. On Windows 10.0.10240.0, a DeviceCapability can contain up to 100 Device elements. On Windows 10.0.10586.0, it can contain up to 1000 (for more details, see DeviceCapability).

Parent elements

Parent element	Description
Capabilities	Declares the access to protected user resources that the package requires. You can have multiple DeviceCapability and Capability elements in the Capabilities element, but all DeviceCapability elements must come after the Capability elements.

Remarks

If the Name attribute is specified as a GUID, then it is validated as GUID.

Apps are granted access to some devices by default. To access other types of devices, you must specify them using a DeviceCapability element. Some device capabilities must be added to the package manifest manually. For more info, see How to specify device capabilities in a package manifest.

For more info about capability declarations, see App capability declarations.

The following device capabilities require child elements.

Device capability	Description
usb	Provides access to APIs in the Windows.Devices.Usb namespace. This capability requires child elements. For more info, see Updating the app manifest package for a USB device.
humaninterfacedevice	Provides access to APIs in the Windows.Devices.HumanInterfaceDevice namespace. This capability requires child elements. For more info, see How to specify device capabilities for HID.
bluetooth.genericAttributeProfile	Provides access to APIs in the Windows.Devices.Bluetooth.GenericAttributeProfile namespace. This capability requires child elements. For more info, see How to specify device capabilities for Bluetooth.
bluetooth.rfcomm	Provides access to APIs in the Windows.Devices.Bluetooth.Rfcomm namespace. This capability requires child elements. For more info, see How to specify device capabilities for Bluetooth.

Examples

Here's an example of a Capabilities node that will work on both Windows 10.0.10240.0 and 10.0.10586.0 (although, Windows 10.0.10240.0 will only parse the <Device> elements). Windows 10.0.10586.0, on the other hand, supports up to 100 <Device> elements plus <f2:Device> elements for a total complement of 1000.

<Package
    xmlns:f2="http://schemas.microsoft.com/appx/manifest/foundation/windows10/2">
...
<Dependencies>
    <TargetDeviceFamily Name="Windows.Universal" MinVersion="10.0.10240.0" MaxVersionTested="10.0.10586.0"/>
</Dependencies>
...
<Capabilities>
    <DeviceCapability Name="microphone"/>
    <DeviceCapability Name="webcam"/>
    <DeviceCapability Name="<name>">
        <Device Id="id_000" ... />
        ...
        <Device Id="id_099" ... />
        <f2:Device Id="id_100" ... />
        ...
        <f2:Device Id="id_999" ... />
    </DeviceCapability>
</Capabilities>

If you only want to support Windows 10.0.10240.0, then you only need the <Device> element. If you only want to support Windows 10.0.10586.0, then you only need the <f2:Device> element.

For more examples, see How to specify device capabilities in a package manifest.

Requirements

Item	Value
Namespace	`http://schemas.microsoft.com/appx/manifest/foundation/windows10`

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