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Requesting the Display of a Custom UI

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The Native 802.11 IHV Extensions DLL can request the display of a custom user interface (UI) through the Native 802.11 IHV UI Extensions DLL. For example, the IHV Extensions DLL could request that a custom UI be displayed to:

  • Notify the end user at various stages during the wireless LAN (WLAN) association operation.

  • Notify the end user when the WLAN adapter has disassociated for the WLAN network.

  • Notify the end user with the results of the authentication to the WLAN network.

To launch a custom UI or display a notification, the Native 802.11 IHV Extensions DLL calls Dot11ExtSendUIRequest and passes a pointer to a DOT11EXT_IHV_UI_REQUEST structure through the pIhvUIRequest parameter of this function.

Through the DOT11EXT_IHV_UI_REQUEST structure, the Native 802.11 IHV Extensions DLL specifies the custom UI through the following data:

  • The user session identifier (ID), which is used to identify a specific user context.

  • A globally unique ID (GUID), which identifies the specific UI request.

  • The class ID (CLSID) of IWizardExtension COM interface implemented within the Native 802.11 IHV UI Extensions DLL. The CLSID is used to request a specific custom UI supported by the DLL.

    For more information about the IWizardExtension COM interface, see IWizardExtension COM Interface.

  • A buffer containing data in a proprietary format that is defined by the independent hardware vendor (IHV) and processed by the specified IWizardExtension COM interface. For example, the buffer could contain the default values that are displayed within the custom UI.

Depending upon the WLAN connection state for the user session ID, the custom UI request will be displayed as one of the following:

  • If the adapter has connected to a WLAN network, the request will be displayed as a standalone UI launched through a clickable balloon notification. For more information about this process, see Displaying a Balloon Notification.

  • If the adapter is in the process of connecting to a WLAN network, the request will be displayed as a set of wizard pages within the standard Network Connection UI. For more information about this process, see Displaying Custom UI Pages within the Network Connection Wizard.