That's an app to help you lock screen and adjust volume with tiles. It calls functions in ShellChromeAPI.dll . Finally, it got published with English version.
link: http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/quick-tiles/1725cca2-2349-4d33-b5d5-8b04e7810c04
(You may need to switch your phone language to English to download the English version. otherwise, the Chinese version will be shown. Forgive me for my tight schedule and I have to split different languages into different XAPs, for I only spent 2 hours developing this app...)
I've found two ways to pass the marketplace API detect, one is to use P/Invoke and the other is to load LoadLibraryExW without extern that from the lib provided by Microsoft.
both methods will be provided here in a month, and I may provide write some wrappers or static libraries.
Notice that I only found ways to access restricted API, but get higher privilege is not possible.
By this way, I think @GoodDayToDie 's HTTP Server with registry browser can be published with some simple modify. Even publishing the samsung interop unlock guide, which launches the toast using undocumented, is possible. Maybe we should try to find more useful functions which can be called without privilege in different dlls.
hjc4869 said:
That's an app to help you lock screen and adjust volume with tiles. It calls functions in ShellChromeAPI.dll . Finally, it got published with English version.
link: http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/quick-tiles/1725cca2-2349-4d33-b5d5-8b04e7810c04
(You may need to switch your phone language to English to download the English version. otherwise, the Chinese version will be shown. Forgive me for my tight schedule and I have to split different languages into different XAPs, for I only spent 2 hours developing this app...)
I've found two ways to pass the marketplace API detect, one is to use P/Invoke and the other is to load LoadLibraryExW without extern that from the lib provided by Microsoft.
both methods will be provided here in a month, and I may provide write some wrappers or static libraries.
Notice that I only found ways to access restricted API, but get higher privilege is not possible.
By this way, I think @GoodDayToDie 's HTTP Server with registry browser can be published with some simple modify. Even publishing the samsung interop unlock guide, which launches the toast using undocumented, is possible. Maybe we should try to find more useful functions which can be called without privilege in different dlls.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What restricted API's possible to upload ?
ngame said:
What restricted API's possible to upload ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you can load any API functions. but only some of them can be called and only a few is really useful.
I only tested the following functions
BOOL Shell_IsLocked()
void Shell_TurnScreenOn(BOOL)
void Shell_AdjustVolume(int)
hjc4869 said:
That's an app to help you lock screen and adjust volume with tiles. It calls functions in ShellChromeAPI.dll . Finally, it got published with English version.
link: http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/quick-tiles/1725cca2-2349-4d33-b5d5-8b04e7810c04
(You may need to switch your phone language to English to download the English version. otherwise, the Chinese version will be shown. Forgive me for my tight schedule and I have to split different languages into different XAPs, for I only spent 2 hours developing this app...)
I've found two ways to pass the marketplace API detect, one is to use P/Invoke and the other is to load LoadLibraryExW without extern that from the lib provided by Microsoft.
both methods will be provided here in a month, and I may provide write some wrappers or static libraries.
Notice that I only found ways to access restricted API, but get higher privilege is not possible.
By this way, I think @GoodDayToDie 's HTTP Server with registry browser can be published with some simple modify. Even publishing the samsung interop unlock guide, which launches the toast using undocumented, is possible. Maybe we should try to find more useful functions which can be called without privilege in different dlls.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting. But almost useless cause now all can freely make a developer unlock. Store apps can use RPC but this requires InteropServices CAP.
-W_O_L_F- said:
Interesting. But almost useless cause now all can freely make a developer unlock. Store apps can use RPC but this requires InteropServices CAP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes I tried it before in beta app .
ID_CAP_INTEROPSERVICES , Xbox live and exe files in xap are unable to upload !
And those APIs work without having the restricted capabilities in the manifest file?
After the update, it went back to Chinese... it would be nice if you set English as the default language, at least for European and American countries
mcosmin222 said:
And those APIs work without having the restricted capabilities in the manifest file?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes.
-W_O_L_F- said:
Yes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmm
This looks interesting.
P/Invoke? How did you manage to use it? I thought it was not available for Silverlight?
pinvoke is possible with silverlight, but according to microsoft it is illegal on the marketplace.
which is half true. you cant pinvoke a native dll compiled for arm, but the wp8 own dlls seem to make an exception
mcosmin222 said:
you cant pinvoke a native dll compiled for arm, but the wp8 own dlls seem to make an exception
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What is the difference?
Useless guy said:
What is the difference?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go ask microsoft.
If you scroll down you will find that p/invoke is not allowed in wp8 sdk
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/lib...jj206940(v=vs.105).aspx#BKMK_Appcompatibility
however, the OP seems to have managed to do it with a DLL contained in the WP8 system.
I never actually tried to p/invoke something on the marketplace. Maybe this needs additional research to see if arm compiled third party dlls can be used.
I remember some guy on the forum trying to p/invoke a native ARM dll and got type load exceptions.
by native i mean something which is not compiled with C++/CX for windows phone. As in pure C/C++ targeted for ARM.
mcosmin222 said:
Go ask microsoft.
If you scroll down you will find that p/invoke is not allowed in wp8 sdk
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/lib...jj206940(v=vs.105).aspx#BKMK_Appcompatibility
however, the OP seems to have managed to do it with a DLL contained in the WP8 system.
I never actually tried to p/invoke something on the marketplace. Maybe this needs additional research to see if arm compiled third party dlls can be used.
I remember some guy on the forum trying to p/invoke a native ARM dll and got type load exceptions.
by native i mean something which is not compiled with C++/CX for windows phone. As in pure C/C++ targeted for ARM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know what pinvoke is perfectly, don't send me to msdn as long as I'm able to find it by myself.
Both an unmanaged dll and a WinRT component are native. CLR wraps every COM\WinRT object in the Runtime Callable Wrapper, but the object itself stays in the unmanaged heap.
If you think that WinRT or C++/CX are not native, you're wrong.
To @hjc4869
How did you manage to bypass marketplace analysis using P\Invoke? I'm fairly certain that MS checks metadata for DllImport attribute.
I'm going to try the second way, thanks!
Useless guy said:
I know what pinvoke is perfectly, don't send me to msdn as long as I'm able to find it by myself.
Both an unmanaged dll and a WinRT component are native. CLR wraps every COM\WinRT object in the Runtime Callable Wrapper, but the object itself stays in the unmanaged heap.
If you think that WinRT or C++/CX are not native, you're wrong.
To @hjc4869
How did you manage to bypass marketplace analysis using P\Invoke? I'm fairly certain that MS checks metadata for DllImport attribute.
I'm going to try the second way, thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
never said you don't know what p/invoke is.
I just wanted to show you that it is illegal in wp8 SDK (which that link leads to).
And if you actually read that link, you would see that invoking winRT or C++/CX (compiled for WP8) is allowed. This is probably due to the fact that these methods still execute in a sandbox. While MS won't allow arm compiled dll without the WP8 SDK because it can't verify its security.
mcosmin222 said:
And if you actually read that link, you would see that invoking winRT or C++/CX (compiled for WP8) is allowed. This is probably due to the fact that these methods still execute in a sandbox. While MS won't allow arm compiled dll without the WP8 SDK because it can't verify its security.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What does it mean - compile for WP8? I can add to the package any dll that uses Win32 (non-restricted) and compiled for ARM. The library will work on both WP and W8 without recompilaton.
Useless guy said:
What does it mean - compile for WP8? I can add to the package any dll that uses Win32 (non-restricted) and compiled for ARM. The library will work on both WP and W8 without recompilaton.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Will it? When you compile a C++ dll for desktop, it references kernel32.dll and unless you explicitly exclude it from the linker, it couldn't possible work on WP8 since there's no kernel32.dll.
Hi all
Trying to play with this method, but it seems LoadLibraryExW is not available. The only function available is LoadPackagedLibrary and when I try to run it, I've got C00000D error which is STATUS_INVALID_PARAMETER.
---------- Post added at 01:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:49 PM ----------
It seems LoadPackagedLibrary only loads .dll from installation folder of application and do not allows full path in name. Thats why I got invalid argument error
Useless guy said:
What is the difference?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Code signature.
Sunius1 said:
Will it? When you compile a C++ dll for desktop, it references kernel32.dll and unless you explicitly exclude it from the linker, it couldn't possible work on WP8 since there's no kernel32.dll.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Kernel32.dll is the huge part of Win32 and it exists on both WP and Windows. WPSDK doesn't include kernel32.lib, but I'm pretty sure it can be easily generated from dll file.
#define WINAPI_PARTITION_DESKTOP and kernel32.lib should work, I think.
UPD:
I forgot, kernel32 could be removed as it's just the compatability layer for kernelbase.dll and new windows 8 api sets (api-ms-*.dll).
clrokr said:
Code signature.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DLLs are signing on certification process.
Related
http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/vs2005/welcome/default.aspx
have anybody tried messing with the beta's to make pocketpc applications ?
Rudegar said:
http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/vs2005/welcome/default.aspx
have anybody tried messing with the beta's to make pocketpc applications ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm a MSDN subscriber and haven't received it yet. As soon as i get it will try to publish it somewhere in the net...
Cheers
well the link i gave will let you download the beta even if you dont subscriber to msdn
it does require a passport though
havent dl'd it myself though
infolink
Rudegar said:
well the link i gave will let you download the beta even if you dont subscriber to msdn
it does require a passport though
havent dl'd it myself though
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm on my i-mate now & can't find any download links on that page. It is not even published at http://msdn.microsoft.com/downloads/recent.aspx download center.
Can you post a link to a pre-DL passport auth page?
http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/express/visualc/
https://login.passport.net/ppsecure/uisecure.srf?id=42814
me
I'm using Visual Web Developer 2005 beta.
Completely new to web development.
HTML tags were completely beyond me as was data driving asp stuff.
BUT......
VWD is a dream to use.
I now have an asp site that lets XDA equiped engineers interface with our back office systems. The database integration is simple (tho there are a few bugs) and controls autosize for the target device.
Give it a go
well the only stuff relevant for me is c++ and maybe a bit of c# so i dont end up like some creepy dinosaur like those people who started coding Cobol back in the 70's and are still at it!
suppose one have to keep a bit up with the trend
VS 2005
Hi, there:
I'm using VS2005beta1, and I think its cool except a stupid bug on device application development. I attached some screen shots here. hope these information helpful.
Unlike evc+sdk developer tool set, vs2005 includes all stuff needed to build device applications, and it supports the latest emulator which running native ARM code on an emulated arm920 device, it's much faster than the legacy emulator, the legacy i486 emulator is still suported, check the attached platforms.jpg for supported platforms, notice wince 5.0 device is in the list. :lol:
now we can program in vb.net, c#, or c/c++. the attached screen shots show these different types of projects. convenient enough hur.
well, a big problem arised when develop in c/c++, i did not try vb.net and c# coz I don't like'em. when you create a new project, two platform configurations are created, one for device and the other for emulator. I mentioned the new emulator before, remember? its cpu is an arm920, check the screen shot. this emulator is used when deploy and debug for the project's emulator configuration. but unfortunately, under the emulator configuration, the compile and linker will generate x86 executable which cannot be run on the target emulator. what is worse is that you cannot change to use legacy i486 emulator, you can not even connect to the legacy emulator, the problem may related to the virtual machine network service driver installed by the emulator installation file. I'm still checking it. until this problem is solved can we finally debug on emulator, otherwise we had the only choice to debug on the device, btw I can debug on device with no problem, it can even attach to a running process on the device
at the predicatable future, vs2005 will certainly supercede evc+sdk to become the unified development platform.
why the screen shots appear in a reverse order of my attaching? I think it should be a list instead of a stack. :roll:
Well, I think I´ll have a look at it soon. Could you check if there are any project types for deployment? Means a "setup projekt" for devices?
yeah, I forgot this one, check the shot, it support device cab project.
Hi,
Can someone assist me with how i might go about decompiling or viewing a dll, making changes to it and recompiling it? What tools can i use to do this?
I have tried copying some of the dlls from my device over to my local pc, however most of the time i get an "access violation" message.
Further, i realize i can use idlasm to disassemble .net files, but it seems most of the more interesting dlls and files may be standard c dlls. How can i take a look at the code in these and modify if wanted?
thanks much.
farseer: what level of experience do you have?
V
I'd like to think i am decent developer, but that may be in my own mind
However, i do not do a lot of "hacking", i.e., have not had the need to do much reverse engineering. I have been coding ground up apps for over 10 years however, uisng C++, Java, C#, VB, etc. You name the language, and i've probably done something in it .
vijay555 said:
farseer: what level of experience do you have?
V
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
was that the wrong answer?
farseer said:
I'd like to think i am decent developer, but that may be in my own mind
However, i do not do a lot of "hacking", i.e., have not had the need to do much reverse engineering. I have been coding ground up apps for over 10 years however, uisng C++, Java, C#, VB, etc. You name the language, and i've probably done something in it .
vijay555 said:
farseer: what level of experience do you have?
V
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The correct answer should be "I know ARM assembler language, the structure of Win32 PE files, I know what is XIP DLL and why I cannot modify them directly, and I have read the WM5 source code".
In this case the process is simple - you decompile a DLL with IDA (www.datarescue.com), find the place you need, modify the code to suit your needs - and that is all. In most cases there is not enough place in DLL for your code, so you need to use virus-like techniques, my prefered method is to patch the code so that it loads my DLL and run it instead of original code. Or use some other hooking methods so that my code is executed instead of original.
Ah, thanks much, this was helpful. I do have a few follow up questions:
1. Is "Arm assembler" different than standard assembler? If so, any suggested readings?
2. There are some dlls that cannot be copied to my local pc (i get an access violation i believe). How does one extract an image of such dlls?
3. Where is the WM5 source code? and why would i need to read this to be able to hack/patch dlls?
thanks again.
mamaich said:
The correct answer should be "I know ARM assembler language, the structure of Win32 PE files, I know what is XIP DLL and why I cannot modify them directly, and I have read the WM5 source code".
In this case the process is simple - you decompile a DLL with IDA (www.datarescue.com), find the place you need, modify the code to suit your needs - and that is all. In most cases there is not enough place in DLL for your code, so you need to use virus-like techniques, my prefered method is to patch the code so that it loads my DLL and run it instead of original code. Or use some other hooking methods so that my code is executed instead of original.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi farseer!
I am nowhere near the level of mamaich or vijay555 but I have some experience in this and I believe I can give you some basic answers:
1. ARM is a different architecture then x86 processors and the assembler is different to accommodate it. There are some basic similarities like mov add and such, but even the registers are different (R0 - R15 if I am not mistaken). Sorry, I don't know any books on it, but if you google you will quickly find the list of commands with basic explanation.
2. Since the OS is in ROM you can't just copy and paste it's DLLs and EXEs. Look for ROM dumping tools on this forum, or already extracted images on the ftp. Keep in mind MS did some tricks to save memory and make it harder to get at the files, so like mamaich said, you need to learn about XIP and the ROM structure in general to understand whats going on.
3. Hmm... MS does have a program for sharing most of WM source code, but it's not for common people like us. (check out their site to see what I mean) I suspect there are other sources of getting the parts necessary to understand DLL hooking, but I have no idea what they might be.
Well that's my two cents until an expert can answer you. Hope this helps.
farseer: you gave a perfectly good answer IMHO, just needed to get an idea of what level to pitch a response without talking up or down to you!
It's well documented that I'm a self confessed newb to c++, and would say that your programming skills should certainly hold you in good stead. However, having a good knowledge of the Win32 API is certainly beneficial.
For decompiling, basically IDA. There is an IDA demo available on their website that should get you going, it's pretty much 100% functional other then it won't save, and closes itself (or crashes itself) after a reasonable, random period of time. IDA is "the daddy" for pretty much all mainstream reversing, although you could write your own decompiler/debugger.
Recompiling - that's a toughy. IDA won't permit recompiling on ARM AFAIK.
You'll have to hexedit into the target and patch directly. Otherwise you get into the exciting world of code injection, hooking etc, as Mamaich says.
For that area, read everything he's ever written, before you start reversing
Oh, and a helpful hint to all. Don't just read what Mamaich's written on this board, his posts on other boards are even more useful!
It's worth getting a good familiarity with reversing on x86 first, get used to how IDA works etc (and Soft Ice is very useful to give a good insight into x86, although AFAIK it's not available for WinCE). ARM assembler is different, but just grab a list of the opcodes and read through a few CPU developers' guides (online).
There are a number of tutorials on reversing ARM stuff online. In the usual places for that kind of stuff.
For getting access to the ROM files, easiest way is to grab a rom update file and decrypt it. Mamaich is once again your man, his romtools do the job. He also has a "live" rom grabber, that'll grab all the files/modules out of your running phone for your perusal.
Platform Builder is available free to give you (some) WinCE source code. Not all, but enough to give you years worth of reading.
V
Thanks all...very kind of you to respond in such detail. I look forward to dabbling a bit with IDA and some of mamaich tools. I suppose the first order of business is to do a lil more research and then just dive in! It's been a while since i wrote any assembly code (not since college!), but i am a bit excited at having an excuse to do so again.
thanks again.
Just remember that unless you really luck out and the developer left the symbol table intact, you're going to end up with garbage for the names of variables and subroutines.
I hate reading decompiled code.
This thread is for announcements and discussion around the WP8NativeAccess project (https://wp8nativeaccess.codeplex.com/). The purpose of this project is to provide general-purpose libraries, usable from C++ or .NET, which enable access to the underlying functions of the OS. In some cases, this will mean simple wrappers around native APIs; in other cases, these will be more advanced operations which simplify using the low-level APIs.
Some of the functions that the Native Access project exposes are already available via the official APIs. Other functions, however, are not. While I have no objection to these libraries being used in Store apps (license permitting), it is unlikely that Microsoft will permit the ones which use unofficial APIs.
Note that this library does not provide any method for elevation of privileges. Consequently, the use of these APIs will be constrained by the sandbox in which all third-party WP8 apps run, as defined by the capabilities in the app manifest. In practical terms, this means that most of the system will be either inaccessible or read-only. Even so, it has already proven useful to myself. When combined with interop-unlock and Capability-unlock hacks (making it possible for apps to obtain higher privileges), these APIs become much more useful. In fact, the EnableAllCapabilities utility uses the Registry library. Similarly, if you have the ability to use restricted Capabilities in an app you are developing, you may find these libraries useful.
The libraries are as follows:
FileSystem version 0.4.0: Implements functionality to read, write, and get information about files and directories, plus supports creating symbolic links and enumerating file system volumes. This version contains a breaking change from 0.3.x: the NativeFileSystem functions are now static and the constructor is removed. This library may be built with or without the macro USE_NON_PUBLIC_APIS; by default it now includes this macro and require kernelbase.lib to build. If this macro is not defined, it builds using the public APIs without requiring any special libraries.
Registry version 0.2.9: Implements functionality to read and write registry values, and to create and delete registry keys and values. Many, though not yet all, registry value types are fully supported. This library consists entirely of non-public (for WP8) APIs and requires the KERNELBASE.LIB and ADVAPI32LEGACY.LIB export libraries for Windows Phone 8 in order to build (the DLLs are in C:\Windows\System32 on the phone; you can use Dll2Lib.exe to extract the .LIB files).
Processes version 0.1.0: Implements basic functionality to get information about your process, and to create or kill a child process. Very early version.
They are licensed under the Microsoft Permissive License.
The FileSystem and Registry libraries are currently being used by my WP8 File Access Webserver project (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2355034).
My EnableAllSideloading app uses the Registry library (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2435697).
@hjc4869 has a basic FileExplorer app which uses the FileSystem library (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2497788).
You may need to use 7-Zip or another extraction program better than the built-in Windows Zip extractor to open the archive.
Reserved for OP...
Updated. This will be the main place on XDA for releases of the NativeAccess libraries going forward. Additionally, please report problems or make feature requests here.
I think there should be some way to list all the volumes...
Perhaps windows runtime has provided an async win32 file API wrapper which has the same ability as win32 ones ,so I think undocumented file API and registry ,process and etc are more important.
The latest version of the NativeFileSystem library can give you the mount points (as strings) for all volumes (C:\, D:\, etc.)... I implemented that a few days ago; it should be in this update. Sorry for not highlighting that more clearly (typo in the OP fixed now).
Can't open "NativeAccessLibraries_040_029_010.zip"
Edit Ok with 7-zip
How odd, you're right. I didn't do anything terribly fancy while building that ZIP, so I really don't know what's up with that.
I have added the NativeFileSystem library to my PDF to Office app...
Thanks again for all your work !
@GoodDayToDie: Congratulations, good work! Unfortunately I can't import the registry library, it says it's not a valid DLL. I have Visual Studio 2013 Pro. Does it work for WP8? Please help me solving the problem. Thanks!
Sent from my Windows Phone using Tapatalk
myst02 said:
@GoodDayToDie: Congratulations, good work! Unfortunately I can't import the registry library, it says it's not a valid DLL. I have Visual Studio 2013 Pro. Does it work for WP8? Please help me solving the problem. Thanks!
Sent from my Windows Phone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to reference .winmd file, not the .dll file.
Thanks! Can we also modify hex registry values with it?
Sent from my Windows Phone using Tapatalk
If you have the required permissions, yes. There's read/write functions for REG_BINARY, and also a simple wrapper around RegSetValue that will work for any type.
However, the library doesn't actually give you any privileges your app didn't already have. Without special Capabilities (which usually require hacks to enable), you won't have write access anywhere in the registry at all...
GoodDayToDie said:
If you have the required permissions, yes. There's read/write functions for REG_BINARY, and also a simple wrapper around RegSetValue that will work for any type.
However, the library doesn't actually give you any privileges your app didn't already have. Without special Capabilities (which usually require hacks to enable), you won't have write access anywhere in the registry at all...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, thanks, but another question: I referenced .winmd file, but it gives me error, the component was not found. Any idea how to fix it?
Do you have the DLL and the WINMD in the same location? Are you creating a WP8.0 app (I don't know if apps targeting 8.1 specifically will work)? Are you building for ARM?
Yeah, I have. Library now working, but it doesn't recognize the commands, I mean if I write NativeRegistry.ReadDWORD command not found :/ Can you help me?
Sent from my RM-915_lta_lta_330 using Tapatalk
You're going to need to be way more specific.
How far did you get, i.e. can you compile the app? Install the app? Launch the app? Does it crash immediately or does it actually load? Etc.
What, *exactly*, breaks? Does it break when you try to reference the NativeRegistry library, or only when you try to actually use ReadDWORD function, or some time later? If you are able to call readDWORD, what is the return value? If it fails, what is the error code?
Are you getting an exception, or does it just not work? If it's an exception, give me as much detail about it as you can (the type, the message, the code where it happened, etc. if possible).
myst02 said:
Yeah, I have. Library now working, but it doesn't recognize the commands, I mean if I write NativeRegistry.ReadDWORD command not found :/ Can you help me?
Sent from my RM-915_lta_lta_330 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try to rebuild the solution.
GoodDayToDie said:
You're going to need to be way more specific.
How far did you get, i.e. can you compile the app? Install the app? Launch the app? Does it crash immediately or does it actually load? Etc.
What, *exactly*, breaks? Does it break when you try to reference the NativeRegistry library, or only when you try to actually use ReadDWORD function, or some time later? If you are able to call readDWORD, what is the return value? If it fails, what is the error code?
Are you getting an exception, or does it just not work? If it's an exception, give me as much detail about it as you can (the type, the message, the code where it happened, etc. if possible).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, I can't even build it, it doesn't recognize the command and makes a red line under it. I can reference the library, but not use any commands like ReadDWORD, WriteDWORD and so on. Screenshot is attached, this is happening if I load your EnableAllSideloading App, for example. With self-created projects I have the same problem. My system is Win 8.1 Pro x64 and I'm using Visual Studio 2013 Professional. Can you help me? Thanks!
You have added
Registry.winmd in reference library
and
Using Registry;
in your source code
Source code for EnableAllSideloading already has the requisite using directives...
When you look in the project's References, is the Registry library referenced correctly? By default it'll try to use a relative path that I use on my PC, but probably not the same path you use. You may need to manually adjust the reference, or delete it and re-create it.
Alternatively, what auto-fix options does Visual Studio give you when you click on those red lines?
So I want to explore my Samsung ATIV S' registry as I do not know almost all its entries and I want to see what I can customise so I want to ask: will there be a registry explorer for WP8? Because according to GDTD, all interop apps on wp7 don't work on WP8.
The native webserver I built already works pretty well as a registry browser; it just can't make edits (at this time). I'm working on one with a bit more functionality (I've already gotten reading multi-strings supported, and I'd like to get editing working).
An on-device one would, of course, be nice. One option here would be to take the source code to a WP7 one and upgrade the project to WP8, then remove the COM interop used for WP7 homebrew and replace it with the C++/CX native component and .WINMD file for interfacing. Re-write the native interface layer to use the .WINMD (should be easy, actually, since there had to be a COM interop interface already; just replace that interface) and add ID_CAP_INTEROPSERVICES, and it *should* work.
GoodDayToDie said:
The native webserver I built already works pretty well as a registry browser; it just can't make edits (at this time). I'm working on one with a bit more functionality (I've already gotten reading multi-strings supported, and I'd like to get editing working).
An on-device one would, of course, be nice. One option here would be to take the source code to a WP7 one and upgrade the project to WP8, then remove the COM interop used for WP7 homebrew and replace it with the C++/CX native component and .WINMD file for interfacing. Re-write the native interface layer to use the .WINMD (should be easy, actually, since there had to be a COM interop interface already; just replace that interface) and add ID_CAP_INTEROPSERVICES, and it *should* work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Erm... in English? :laugh::laugh::laugh:
AlvinPhilemon said:
Erm... in English? :laugh::laugh::laugh:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Take the source code from one of the WP7 Registry Browsers, upgrade the source to a WP8 project, strip out the old COM code and replace it with GDTD's libraries.
Well, and the code from the Samsung Diagnosis app (the native DLL, which is accessed using a .WINMD or WINdows MetaData file, which can be added as a Reference to a C# phone app project). So far, using the RPCComponent + ID_CAP_INTEROPSERVICES still offers much greater write access than any of the Capabilities that can otherwise be added even with interop-unlock.
Hi guys, could you tell me how to open file for writing in the phone app LocalStorage for the non-unlocked handset (regular app for store)?
Code below doesn't work
Code:
FILE *tmp;
auto tmpPath = Windows::Storage::ApplicationData::Current->LocalFolder->Path + "\\tmp.txt";
auto tmpErr = _wfopen_s(&tmp, tmpPath->Data(), L"w");
Any suggestions?
Try looking though msdn articles. I found it somewhere in there. But I have forgotten it now.
Sent from Board Express on my Nokia Lumia 1020. Best phone ever!!
Note to noobs: DON'T PM ME WITH QUESTIONS. POST IN THE FORUMS. THAT'S WHAT THEY ARE HERE FOR!
@wcomhelp, please keep your rtfm advices for yourself, OK? I'm not a noob and of course I've searched msdn, google, codeplex, github etc. and so on before posting here. If you don't know how, much better be silent (like others who read this post but have no idea what I'm talking about)
I've tried a few possible methods including ugly "MS-way" with task & lambda syntax (see below) but nothing worked as it should be (code below works if no file exist and fails if file already exist - CreationCollisionOption::ReplaceExisting options is not worked/not implemented/buggy/billgates_knows_only ).
Code:
auto folder = Windows::Storage::ApplicationData::Current->LocalFolder;
Concurrency::task<Windows::Storage::StorageFile^> createFileOp(
folder->CreateFileAsync(CONFIG_FILE_NAME, Windows::Storage::CreationCollisionOption::ReplaceExisting));
createFileOp.then([=](Windows::Storage::StorageFile^ file)
{
return file->OpenAsync(Windows::Storage::FileAccessMode::ReadWrite);
})
.then([=](Windows::Storage::Streams::IRandomAccessStream^ stream)
{
auto outputStream = stream->GetOutputStreamAt(0);
auto dataWriter = ref new Windows::Storage::Streams::DataWriter(outputStream);
// data save code skipped
return dataWriter->StoreAsync();
})
.wait();
BTW, I've used workaround, to save ported C++ app data to the LocalSettings instead of text file (as it was in original code).
"Doesn't work" doesn't give us a lot to go on, troubleshooting-wise. Can you tell us what error you get?
Only thing I see in the code that looks a little weird is that the
Code:
"\\tmp.txt"
part isn't explicitly a wide-character string, but I'd expect string concatenation to take care of that.
Also, out of curiosity, why libc functions instead of Win32? Obviously, the code you're writing here isn't intended for much portability...
@GoodDayToDie, there is no error code at all - standard POSIX functions returns NULL FILE, the ::GetLastError() also return 0.
I'm porting old C-style app to WinRT platform and don't care about portability (but the first post code - just a simplified example, nothing more).
POSIX (libc) functions works pretty well for reading only but not for writing - that's the problem...
As I said before, I resolved my issue by workaround but still curious why the POSIX calls fails for file writing in the app storage.
buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh
No need for lambdas
https://paoloseverini.wordpress.com/2014/04/22/async-await-in-c/
You may also want to rethink your strategy
You can't create files at arbitrary locations, so your method is kinda redundant. All the locations you are allowed to create and read files to/from are available through KnowFolders and ApplicationData classes. These return StorageFolders which in turn can create files with CreateFileAsync (used for both creating and opening existing files) and get files with GetFilesAsync ( I recommend against this one though) and similar methods.
@mcosmin222, could you please re-read my posts one more time? I'm not trying to create files at "arbitrary locations"; I wanna create/write simple text file at the app's local storage (which one should be available for reading/writing). And the problem not in the lambdas or task usage (yes, it looks ugly but it works as it supposed to be).
Could you provide a working example instead of words? And I'll be glad to say you "thanks a lot"; can't say now...
sensboston said:
@mcosmin222, could you please re-read my posts one more time? I'm not trying to create files at "arbitrary locations"; I wanna create/write simple text file at the app's local storage (which one should be available for reading/writing). And the main problem not in the task (async execution).
Could you provide a working example instead of words? And I'll be glad to say you "thanks a lot"; can't say now...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure, just gimmie a few hours till I can get near a compiler that is capable of doing that
Of course, no rush at all, take your time. It's not a showstopper for me now (actually, my workaround with AppSettings is more preferable way - at least for universal app and roaming settings) but the issue still has an "academic interest" and maybe will be useful in the next projects for porting old C/C++ code to WinRT.
sensboston said:
Of course, no rush at all, take your time. It's not a showstopper for me now (actually, my workaround with AppSettings is more preferable way - at least for universal app and roaming settings) but the issue still has an "academic interest" and maybe will be useful in the next projects for porting old C/C++ code to WinRT.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hi
in vs 2015
#include <pplawait.h>
Something of the like should work
Code:
WriteSomeFile() __resumable
{
auto local = ApplicationData::Current->LocalFolder;
auto file = __await local->CreateFileAsync("some file", CreationCollisionOption::eek:penIfExists);
__await FileIO::WriteTextAsync(file, "this is some text");
}
However, as of right now, in VS 2015 RC, you have a host of limitations when dealing with this, but I do not believe this will be of any issue to you.
Code:
Cannot use Windows Runtime (WinRT) types in the signature of resumable function and resumable function cannot be a member function in a WinRT class. (This is fixed, but didn't make it in time for RC release)
We may give a wrong diagnostic if return statement appears in resumable function prior to seeing an await expression or yield statement. (Workaround: restructure your code so that the first return happens after yield or await)
Compiling code with resumable functions may result in compilation errors or bad codegen if compiled with /ZI flag (Edit and Continue debugging)
Parameters of a resumable function may not be visible while debugging
Please see this link for additional details
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/vcblog/archive/2015/04/29/more-about-resumable-functions-in-c.aspx
you should also note that this works with native, standard C++ types.
@mcosmin222, looks like unbuffered writing works (i.e. without streams) fine but it still not an answer for my initial question
I'm curious why the standard POSIX libc writing operations are not working on the app's local storage (but reading from files works fine). Actually, it's all about porting old C/C++ code for WinRT; of course for the new app it's not a problem but re-writing old code to FileIO should be a huge pain in the ass. What I did: I've "mechanically" changed all libc formatted outputs from file to string, and use LocalSettings class (actually it's XML file) to store that string (I'm planning also change LocalSettings to RoamingSettings, to provide settings consistency between WP & desktop app).
P.S. <pplawait.h> is not available in my VS 2015 (release pro version) so I've tested by using lambda pattern.
OK, first things first, LIBC != POSIX! The POSIX way to do this would be to call the open() function and get back an int as an "fd" (file descriptor), which is of course not implemented on Windows Phone because Windows Phone is not a POSIX platform (you might find the Windows compatibility functions _open() and _wopen(), but I doubt it). You are attempting to use the standard C library functions, which are portable but implement kind of a lowest common denominator of functionality and are generally slightly slower than native APIs because they go through a portability wrapper.
Second, sorry to be all RTFM on you but you should really Read The Manual (or manpage, or, since this is Windows, the MSDN page)! Libc APIs set errno (include errno.h) and use different error values than Windows system error codes (or HRESULT codes, or NTSTATUS codes, or...). Error reporting in C is a mess. If you were calling CreateFile(), you would check GetLastError(), but since you're calling _wfopen(), you check errno (not a function).
@GoodDayToDie, _wfopen_s returns 0 (i.e. "no error") but tmp pointer receives also 0 (NULL) Could you explain why libc file functions are working for reading (at the app installation & local data folders of course) but not for writing? Any logical ("msdn based") explanation? Or you just... don't know, heh?
sensboston said:
@GoodDayToDie, _wfopen_s returns 0 (i.e. "no error") but tmp pointer receives also 0 (NULL) Could you explain why libc file functions are working for reading (at the app installation & local data folders of course) but not for writing? Any logical ("msdn based") explanation? Or you just... don't know, heh?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LIBC functions will most likely work just in debug mode. The moment you try to publish the app it will fail. You can do lots of crazy stuff on your developer device with basic C functions, but if you try publishing, it won't pass the marketplace verification.
Most C APIs are simply not supported, since they do not comply with the sandbox environment of the Windows Runtime.
The code I gave you is tested with VS 2015 RC. You should be able to include <pplawait.h> just fine, if you are targeting toolchains newer than November 2013.
mcosmin222 said:
The moment you try to publish the app it will fail. You can do lots of crazy stuff on your developer device with basic C functions, but if you try publishing, it won't pass the marketplace verification.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm... Are you sure or it's just your assumption? My app is still under development but (just for test!) I've made store app package for WP and it passed local store verification I also uploaded package to the store (via browser) and it also passed. I don't have time to create all tiles and fill all fields to complete beta-submission (actually, I don't know how to mark app as beta in the new dashboard) but for me it looks like app don't have any problem and will pass store certification easily. And you may be sure - it uses A LOT of libc calls 'cause originally it was written for Linux (or kind of UX system)
sensboston said:
Hmm... Are you sure or it's just your assumption? My app is still under development but (just for test!) I've made store app package for WP and it passed local store verification I also uploaded package to the store (via browser) and it also passed. I don't have time to create all tiles and fill all fields to complete beta-submission (actually, I don't know how to mark app as beta in the new dashboard) but for me it looks like app don't have any problem and will pass store certification easily. And you may be sure - it uses A LOT of libc calls 'cause originally it was written for Linux (or kind of UX system)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Once usage reports get up to microsoft, you will be given a notice to fix the offending API (happened to be once). You are much better off using the platform specific tools: not only they are much faster, they are also much safer and you won't have problems later on.
You might get away with reading stuff (since reading is not that harmful), but you should be using the winRT APIs each time they are available.
Simply uploading your app to the marketplace just reruns the local tests in their cloud servers: once you submit the actual app (not beta, not tests) for consumers, it will be much more aggressively checked. This is because the store allows specific scenarios for distributing apps in close circles that may break the usual validation rules.
@mcosmin222, one more time: is it your assumptions or personal experience? I don't know how many apps you have in store (I do have a lot) but I never heard that you said. I've used C++ libraries with WP hacks in some of published apps but never had any problem with "aggressive checks". What I know: if you are using some "prohibited" calls, your app will not pass uploading to the store (uploading, not a certification).
P.S. I'll send you personally a link when I publish release Hope, you'll like it
sensboston said:
@mcosmin222, one more time: is it your assumptions or personal experience? I don't know how many apps you have in store (I do have a lot) but I never heard that you said. I've used C++ libraries with WP hacks in some of published apps but never had any problem with "aggressive checks". What I know: if you are using some "prohibited" calls, your app will not pass uploading to the store (uploading, not a certification).
P.S. I'll send you personally a link when I publish release Hope, you'll like it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
By "hacking" you mean recompiling the code to fit the windows phone toolchain? if so, then you shouldn't have to worry about too many things.
but even so, calling stuff like fopen in locations other than local storage will get your app banned. Even if it makes past the first publication, you can get noticed weeks later or even months (yes, it did happen to me personally).
In most cases, calling C APIs that can potentially break the sandbox (like opening a file in doc library with fopen) will always fail the marketplace verification, eventually. If it hasn't happened to you yet, then you may have not been using such APIs.
No, my C++ code is not accessing other than approved locations but the app has a lot of libс (and of course other C/C++ libs) calls; I'm 99.9% sure it's legitimate and will be not a source of any problem. Otherwise what is the advantages of having C++ compiler?!
As far as I know, just some of API's are prohibited but you will notice it right after local store compatibility test run...
As for "hacks" I mean usage of undocumented ShellChromeAPI calls (including loading hack).
P.S. I've found why <pplawait.h> header is missing. Initially I've created solution with the 12.0 toolset but now I can't (or don't know how to) change it to 14. However creating the new empty universal solution in VS 2015 also gives me toolset 12 by default. What is the toolset 14 for? Windows 10?
sensboston said:
No, my C++ code is not accessing other than approved locations but the app has a lot of libс (and of course other C/C++ libs) calls; I'm 99.9% sure it's legitimate and will be not a source of any problem. Otherwise what is the advantages of having C++ compiler?!
As far as I know, just some of API's are prohibited but you will notice it right after local store compatibility test run...
As for "hacks" I mean usage of undocumented ShellChromeAPI calls (including loading hack).
P.S. I've found why <pplawait.h> header is missing. Initially I've created solution with the 12.0 toolset but now I can't (or don't know how to) change it to 14. However creating the new empty universal solution in VS 2015 also gives me toolset 12 by default. What is the toolset 14 for? Windows 10?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The advantage of C++ is the obvious versatility: the standard C++ APIs will work fine for you as long as you stay inside the sandbox (this means you can't access files even in locations that are outside of sandbox but you have permission to them, such as music library). You can use most classic C/C++ libraries without issues as long as you do the interface with the runtime broker yourself. That means using windows runtime APIs instead of classic C APIs when dealing with stuff such as file access, for example. This is a pretty extensive topic and It is rather difficult to explain it all with 100% accuracy, especially when there is lots of docs running around.
You also get deterministic memory management, which is huge in specific scenarios.
Long story short
You will be fine with standard C/C++ when using
any in-memory functions supported by the compiler (you can manipulate data types, string, mutex, etc).
File IO in isolated storage only (applicationData folder)
Threads (although you are better off using threadpool or the like, it is much easier and cleaner). You can also use futures, and std::this_thread.
You will have to use winRT replacement
File system access in any other location than application data (you must use the windows::storage APIs)
sockets, internet access and the like.
any hardware related thing: music&video playerback must be interfaced through winRT (although the underlying decoders can be classic C/C++), messing around with the device sensors.
Retrieving system properties (internet connection state etc)
cross process communications
communicating with other apps
There are also win32 equivalents
mutex, threading, fileIO (isolated storage only)
Media playback with custom rendering pipeline.
Basically, winRT functions as an abstraction layer between the hardware and your code. You can use classic C++ up to the point where you need to interact with the system in any way. At that point, system interaction must be done with winRT. This way, microsoft ensures a higher degree of stability and security for devices.
check this link out for more information on the toolchains. You should be able to use this in VS 2013 as well with windows 8 (this is a compiler feature, has nothing to do with supported platform)
https://paoloseverini.wordpress.com/2014/04/22/async-await-in-c/