Part I: Sidebar Gadgets

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Contents Acknowledgments xiii Introduction xxi Part I: Sidebar Gadgets Chapter 1: Introduction to Windows Sidebar 3 What Is Windows Sidebar? 4 Using Sidebar 6 Launching Sidebar 8 Customizing Sidebar 8 Hiding Sidebar 10 Sidebar Gadgets 10 Understanding the Gadgets World 11 Built-in Sidebar Gadgets 12 Detaching Sidebar Gadgets from Sidebar 12 Adding Gadgets to Sidebar 13 Obtaining Additional Sidebar Gadgets 14 Running Multiple Instances of a Gadget 17 Sidebar Gadgets Are Not Persistent 17 Summary 18 Chapter 2: Programming Windows Sidebar Gadgets 19 Components of a Sidebar Gadget 19 Your First Sidebar Gadget: Microsoft Virtual Earth 21 Using the Virtual Earth Map Control 23 Creating the Main UI for the Gadget 25 Creating gadget.xml 27 Installing the Virtual Earth Gadget 29 Enhancing the Gadget 30 Docking and Undocking the Sidebar Gadget 31 Gadget Options 33 Flyout 40 Tidying up the Gadget 47 Distributing Your Sidebar Gadget 54 Summary 56 COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL Contents xvi Chapter 3: Exploring Sidebar Gadgets APIs 57 Contacts 58 System.ContactManager Object 58 System.Contact Object 58 Debugging and Diagnostics 59 System.Debug 59 System.Diagnostics.EventLog 62 System Information 63 Sidebar Gadgets UI 65 System.Gadget 65 System.Gadget.Settings.ClosingEvent 71 System.Gadget.Flyout 72 System.Gadget.Settings 75 Machine Information 76 System.Machine.CPU and System.Machine 77 System.Machine.PowerStatus 78 ... more. less.

Emails 80 System.MessageStore 80 System.MessageStoreFolder and System.MessageStoreMessage 81 Network 82 System Shell 84 System.Shell 85 System.Shell.Folder 90 System.Shell.Item 93 System.Shell.RecycleBin 96 System.Shell.Drive 98 Sounds 99 Time and Time Zones 100 System.Time 100 System.Time.TimeZone 101 Summary 102 Chapter 4: Enhancing Sidebar Gadgets 103 Interacting with .NET Code Using .NET Interop 103 Creating the .NET Gadget Adapter Component 104 Registering the Gadget Adapter using JavaScript 111 Creating Your .NET Code 117 Putting It all Together 118 Interfacing with SideShow Devices 120 System.Gadget.SideShow 121 Contents xvii A Sample SideShow-Enabled Sidebar Gadget 121 Sending Images 127 Localizing Sidebar Gadgets 128 An Improved Approach to Localization 134 Deploying and Signing Gadgets 137 Step 1: Launching the Visual Studio 2005 Command Prompt 138 Step 2: Creating a CAB File 138 Step 3: Creating a Certificate 139 Step 4: Signing the Cab File 139 Step 5: Installing the Gadget 142 Tips for Developing Sidebar Gadgets 143 Enabling Script Debugging 144 Testing the UI Using Internet Explorer 146 Refreshing Your Gadget 148 Persisting Settings 149 Summary 150 Chapter 5: Sidebar Gadget Project 151 A Geo-Tracking and Geo-Tagging Gadget 151 Building the GPS Tracker 153 Testing the GPS Tracker 163 Creating the .NET Component 164 Modifying the VirtualEarth Gadget 168 Adding a Flyout 169 Implementing Geo-Tracking 172 Implementing Geo-Tagging 177 Summary 181 Part II: SideShow Gadgets Chapter 6: Introduction to Windows SideShow 185 SideShow Devices 185 Notebook Computers 186 Display Modules 187 Picture Frames 189 Remote Controls 190 Mobile Phones 190 Experiencing SideShow Using the SideShow Simulator on Windows Vista 192 Exploring the SideShow Simulator 194 Configuring SideShow Devices 197 Contents xviii Installing SideShow Gadgets 201 SideShow Architecture 204 Registry Settings for SideShow Gadgets 206 Interaction Between SideShow Devices and the User 207 Offline and Online Gadgets 208 Gadget Needs 209 Summary 209 Chapter 7: Programming SideShow Gadgets 211 Your First SideShow Gadgets 211 Creating a New Windows Application Project 213 Creating a GUID for the Gadget 215 Registering the Gadget 216 Unregistering the Gadget 219 Pushing Data to the SideShow Device 220 Building the RSS Aggregator 224 Displaying an Icon for Your Gadget 226 Downloading the RSS Feeds 228 Adding Images to Menu Items 234 Summary 236 Chapter 8: Simple Content Format 237 Sending Content to a SideShow Device 237 Components of a SideShow Gadget 239 Registering a Gadget 239 Glance Data 242 Types of SCF Content 245 SCF Elements 247 <body> and <content> Elements 247 <txt> and <em> Elements 249 <br> Element 252 <clr> Element 254 <img> Element 256 <btn> Element 259 <dialog> Element 262 <menu> and <item> Elements 265 <div> Element 272 Summary 273 Contents xix Chapter 9: Interacting with SideShow Devices 275 Querying the Number of SideShow Gadgets Installed 275 Querying the Capabilities of Devices 279 Handling SideShow Devices Events 282 DeviceAdded Event 284 DeviceRemoved and AllDevicesRemoved Events 287 GadgetEnter Event 289 GadgetExit Event 290 MenuSelect Event 291 ContentNavigate Event 295 ContentMissing Event 298 ContextMenuSelect Event 300 Sending Notifications to SideShow Devices 304 Summary 305 Chapter 10: SideShow Project 307 The Surveillance SideShow Gadget 307 Creating the Surveillance Camera Server 308 Saving the Video as Images 315 Communications Between the Client and the Server 318 Creating the Surveillance Camera Client 326 Testing the Client and Server 333 Sending Images to a SideShow-Enabled Device 335 Tweaking the UI 342 Packaging the Camera SideShow Gadget 347 Creating the Custom Installer 347 Creating the Setup Package 351 Testing the Installation 358 Well-Behaved SideShow Gadgets 363 Summary 364 Index 365

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