WinRT Object Libraries

[Gianni]

#include "Include\Classes\Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls.Webview.au3"

I can't find this file to try

[MattyD]

Apologies -here are a bunch on XAML libraries.  

Its been a while since I've looked at the library generator - I remember there were some issues around passing arrays that I wanted to fix.  I'll have a fresh look at that over the next couple of days, and then just release what I have so we've got something to work with!

XamlLibs.zip

[Gianni]

Thanks @MattyD for the new "XamlLibs"

I've been trying to create a WebView using what you said in your previous post, but I'm also getting the error -2147467259 Unspecified Error (E_FAIL) right after this line of code:

Local $pControl = IWebViewFactory4_CreateInstanceWithExecutionMode($pCtrl_Fact, $mWebViewExecutionMode["SameThread"])

Since I'm in the dark on this, ... I can only stay tuned ... 🙂

[MattyD]

Hey Gianni,

quick update, it looks like the native "Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls.Webview" class is not supported within Xaml islands - but we *might* be able to drop in the external "Microsoft.UI.Xaml.Controls.WebView2" control. This is part of WinUI2 I believe.

Its a bit of a rabbit hole - there's WinUI2 and  WinUI3, which seems to be quite different.  As I understand it, WinUI3 is still being developed, but its supposed to provide controls for both Win32 and UAP apps. So that might negate the need for islands, and could be the better option in the long run I guess. (albeit we'll likely need dependencies or a runtime etc.)... Either way I'll throw a bit of time at this, it'll be interesting to see what we can tap into.

[WildByDesign]

Hey Matty. I'm working on an AutoIt project called DwmColorBlurMica that basically allows for changing colors of borders and titlebars as well as applying Blur Behind to the entire client area or DwmExtendFrameIntoClientArea with backdrop Mica, Acrylic, etc. This is similar to a program called MicaForEveryone.

As you probably already know, File Explorer on Windows 11 has uses WinRT for the new Details pane and also the section at the top that contains the tabs, navigation bar and command bar. Each of those sections go through a classes called Microsoft.UI.Content.DesktopChildSiteBridge.

Do you know if it is possible (in AutoIt) to modify the Xaml content within those WinRT sections?

By modifying, I am referring to changing the background color or making the background color transparent so that the underlying backdrop material or blur can be seen through since those areas are opaque by default.

There is an open source project called ExplorerBlurMica that does exactly this, modifying the Xaml content backgrounds. However, my understanding of C or C++ is limited. And my understanding of how WinRT works is also limited.

I don't know how to get more details about which WinRT classes and such are used within those Microsoft.UI.Content.DesktopChildSiteBridge sections.

Thank you for your time. I appreciate it.

[MattyD]

Apologies for the late reply, I have been awol for a bit.

Generally speaking, if the object name starts with windows.* then it'll be built into the OS. So we should have a decent chance of making these ones work.  The Microsoft.* objects however are usually external. For these we'll probably need dependencies or a runtime in order to use them.

So "Microsoft.UI.Content.DesktopChildSiteBridge" looks to be part of the Windows App SDK (And maybe WinUI3??). There will be associated *.winmd files in the SDK somewhere that contain object definitions.  From these we should be able to wrap any object that we'll need  in order to change colours etc.. But the tricky bit is how to implement the external objects/controls in the first place.

Hope that makes sense.

I will eventually get around to attacking this WinUI stuff - It'll just be whenever I have the time and energy to throw at it