WinGet (Windows Package Manager)

The Microsoft.Management.Configuration API allows developers to programmatically manage configuration sets, check for conflicts, and apply configurations with progress monitoring.

Key workflows include:

• Loading Configurations: Use ConfigurationProcessor.OpenConfigurationSet to load a configuration from a file.
• Conflict Detection: Use ConfigurationProcessor.CheckForConflicts to identify overlapping or contradictory settings between multiple configuration sets.
• Applying Configurations: Use ConfigurationProcessor.ApplySetAsync to apply a configuration set asynchronously. This method supports progress reporting via the Progress property on the returned operation.
• Monitoring Changes: Subscribe to ConfigurationProcessor.ConfigurationChange to watch for additions, state changes, or removals of configuration sets, and ConfigurationSet.ConfigurationSetChange to watch for changes within a specific set.

using Microsoft.Management.Configuration;

// Example workflow: Load, Check Conflicts, and Apply
ConfigurationProcessor processor = new ConfigurationProcessor(factory);
ConfigurationSet configSet = processor.OpenConfigurationSet(file);

// Check for conflicts
var conflicts = processor.CheckForConflicts(new List<ConfigurationSet> { configSet }, true);

// Apply with progress
var operation = processor.ApplySetAsync(configSet, ApplyConfigurationSetFlags.None);
operation.Progress = (data) => { /* Handle progress */ };
await operation.AsTask();

Undocked RegFree WinRT allows non-packaged desktop applications to leverage user-defined Windows Runtime (WinRT) types using application manifests. This is particularly useful for supporting older OS versions (down to Windows 8.1), as Windows 10 19h1 and later support this feature natively.

The package uses the Detours library to detour RoActivateInstance, RoGetActivationFactory, RoGetMetadataFile, and RoResolveNamespace to reimplement the RegFree WinRT feature.

Setup:

1. The package automatically places winrtact.dll into your build folder alongside your executable.
2. Native Code: Initialization is handled automatically via ForceSymbolReferences.
3. Managed Code: You must manually initialize the library by calling Microsoft.Windows.UndockedRegFreeWinrt.Initialize(); to initialize the detours and load the catalog.

// For Managed code initialization
Microsoft.Windows.UndockedRegFreeWinrt.Initialize();

When submitting a Product to the Windows Package Manager repository, all content and metadata must adhere to strict safety and appropriateness standards. This includes the Product name, publisher name, icons, descriptions, screenshots, trailers, and any content delivered from a server that the Product connects to.

Age Rating Requirements

• Metadata and accompanying content must merit a rating of PEGI 12, ESRB EVERYONE 10+, or lower.
• If the Product provides content (such as user-generated or web-based content) that might require a higher age rating, you must implement a content filter or require users to sign in with a preexisting account to opt-in to that content.

Intellectual Property

• All content in the Product and associated metadata must be originally created by the application provider, appropriately licensed from third-party rights holders, or used as permitted by law.

Prohibited Content

Products must not contain content that:

• Facilitates or glamorizes extreme violence, human rights violations, illegal weapons, or violence against persons/animals/property.
• Poses a safety risk, injury risk, or damage risk to users or property.
• Is defamatory, libelous, slanderous, or threatening.
• Is offensive, sensitive, or advocates discrimination/hatred based on race, ethnicity, gender, religion, etc.
• Facilitates excessive/irresponsible use of alcohol, tobacco, drugs, or weapons.
• Is pornographic or sexually explicit.
• Encourages or glamorizes illegal real-world activity.
• Contains excessive profanity or obscene material.

Regional Compliance

• Content must not be offensive in any country/region to which the Product is targeted. This includes respecting local laws and cultural norms (e.g., specific prohibitions in China regarding sexual content or disputed territory references).

The Microsoft.Management.Configuration API enables 'Developer+' configuration scenarios by allowing interaction with configuration sets.

Core Abstractions

• Configuration Set: A self-contained group of configuration units operated on together. You can author new sets, load existing ones from a stream, or load previously applied sets from local history.
• Configuration Unit: The smallest actionable configuration element within a set. Each unit describes individual configurable items and their values.

Configuration Actions

Every configuration unit performs three primary actions:

1. Test: Determines if the current system state matches the described state.
2. Get: Extracts the current system state relative to the configuration scope.
3. Set: Applies the described state to the system.

Monitoring Changes

The API supports multiple processes watching for state changes. You can subscribe to the ConfigurationSet.ConfigurationSetChange event to monitor changes to both the configuration set lifetime and the individual configuration unit states.