Which APIs, CODE should be used for wimpe GUI application

[solar]

Hi there. I wish to port a win32 application or so to run in wimpe. It is a gui program. It does basically what a bat file and some vbs scripts can do , add .hta and you would have an open source alternative. However, I wish to create a commercial software solution and I am wondering which native APIs I would need, or which code is best to use.

For now, I was trying out c++ , win32 applications and/or .NET dependent win32 forms. Can I include .net on my test wimpe to run my program?

Is Delphi the way to go?

Any input would be nice... I originally planned to release the scripts freely available to thepublic, as it would help countless novices, (re-)creating their recovery partitions, with customised images and fully rebuilt boot manager . push a button and bam, (depending on size of image) anything from 5 mins to 45 mins will have the computer restored, fully integrated drivers, updates, programs, cusomtisations, the lot. Basically a home 'OEM' recovery solution maker.

I would appreciate any helpful input on which libraries/sdk's , api's , prog language would be best for this scenario. (again, no scripting solutions are wished for , even if it is a lot easier, as I decided to not go public with source.

solar

[CoffeeFiend]

Sadly, I have no answer as for which programming language as I don't really mess around WinPE (I have no need to).

However, keep in mind most people who want to do something along those lines will opt for other very well known solutions like acronis trueimage or norton ghost (or countless others), unattended installs, windows 7's built in backups, the backups from windows home server and so on (many options which are well known, well supported, mature, fully featured, decently priced and all). And a large percentage of folks already have such a recovery partition on their boxes in the first place (placed there by the OEM, be it Dell, HP, Lenovo or whatever)

This leaves you with a very small potential market for a commercial product (especially since we have to reinstall far less often these days), especially if they have to be able to provide their own WinPE source (download the latest WAIK first?) and then run your program from elsewhere manually and all that stuff (doesn't sound all that simple compared to other options) since you can't legally redist any of those files (WinPE) yourself.

Just saying, I'm not sure if I'd spend too much energy on this particular project. It's not that easy making decent money as a micro ISV, and here, you'd also have to provide support for it and everything else (yes, even folks who will pirate it will dare to ask!) which most people don't really like doing. Then don't forget all the sales (transaction processing fees, taxes and whatever -- dealing with the chargebacks too) and marketing stuff (e.g. adwords or what not -- if nobody hears about it, you'll have zero customers) and so on. Don't forget the hosting fees (including domain name) for your sales/support site either (nor the time to build it, time to answer emails, time to police support forums for spam and such). I just don't think you'd be making a lot of money per hour worked on the project unfortunately -- call me a pessimist if you want! Starting out as a micro ISV is hard, but starting in a very crowded market is much harder.

If I was in it for the money, I'd be picking another niche (without the already overcrowded market)

[MrJinje]

Try this batch to exe compiler Newest version supports encryption which protects against decompiling.

Direct Download

Otherwise, if you are really needing to go .NET on WimPE it is possible with VMware ThinApp's app-Linking. Here is a step by step walkthrough.. I haven't heard of any other way that works on WimPE.

EDIT: VB6 would probably be more compatible, at worst you would need your users to include the runtime in the WIM build.

Edited December 7, 2009 by MrJinje

[solar]

Hi there.. well thanks for input. yes coffeefiend.. I am aware of all those things The project is 'fun' so I don't mind. You forget however, the bunch of people who have run out of warranty with their manufacturers.. many laptop users which are 'noobs' if I may say so .

Also, some of them have screwed up the recovery system etc. This system allows for a total customised experience with all recovery, recovery partitions and boot setup, etc. Windows Backup works.. sure.. but for an end user (noobie) he will store it somewhere o the disks, without the OEM like recoveyr partition storing it in the way they feel safer about. Which this program will do.

To other replier.. I do not need any batch to exe converter thank you, and neither to hack .net onto it... I will write native implementations onfor the winpe part. Ye I did ask about .NET but realized it was a dead end in terms of commercial path.