Deploying applications in Microsoft Surface SP1

The surface has a launcher application which is launching applications registered with the Surface Shell.Launcher can be activated from any of the 4 access points located at corners of surface.

Registering Microsoft Surface Application
To register an application with Microsoft surface shell we have to copy the application’s xml definitions file into the %PROGRAMDATA%\Microsoft\Surface\Programs folder.This is the folder where surface looks for application definitions.It maintains a list of applications listed here to load on demand by launcher.

Application’s definition file is a simple xml file which describes the application.Common elements included in the definition are

Title : Title  of the application
Description:Description about application
Executable: Path to exe.Path need to be absolute.
IconImageFile:Icon of application.
Preview: Preview images

A sample xml file

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<ss:ApplicationInfo
 xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
 xmlns:ss="http://schemas.microsoft.com/Surface/2007/ApplicationMetadata">
  <Application>
    <Title>Test Surface App</Title>
    <Description>This is a test Surface application.</Description>
    <ExecutableFile>%ProgramData%\Microsoft\Surface\Programs\SurfaceApplication1.exe</ExecutableFile>
    <Arguments></Arguments>
    <IconImageFile>%ProgramData%\Microsoft\Surface\Programs\Resources\icon.png</IconImageFile>
    <Preview>
      <PreviewImageFile>%ProgramData%\Microsoft\Surface\Programs\Resources\iconPreview.png</PreviewImageFile>
    </Preview>
  </Application>
</ss:ApplicationInfo>