How to build "Kiosk" application in vb.net

[Simon Verona]

I'm looking to build a "kiosk" style of application in vb.net (using
winforms)...

Writing the application itself is no problem.

What I want to do though is have the PC set so that the application runs
automatically on system startup - is completely modal - no alt-tab's
allowed. I don't want to have the start button or even want the "explorer"
item running at all. I want my application to be the only thing running.

Years ago (window3.1!) I would have done this by chaning the shell in the
win.ini file so that the application run instead of the normal windows
shell, but I doubt that it is that simple in windows 2000/XP (the target
platform).

Can anybody point me in the right directly?

Thanks in advance
Simon

 

[Herfried K. Wagner [MVP]]

I'm looking to build a "kiosk" style of application in vb.net (using
winforms)...

Microsoft Shared Computer Toolkit for Windows XP
<URL:http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...56-E3DA-42EA-857D-92B716077A84&displaylang=en>

 

[Jevon]

http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/849/ is what you're looking
for?

Jevon

 

[Simon Verona]

yes!

I presume it's safe to set a .netexecuteable as the shell?

What happens when I exit my app - will the pc shutdown or do I need to make
it shutdown the pc on exit? IF so how do I do this?

Simon

 

[Jevon]

I've set up a .Net app as a shell before, to test, and it worked fine. As I
recall, you will need to manually log the user out when your app exits - or
shut the system down depending on your requirements (don't forget to allow
an "Administrative" logout if you ever want to be able to configure anything
as a "normal" user again!). I haven't had experience of this recently (last
time I played with this was in VB6 years ago), but if it's not possible from
..Net directly, I'm sure there are plenty of examples on the web for the
relevant API calls.

Jevon