PocketKiosk Builder User Guide
Overview
PocketKiosk Builder is a tool for developing packages for running
any Pocket PC application (.exe/.vb/.NET CF) in Fullscreen Kiosk mode. In kiosk
mode users can be restricted to use a specific application only and that
application takes complete control of the screen e.g. you can run Pocket
Internet Explorer in full screen kiosk mode, thus making sure users don't
run any other application such as games, music apps etc. See the figure
below:
With PocketKiosk Builder you can configure your device to run in one of the
two following modes:
1. KioskDesktop (KD) mode
2. Non KioskDesktop mode
Kiosk Desktop Mode
In Kiosk Desktop mode icons of allowed applications are listed in a special
desktop. Users can launch only the allowed applications by tapping on them. If
the application is closed, control comes back to the kiosk desktop from where
some other allowed application can be launched.
Fig. Kiosk Desktop with a few allowed
applications
Non KioskDesktop Mode
In this mode allowed application is launched directly at
startup. No Kiosk desktop is available. If multiple applications are launched
simlutaneously, user can switch among them by pressing first hardware button the
PDA or the applications can launch and activate each other.
(Pocket
Internet Explorer running in Fullscreen kiosk mode)
Packages built with PocketKiosk Builder can be easily installed on target
Pocket PC devices. Packages are in form of .cab files. Just tap on setup.cab
file on the device. The PocketKiosk engine is installed and target application
is run automatically in fullscreen kiosk mode. Even after a warm boot, the
application will run in kiosk mode unless administrator wants otherwise.
Using PocketKiosk Builder to build Fullscreen kiosk
applications
Using Sample projects
On the desktop
computer, there are two sample projects files in {Drive:}\Program
Files\Askarya\PocketKiosk\Samples folder. First.pkp project file
contains settings to build a package with KioskDesktop enabled (See screenshot
below). Second.pkp contains settings to build a package to launch allowed
applications directly without KioskDesktop support.
Step 1 - Create a Project file
You can save your project settings as pocketkiosk project files (.pkp) on the
desktop. For e.g you can load First.pkp sample project
file from \Samples folder to see how it works. You can do following actions on
the project (.pkp) files.
New Project: Click this button to clear the values in
various fields on the PocketKiosk Builder screen. You can now enter new
values.
Save Project: You can save the project with any name (for
e.g. myproj.pkp).
Load Project: You can load settings from an existing project
file (.pkp file). The project file should have been saved earlier by
Save Project option described above.
Step 2 - Building the Package
1. Run PocketKiosk Builder (Start -> Programs -> Askarya PocketKiosk
-> PocketKiosk Builder)
2. In the screen below, You can select Kiosk Desktop option. Then add
information about all allowed applications into the list. You have an
option specify any command line parameters for the allowed applications.
You can also set an administrator code which must
be entered to stop PocketKiosk from launching the application into fullscreen
mode. Incase you have loaded a project file (.pkp), these values are read
automatically into the PocketKiosk Builder screen.
Click on Add button and following screen appears where you can specify
other allowed applications paths.
-
Click on the "Launch automatically at startup" checkbox, if the application
should start automatically when device boots up.
- Click on the "Don not show
on Kiosk Desktop" checkbox, if you want to run the application in background
mode and don't want the user to see its icon on the kiosk desktop screen. Such
application can be launched or terminated by some other program only.
3. Now click on Build Package button and this will generate
setup.arm.CAB file for ARM processor based
devices.
Step 3: Installing the Package on the device
There are two ways to install the package on the device.
1. Click the Install button on the main screen. If the
device is currently connected with the desktop over ActiveSync, the package will
be installed immediately and the device will softreset automatically and target
application will start running in fullscreen kiosk mode. If the device is not
connected over ActiveSync, the package is queued and when ActiveSync is
connected later, the package is installed on the device.
OR
2. Copy the setup.arm.cab file to a folder on the device and
tap on it. The cab setup will run and the package will be
installed automatically. Before performing this step, run ActiveSync and
establish the connection with the Pocket PC device. For e.g. See below,
setup.arm.cab file is copied into My Documents folder on the
device. Tapping on setup.arm.cab begins package installation. After
installation is over, device will soft reset and target application is
automatically launched in fullscreen kiosk mode. Note: Use this method
when you need to install the package on large number of devices.
Exiting from Fullscreen Kiosk mode
There are 3 ways to unlock the device from kiosk mode.
1. Kiosk Desktop Unlock: If kiosk desktop is enabled, tap on the title text
area just above the list of allowed applications. This will bringup the admin
logon screen where the admin code is entered. If correct code is entered the
device will exit from kiosk mode.
2. When using PocketKiosk Builder to build the packages, the admin can exit
the kiosk mode by going to "Device Control" section and by pressing "Exit Kiosk
Mode on device" button. ActiveSync connection must be established with the
device before using this option.
3. Soft reset the Pocket PC device. You will see following screen. If user
doesn't tap on 'Yes' or 'No', the target application will be launched
automatically after specified time delay. (This time delay can be modified while
building the .cab package. The default time delay value is 10 seconds)
Click
No on the above screen. Now enter the admin code (It was set while
building the package in step
2)
If
valid admin code is entered, PocketKiosk will exit and the Pocket PC will start
in normal mode.
 Buy
PocketKiosk Builder
Email us your feedback and comments at: support@askarya.com.
Thanks for using Askarya software.
Note:Single license can be used
to deploy packages on any number of PocketPC devices for free. History
- v3.1 - Proper enumeration and handling of hardware
buttons
- Show Unlock menu with
tap-and-hold anywhere on the kiosk desktop empty area (not just the top
bar)
- Fixed Issue: After kiosk
mode exits, hardware buttons now work as assigned in normal mode
- Fixed Issue: Activeysync reconnect fails
always if "Disable ActiveSync Connection" is selected
- Fixed Issue: Tapping on Unlock menu on device properly
shows login screen, Earlier it was sometimes showing white screen
- v3.0 - Added new Kiosk Desktop
feature
-
Added Spanish and Brazilian language
support
- Improvements in User Interface and project file (.pkp)
format
-
Option to disable Continue button on startup screen (e.g. application on SD
card may take some time to be available for launch). With this we
can restrict the user for trying to start the application before the timer
expires.
-
Option to fit logo image to screen
- Option for admin to unlock the device by tapping on KioskDesktop title text
area and entering the admin code
- v2.6.4 - Option to show version on device
screen
- Exit Kiosk Mode from desktop (Device Control feature)
- Specify delay (in seconds) before exited target application is
restarted by PocketKiosk (Useful for updating applications in the
field)
- v2.6.3 - Performance improvement (less CPU
overhead)
-
Showing PocketKiosk versions on client engine and desktop tool
- Bug
fix (PocketKiosk Builder project was not saving AutoLaunch option for
applications)
- v2.6 - Create New Projects, Load existing kiosk projects
and Modify/Save projects
- Bug
fixes (e.g. taskbar flickering in rare cases)
- v2.5 - Option to disable ActiveSync connection when
application is running in kiosk mode,
- Added
support for showing logo image (.bmp format only) at startup,
- Works
in both Landscape and Portrait mode
- Disable
taps on taskbar when an unallowed application window is in foreground.
- v2.3 - Option to show taskbar with no start
button. With no Start button user won't be able to launch other applications.
Also target application cannot be closed by tapping X button as the taskbar
window will be disabled. This feature is useful if you want to use the taskbar
to show some type of information such as program status or system status (e.g.
battery info, clock etc.)
- v2.2 - Enhanced performance and Optimization
done.
- v2.1 - Fixed issues and improved performance.
- v2.0 - Allows switching among multiple applications
by pressing a hardware button.
- v1.3.3 - Does not allow Today Screen from coming
back after session timeout.
- v1.3.2 - Launch target application using shortcut
links (.lnk files), Simultaneously run extra apps in Kiosk
Mode.
- Support for disabling hard buttons, automatically soft reset the
device after package installation on most devices.
- v1.3 - Automatically launch target application
after some time delay with no user interaction.
- v1.2 - Option to execute multiple applications in
background while keeping main target application in fullscreen kiosk mode.
- v1.1.1 - Optimization for .NET CF applications.
- v1.1 - Added support for running CF applications in
Kiosk mode
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