Local Appx - a simple taskbar menu to launch local Windows Store apps

This is a small tool I wrote in order to pin it to the Windows 8/8.1/10 taskbar, specially to show the Windows Store local applications, mainly for programmers that want to locate their software easily.

Once pinned, it will be launched by clicking or Win+(the number of its position).

It is planned to extend its features, since this is a proof of concept tool, and mainly written for my own purposes, since searching my applications using the Start Menu is not fast as it might look.

This is a simple tool that will list all the locally installed Windows Applications specially those installed by Visual Studio, in order to launch them easily from there.

Purpose: I write apps for Windows Store, but searching and launching them is not user friendly in the long list of apps in my Start Menu long list, so I created this tool to help developers find and execute their creations.

This simple application needs to run as a pin able taskbar icon.

It will launch a Start Menu like menu listing them.

Local Appx detects the Windows taskbar and its pinned button to position itself beside it. For instance, it would be useful to run it by hitting Win+(any numeric key) corresponding to the position of its pinned icon/button.

e.g. I would pin it next to Windows taskbar start button, so hitting Win+1 will run it.

How to use: Place the files in a reliable directory, after that execute create pinable shortcut.cmd, it will create a new shortcut named Local Appx List by default, which you can change by any other name by editing that .cmd file. After that, you can pin that created shortcut to you tarkbar by dragging over it or right click -> pin to taskbar menu.

Notice It is recommend to create the shortcut using that cmd file, otherwise you will not be able to align the tool's window according to its position in the taskbar.

Features:

• Lists all local installed appx
• Launch by click
• Use arrow keys to navigate and enter to launch
• Shows appx name and icon (logo)

TODO:

• Contextual menu which might offer:

  • Uninstall it
  • Open its directory
  • Open detected SLN file with associated program (VS2015 e.g.)
  • More details about the appx.
  • Options to arrange them (latest lanched, alphabetically, date, etc.)

Requirements:

• Windows 8 or Windows 10

Known Issues:

• Not touch friendly
• Not DPI aware
• No multimonitor support

Download from here

Copyright (c) 2016 Victor Alberto Gil

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.