Employee apps walkthrough (Handheld 8)
2/18/2014
With Windows Embedded 8 Handheld, enterprises can lockdown a device to ensure that it is only used for intended business functions and not for unauthorized activities, such as text messaging and web browsing.
The new lockdown feature, Employee apps, lets a device administrator specify which hardware buttons are available, and which applications are available from the Start screen and App list by using the Allow list feature. Applications not on the Allow list remain installed on the device, but are hidden from view. Context-sensitive menu items to Uninstall, Share, and Rate an application are also removed so that the user cannot remove applications or access the web to share content or rate an application.
A device administrator runs the Employee apps feature to read lockdown data from an XML file (employeeApps.xml) that is located on an external storage card. The data in the XML file specifies:
- The applications that will be available on the Start screen and App list on the device.
- The applications that will initially be pinned to the Start screen.
- Whether the Camera and Search
.png "Handheld8 hardware search icon button")
buttons are enabled.
The employeeApps.xml file that specifies this lockdown information is manually authored offline and copied to the root folder of an SD card. When the Employee apps feature is started on the device, it reads the data from the employeeApps.xml file on the card. The Employee apps feature then configures the device so that when it is rebooted, only the specified applications are available from the Start screen and App list on the device. The hardware buttons are also enabled or disabled as specified in the employeeApps.xml file.
Important
Applications that are not on the Allow list in the employeeApps.xml file are hidden from view, but remain installed on the device and may be used. For example, if a PDF viewer application is installed on the device but is not on the Allow list, and another application provides a link to a PDF file, the PDF viewer application will start when the user activates the link.
In this section
- Walkthrough: Configure a device using Employee apps
This walkthrough describes how to use the Employee apps feature to configure your Windows Embedded 8 Handheld device to make only Alarms, Calculator, and Calendar available from the Start screen.
- Employee apps reference
This section describes the list of in-box apps, XML elements, and the XML schema for Employee apps.