How do I turn off windows 8.1 gestures and setting

Question

I Have an Touch screen Dell and Windows 8.1 Single language installed, When I move my finger from Right edge towards the middle, Windows 8 will bring up setting charm bar OR when i move my finger from middle top edge towards down windows 8 hide my application and bring up start menu.

This is a problem because I'am developing a Kiosk Application on WPF, and i can't let user see setting or close Kiosk application.

I tried to disabled that, but couldn't, the easy solution would be to run on another OS or downgrade to windows 7, but the machines will be running Windows 8.1 single language and there's not much I can do about that.

Answer 1

Here is a way to do it via .NET interop instead of compiling a C++ native DLL:

Imports System.Runtime.InteropServices
Imports System.Runtime.CompilerServices

Public Class EdgeGestureUtil

    Private Shared DISABLE_TOUCH_SCREEN As Guid = New Guid("32CE38B2-2C9A-41B1-9BC5-B3784394AA44")
    Private Shared IID_PROPERTY_STORE As Guid = New Guid("886d8eeb-8cf2-4446-8d02-cdba1dbdcf99")
    Private Shared VT_BOOL As Short = 11

#Region "Structures"

    <StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, Pack:=4)> _
    Public Structure PropertyKey
        Public Sub New(guid As Guid, pid As UInt32)
            fmtid = guid
            Me.pid = pid
        End Sub

        <MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Struct)> _
        Public fmtid As Guid
        Public pid As UInteger
    End Structure

    <StructLayout(LayoutKind.Explicit)> _
    Public Structure PropVariant
        <FieldOffset(0)> _
        Public vt As Short
        <FieldOffset(2)> _
        Private wReserved1 As Short
        <FieldOffset(4)> _
        Private wReserved2 As Short
        <FieldOffset(6)> _
        Private wReserved3 As Short
        <FieldOffset(8)> _
        Private cVal As SByte
        <FieldOffset(8)> _
        Private bVal As Byte
        <FieldOffset(8)> _
        Private iVal As Short
        <FieldOffset(8)> _
        Public uiVal As UShort
        <FieldOffset(8)> _
        Private lVal As Integer
        <FieldOffset(8)> _
        Private ulVal As UInteger
        <FieldOffset(8)> _
        Private intVal As Integer
        <FieldOffset(8)> _
        Private uintVal As UInteger
        <FieldOffset(8)> _
        Private hVal As Long
        <FieldOffset(8)> _
        Private uhVal As Long
        <FieldOffset(8)> _
        Private fltVal As Single
        <FieldOffset(8)> _
        Private dblVal As Double
        <FieldOffset(8)> _
        Public boolVal As Boolean
        <FieldOffset(8)> _
        Private scode As Integer
        'CY cyVal;
        <FieldOffset(8)> _
        Private [date] As DateTime
        <FieldOffset(8)> _
        Private filetime As System.Runtime.InteropServices.ComTypes.FILETIME
        'CLSID* puuid;
        'CLIPDATA* pclipdata;
        'BSTR bstrVal;
        'BSTRBLOB bstrblobVal;
        <FieldOffset(8)> _
        Private blobVal As Blob
        'LPSTR pszVal;
        <FieldOffset(8)> _
        Private pwszVal As IntPtr
        'LPWSTR 
        'IUnknown* punkVal;
        'IDispatch* pdispVal;
        '        IStream* pStream;
        '        IStorage* pStorage;
        '        LPVERSIONEDSTREAM pVersionedStream;
        '        LPSAFEARRAY parray;
        '        CAC cac;
        '        CAUB caub;
        '        CAI cai;
        '        CAUI caui;
        '        CAL cal;
        '        CAUL caul;
        '        CAH cah;
        '        CAUH cauh;
        '        CAFLT caflt;
        '        CADBL cadbl;
        '        CABOOL cabool;
        '        CASCODE cascode;
        '        CACY cacy;
        '        CADATE cadate;
        '        CAFILETIME cafiletime;
        '        CACLSID cauuid;
        '        CACLIPDATA caclipdata;
        '        CABSTR cabstr;
        '        CABSTRBLOB cabstrblob;
        '        CALPSTR calpstr;
        '        CALPWSTR calpwstr;
        '        CAPROPVARIANT capropvar;
        '        CHAR* pcVal;
        '        UCHAR* pbVal;
        '        SHORT* piVal;
        '        USHORT* puiVal;
        '        LONG* plVal;
        '        ULONG* pulVal;
        '        INT* pintVal;
        '        UINT* puintVal;
        '        FLOAT* pfltVal;
        '        DOUBLE* pdblVal;
        '        VARIANT_BOOL* pboolVal;
        '        DECIMAL* pdecVal;
        '        SCODE* pscode;
        '        CY* pcyVal;
        '        DATE* pdate;
        '        BSTR* pbstrVal;
        '        IUnknown** ppunkVal;
        '        IDispatch** ppdispVal;
        '        LPSAFEARRAY* pparray;
        '        PROPVARIANT* pvarVal;
        '        

        ''' <summary>
        ''' Helper method to gets blob data
        ''' </summary>
        Private Function GetBlob() As Byte()
            Dim Result As Byte() = New Byte(blobVal.Length - 1) {}
            Marshal.Copy(blobVal.Data, Result, 0, Result.Length)
            Return Result
        End Function

        ''' <summary>
        ''' Property value
        ''' </summary>
        Public ReadOnly Property Value() As Object
            Get
                Dim ve As VarEnum = vt
                Select Case ve
                    Case VarEnum.VT_I1
                        Return bVal
                    Case VarEnum.VT_I2
                        Return iVal
                    Case VarEnum.VT_I4
                        Return lVal
                    Case VarEnum.VT_I8
                        Return hVal
                    Case VarEnum.VT_INT
                        Return iVal
                    Case VarEnum.VT_UI4
                        Return ulVal
                    Case VarEnum.VT_LPWSTR
                        Return Marshal.PtrToStringUni(pwszVal)
                    Case VarEnum.VT_BLOB
                        Return GetBlob()
                End Select
                Throw New NotImplementedException("PropVariant " + ve.ToString())
            End Get
        End Property
    End Structure

    Friend Structure Blob
        Public Length As Integer
        Public Data As IntPtr

        'Code Should Compile at warning level4 without any warnings, 
        'However this struct will give us Warning CS0649: Field [Fieldname] 
        'is never assigned to, and will always have its default value
        'You can disable CS0649 in the project options but that will disable
        'the warning for the whole project, it's a nice warning and we do want 
        'it in other places so we make a nice dummy function to keep the compiler
        'happy.
        Private Sub FixCS0649()
            Length = 0
            Data = IntPtr.Zero
        End Sub
    End Structure

#End Region

#Region "Interfaces"

    <ComImport, Guid("886D8EEB-8CF2-4446-8D02-CDBA1DBDCF99"), InterfaceType(ComInterfaceType.InterfaceIsIUnknown)> _
    Interface IPropertyStore
        <MethodImpl(MethodImplOptions.InternalCall, MethodCodeType:=MethodCodeType.Runtime)> _
        Sub GetCount(<Out> ByRef cProps As UInteger)

        <MethodImpl(MethodImplOptions.InternalCall, MethodCodeType:=MethodCodeType.Runtime)> _
        Sub GetAt(<[In]> iProp As UInteger, ByRef pkey As PropertyKey)

        <MethodImpl(MethodImplOptions.InternalCall, MethodCodeType:=MethodCodeType.Runtime)> _
        Sub GetValue(<[In]> ByRef key As PropertyKey, ByRef pv As PropVariant)

        <MethodImpl(MethodImplOptions.InternalCall, MethodCodeType:=MethodCodeType.Runtime)> _
        Sub SetValue(<[In]> ByRef key As PropertyKey, <[In]> ByRef pv As PropVariant)

        <MethodImpl(MethodImplOptions.InternalCall, MethodCodeType:=MethodCodeType.Runtime)> _
        Sub Commit()

        <MethodImpl(MethodImplOptions.InternalCall, MethodCodeType:=MethodCodeType.Runtime)> _
        Sub Release()
    End Interface

#End Region

#Region "Methods"

    <DllImport("shell32.dll", SetLastError:=True)> _
    Private Shared Function SHGetPropertyStoreForWindow(handle As IntPtr, ByRef riid As Guid, ByRef propertyStore As IPropertyStore) As Integer
    End Function

    Public Shared Sub EnableEdgeGestures(ByVal hwnd As IntPtr, ByVal enable As Boolean)
        Dim pPropStore As IPropertyStore = Nothing
        Dim hr As Integer
        hr = SHGetPropertyStoreForWindow(hwnd, IID_PROPERTY_STORE, pPropStore)
        If hr = 0 Then
            Dim propKey As New PropertyKey
            propKey.fmtid = DISABLE_TOUCH_SCREEN
            propKey.pid = 2
            Dim var As New PropVariant
            var.vt = VT_BOOL
            var.boolVal = enable
            pPropStore.SetValue(propKey, var)
            Marshal.FinalReleaseComObject(pPropStore)
        End If
    End Sub

#End Region

End Class

Answer 2

I would use Win 8.1s built-in kiosk mode to do this, as I assume you are developing a Win 8.1 app: http://www.geek.com/microsoft/windows-8-1-kiosk-mode-locks-systems-to-a-single-app-1552963/

http://www.howtogeek.com/173562/how-to-easily-put-a-windows-pc-into-kiosk-mode-with-assigned-access/

Answer 3

I have the same problem. I have used a Windows system properties named : PKEY_EdgeGesture_DisableTouchWhenFullscreen(http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/jj553591(v=vs.85).aspx).

c# --> call dll via P/Invoke --> set PKEY_EdgeGesture_DisableTouchWhenFullscreen property.

Nota Bene : This solution doesn't work for a Modern UI app. For Modern UI app use kiosk mode : Assigned Access http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn465334.aspx .

Snippet code DLL:

extern "C" __declspec(dllexport) bool SetTouchDisableProperty(HWND hWnd)
{
    PROPVARIANT var;
    var.vt = VT_BOOL;
    var.boolVal = VARIANT_TRUE;
    // Get window properties
    IPropertyStore* pPropStore;
    IID_PPV_ARGS(&pPropStore);
    HRESULT hrReturnValue = SHGetPropertyStoreForWindow(hWnd, IID_PPV_ARGS(&pPropStore));
    // set  PKEY_EdgeGesture_DisableTouchWhenFullscreen property
    if (SUCCEEDED(hrReturnValue))
    {
        hrReturnValue = pPropStore->SetValue(PKEY_EdgeGesture_DisableTouchWhenFullscreen, var);
        pPropStore->Release();
    }
    return TRUE;
}

Snippet code c# to call dll :

 [DllImport("libDisableTouchDll.dll", EntryPoint = "SetTouchDisableProperty"
, ExactSpelling = false, CallingConvention = CallingConvention.Cdecl)]
    static extern bool SetTouchDisableProperty(IntPtr hWnd);

    static void Main(string[] args)
    {    
        // dirty get inPtr process for firefox 
        IntPtr intPtr = System.Diagnostics.Process.GetProcessesByName("firefox")[0].MainWindowHandle;
        SetTouchDisableProperty(intPtr);
    }