SideShow APIs
A Windows SideShow gadget is written by programming for the Windows SideShow Platform application programming interface (API), a native COM-based API available with the Microsoft Windows Vista operating system. A managed API for .NET developers was also released, and includes Visual Studio 2005/2008 templates to demonstrate how to write gadgets.
Devices for Windows SideShow have different hardware traits than devices such as cell phones or PDAs. The former have their own processor; they need not rely solely on the connecting computer for processing tasks. There are online and offline abilities that allow the device to run larger components on the connecting computer. The following list contains typical device display types and technologies.
| Device type | Description |
|---|---|
| Enhanced display | Renders full color content including text and images, e.g. a device running Microsoft's rendering code for the .NET Micro Framework. |
| Single line display | Can show one or two lines of text, but supports no images. |
| Attached display, lid top | Located on the body of a PC (notebook, desktop, or server), e.g. on the top of a laptop's lid, or a media center's front panel. |
| Remote display | Located off of the PC, and talks to the PC through a wired or wireless network protocol. |
Hardware-specific, native applications that provide rich-media experiences like audio and video playback that can be accessed through the SideShow user interface require the SDK from the specific platform vendor. For example, PortalPlayer, Inc. provides the Preface platform that includes abilities like MP3, AAC, MPEG-4 encode-decode and other digital media formats.
Read more about this topic: Windows Side Show