Project Cenntenial

At the last Build conference there was an announcement of one of Windows bridges called Project Cenntenial. Since he has not yet been mentioned in the Russian-speaking segment of the Internet, I will now try to fill this gap.

Project C is a technology that allows you to pack your classic .Net and Win32 applications into an AppX container that can be downloaded to the Windows Store. You will get the opportunity to publish the application in the Store, and your users will receive applications that are installed and removed without leaving behind any different garbage.

In addition, developers will be able to call UWP APIs and services from their .Net applications.

Let's start by looking at how the UWA (Universal Windows Applications) applications differ from the classic CWA applications (Classic Windows Applications). One of the global differences is that they have an App Model. What does it mean? This means that UWP applications are strictly regulated. All information about the capabilities of the application is described in the application manifest. The application manifest is an xml file that can be edited both manually and with a graphical editor.
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What is an App Model? This is information about how the application will be installed, what resources it will use, how the update will occur, how it will communicate with other applications, how it will maintain its current state ...

Everyone knows the situation when, after several years of work, the “Windows” can start to slow down. After a large number of applications have been installed and removed, the registry becomes clogged, and extra dll files and extra files remain. A lot of trash. This is partly due to the fact that applications do not have a clear model. They can write information to different parts of the registry, keep information where it is not clear where any application can be started with administrator rights, etc.

Windows 8.x and UWP applications have no such problems. They are removed completely, without clogging the registry and directories and not leaving behind extra components. The lack of dll-hell-s is also provided to you.

Windows Store applications are AppX files. Accordingly, Project C applications will also be packaged in an AppX container. The following illustration will colorfully tell you about how the packaging process takes place:

In addition to the fact that applications will be tested, they will also be checked for the absence of malicious code (using technology similar to kill-bit).

Next, I will give you the information that I received from the translation of the John Sheehan report :

• The technology is very similar to App-V. If you create a Project C application, it will work with App-V
• Project C applications will work only on PC
• Project C applications are not executed in the sandbox as UWP applications. They are more limited than Win32 applications and run only in the context of a user — full user-level trust, but without administrator rights.
• Do not display UAC, have access to COM and WMI, and even access to some devices that are not available for UWP applications
• Project C application can not access the libraries of another Project C application (although they will try to make some special connection)

I remind you that in Project C applications you can use the UWP API and services.

What API features are most likely to be available for .Net developer? I suppose that these are, for example, such opportunities as: Share contract, secondary (and live tiles) tiles, background tasks, Cortana voice assistant, toast and push notifications, and many others.

We are betting, gentlemen, what else will be available for .Net developers.

Try to take part in testing here:
Windows Developer Preview Programs
You may notice that in the list of application conversion programs there are also bridges for converting iOs ( Project Islandwood ) and Android ( Project Astoria ) applications, as well as Silverlight. The list is missing, but the Westmister project, which allows you to convert websites into UWP applications, has become quite well known.

The Cenntenial project is under development. No further information is currently available. Project C developers are aware of the fact that vulnerabilities are possible, which is probably why there are still no hasty releases yet.

The name of the project is translated as "centenary" (it comes not from the word cent, but from the word century). I hope that the release will happen all the same in the near future, and not in a hundred years.