Intel AppUp in the eyes of a developer

The news that Intel opened a store for atom-based devices a couple of times slipped on Habré. It was casually mentioned that there is a special program for developers that allows integrating their applications into the Intel AppUp.

A developer can publish his software and sell it through AppUp. Or send a component and receive interest on sales of programs using this component. Because the store is just starting its work; there is a good chance to “light up” (there are few applications in it so far).

At the moment registration is free, in the future, Intel plans to charge $ 99 per year. Another plus - the authors of the first 100 applications sent before February 2 will receive a netbook.

I want to talk about the integration process in more detail, using my experience of sending software to AppUp.
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Anything you might need (SDK, articles) can be found on the Intel Atom Developer Program page.

Requirements for applications sent to AppUp are quite simple:
- the application must meet certain criteria, in more detail here
- the application must integrate with the Atom Developer Program SDK
- the installer must meet certain requirements, more details here.

Integration

First you need to register on the Intel Atom Developer Program website. After registration, go to the control panel (Dashboard) and get a unique GUID for your application component.

Download and install the SDK . In the Samples folder you can find several examples of working with the SDK in C / C ++. In the simplest case, the integration process is as follows:

We declare the GUID of our application.

#ifdef _DEBUG
const ADP_APPLICATIONID myApplicationID(ADP_DEBUG_APPLICATIONID);
#else
const ADP_APPLICATIONID myApplicationID = {{ ,,,GUID }};
#endif

* This source code was highlighted with Source Code Highlighter .

ADP_DEBUG_APPLICATIONID - needed in the debug version to make sure everything works fine.

Check whether the launch of our program is allowed:

BOOL CheckIsAuthorized()
{
BOOL bResult = FALSE;

Application *pApp = NULL;

try
{
// Application GUID-
pApp = new Application(ApplicationId(myApplicationID));

// ,
bResult = TRUE;
}
catch (AdpException& e)
{
// ,
MessageBox(NULL, e.what(), "Error" , MB_ICONERROR);
}

if (pApp != NULL)
{
delete pApp;
}

return bResult;
}

* This source code was highlighted with Source Code Highlighter .

We can say that the integration process ends there. In order to check whether everything is done correctly, we launch ATDS (Start ATDS shortcut) and then our application. The debug version should start without any problems, but the release should give an error:

Installation package

After the application is written and tested you need to create an installation package. The requirements for it are quite simple:
- it must be an MSI package
- should be able to be installed in silent mode (key / qn)
- must create a shortcut to only one application
- should include C ++ runtime libraries (if used)

The process of creating a package is described in detail on the forum.

Sending

After the installation package has been created and tested, you can start sending the application for validation. This is all done through the same Dashboard. The sending process is divided into several steps, in principle, everything is simple and clear.

Before sending, do not forget to stock up on the icon (logo) of the program size 100x100 and screenshots 820x480. If the program window has a smaller size, then you can create a white substrate of the specified size and place a screenshot of the program on it.

Validation can take a long time (in my case, it lasted about 9 days). You can read about what is to be checked and what can lead to failure to pass validation here and here.

If you have questions, you can search for answers on the Intel Atom Developer Program forum. They answer there fairly quickly and competently as the representatives of Intel-a, and its active participants.