I would like to write a little program that is a little floating window, that can be viewed on both the "Metro" screen and on the desktop, is this possible? I would like to be able to have an option screen, where I can turn its visibility off and on in either screen, but I'm not sure whether it's achievable in the first place?
Any thoughts?
I would like to write a little program that is a little floating window, that can be viewed on both the "Metro" screen and on the desktop, is this possible?
As I understand, Metro doesn't support any kind of windowing system that would give you something "floating", it's all or nothing with whatever you can manage in webpage style. You'd also need to write two separate programs, one for Metro and one for the desktop, because they don't interoperate using the same executable.
I would like to be able to have an option screen, where I can turn its visibility off and on in either screen, but I'm not sure whether it's achievable in the first place?
It would be more helpful if you described the point of this program as opposed to any specific features you want.
I have an application that runs on the desktop for which I want to see some status updates whenever I revert to the Metro screen. So the obvious solution is to create a tile with this information on it, but I would just like the window to float over the tiles in the "header" of the page, because a tile will move off of the screen and out of view.
It sounds like it's not going to be possible without using tiles, which is unfortunate.
So the obvious solution is to create a tile with this information on it
Yes.
but I would just like the window to float over the tiles in the "header" of the page, because a tile will move off of the screen and out of view.
If I understand correctly, you're basically trying to take over the Metro view and force your tile to be visible regardless of which app is active. Until and unless Microsoft opens up their charms bar to allow custom charms, and unless you're okay with the caveat that your app is made visible by splitting the app view, you're asking for something that's not possible (as I understand Windows 8 currently).
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