Windows Settings Plugin

The Windows settings Plugin allows users to search the Windows settings.

Special functions (differ from the regular functions)

• Support modern Windows settings (Windows 10+)

• Support legacy Windows settings (Windows 7, 8.1)

• Support extra programs for setting (like ODBC)

• Support search by the area of the setting (like Privacy)

• Support search for alternative names of a setting

How to add a new Windows Setting or change one

All Windows settings are located in WindowsSettings.json in root folder of the project. The WindowsSettings.json use a JSON schema file that make it easier to edit it.

A minimum entry for the WindowsSettings.json looks like:

  {
    "Name": "mySetting",
    "Type": "AppSettingsApp",
    "Command": "ms-settings:mySetting"
  }

A full entry for the WindowsSettings.json looks like:

  {
    "Name": "mySetting",
    "Type": "AppSettingsApp",
    "Command": "ms-settings:mySetting",
    "Areas": [ "AreaMySettingArea" ],
    "AltNames": [ "NiceSetting" ],
    "Note": "NoteMySettingNote",
    "IntroducedInBuild" : 1903,
    "DeprecatedInBuild" : 2004,
    "ShowAsFirstResult" : true
  }

Remarks

• The Command for modern Windows settings should start with ms-settings:
• The Command for legacy Windows settings should start with control
• The integer value for IntroducedInBuild and DeprecatedInBuild must be in range of 0 to 4294967295
• The strings for Name, AltNames, Areas, Type and Note must not contain whitespace(s) or special characters (#, €, $, etc.)
• The strings for Name, AltNames, Areas, Type and Note are used as ids for the resource file under Properties\Resources.resx
• When you add new strings make sure you have added all translations for it.
• If a result has mmc.exe as command and the note property is filled, the note is shown in the sub title too. (This is for special MMC results where we don't have a .msc file.)

Scores

There are three different score types with different start values.

Each score will decreased by one when a condition match.

Remarks

• For each score condition we check if the property "ShowAsFirstResult" of the setting is true. If yes we use the firstResultScore instead of condition`s score.

Important for developers

General

• The assembly name is cached into _assemblyName (to avoid to many calls of Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly())

Microsoft.PowerToys.Run.Plugin.WindowsSettings project

Important plugin values (meta-data)

Interfaces used by this plugin

The plugin use only these interfaces (all inside the Main.cs):

• Wox.Plugin.IPlugin
• Wox.Plugin.IContextMenu
• Wox.Plugin.IPluginI18n

Program files

1. We need this extra wrapper class to make it possible that the JSON file can have and use a JSON schema file. Because the JSON file must have a object as root type, instead of a array.

Important project values (*.csproj)

Project dependencies

Projects

• Wox.Infrastructure
• Wox.Plugin