March 21, 2019
Delphi has offered support for Microsoft Store (or Windows Store) via Desktop Bridge for quite some time. The good news is this just became a cheaper option for developers.
For a few years now, Delphi has had support for the Windows Dektop Bridge. This is a Microsoft technology allowing to create UWP (Universal Windows Platform) applications based on a traditional Win32/Win64 application. Delphi IDE simplifies this process (making it smoother than with Microsoft own tools) as you ca read in the docwiki. While there are still some hurdles to enable desktop bridge apps in the store (there is an manual authorization process from Microsoft) the cost to be on the store is fairly low.
Over the last year Microsoft has been increasingly pushing developers towards the Windows Store (actually, now called Microsoft Store) for applications distribution on Windows -- where it competes mostly with game distribution platforms. They even released a version of the operating system, Windows 10 S, which only allows installation of apps from the store. However, this has seen a limited traction.
In terms of costs, the Microsoft Store has long offered a 85% revenue share, which is generous compared to the mobile counterparts (at 70% in general). They were offering some special rates from links to the developer site. Now they have rolled out a new and simplified revenue sharing plan. In short, for anyone who buys through an external link (that is, not browsing or searching in the store application itself) the revenue share will be at 95%. This is lower than the processing, invoicing, and payment commission costs of a direct sale -- plus you have to pay for the infrastructure and more, handle updates process, and so forth.
If you sell Windows applications to the public (consumers, but also companies) I suggest you to double check the Microsoft Store distribution model, given how easy we have made turning your existing VCL and FMX apps into store apps and how generous the revenue share from Microsoft has become.
posted by
marcocantu @ 8:38AM | 3 Comments
[0 Pending]
TWindowsStore is error.
Hi Marco,
Related to linking application to windows store API.
When trying to Drop TWindowsStore component, the following
error occured :
Cannot get factory for class
Windows.Services.Store.StoreContext. :
[503CF761]{rtl260.bpl } System.Internal.DebugUtils.
{System.Generics.Collections}TDictionary<System.string,System.
Boolean>.Destroy (Line 7073, "System.Generics.Collections.pas"
+ 2) + $7
[506AC087]{rtl260.bpl } Winapi.OpenGLext.InitOpenGLext
(Line 13991, "Winapi.OpenGLext.pas" + 2289) + $2B53
[5072A80A]{rtl260.bpl } Winapi.UI.Xaml. + $0
[50729F44]{rtl260.bpl }
Winapi.UI.ViewManagement.TInputPane.GetForCurrentView
(Line 230, "WinAPI.UI.ViewManagement.pas" + 2) + $0
[00B4AE2F]{vclwinx260.bpl}
Vcl.WindowsStore.TWindowsStore.Create (Line 106,
"Vcl.WindowsStore.pas" + 2) + $14
[21CE0A1F]{delphicoreide260.bpl}
CompPalMgr.TComponentPalettePageItemDelegate.CreateCompo
nent (Line 2819, "CompPalMgr.pas" + 2) + $7
[2101EACA]{designide260.bpl}
ComponentDesigner.TComponentRoot.DoCreateComponent (Line
2491, "ComponentDesigner.pas" + 28) + $17
[21024DC1]{designide260.bpl}
ComponentDesigner.TComponentRoot.CreateCurrentComponent
(Line 4792, "ComponentDesigner.pas" + 2) + $37
[210411C6]{designide260.bpl}
Surface.TDesignSurface.CreateItem (Line 203, "Surface.pas" + 1)
+ $11
[20FE41F2]{designide260.bpl}
Designer.TDesigner.DoDragCreate (Line 802, "Designer.pas" + 1)
+ $F
[20FE4B00]{designide260.bpl} Designer.TDesigner.DragEnd
(Line 988, "Designer.pas" + 19) + $3
[20FE7140]{designide260.bpl} Designer.TDesigner.MouseUp
(Line 1776, "Designer.pas" + 1) + $2
[5283FF20]{vcldesigner260.bpl} VCLSurface.MouseEvent (Line
3328, "VCLSurface.pas" + 45) + $11
[5006063E]{rtl260.bpl } System.TMonitor.Exit (Line 19240,
"System.pas" + 2) + $7
[52840B27]{vcldesigner260.bpl}
VCLSurface.TVclDesignSurface.IsDesignMsg (Line 3589,
"VCLSurface.pas" + 48) + $6
[0B6ADEE8]{IDEFixPack.dll}
VCLDesignerGuideLinesHideFix.IsDesignMsg (Line 76,
"VCLDesignerGuideLinesHideFix.pas" + 25) + $6
[50D04FA7]{vcl260.bpl } Vcl.Controls.TControl.WndProc (Line
7333, "Vcl.Controls.pas" + 4) + $21
[50067E88]{rtl260.bpl } System.@IntfClear (Line 38150,
"System.pas" + 10) + $0
[500640D8]{rtl260.bpl } System.@FinalizeArray (Line 32811,
"System.pas" + 144) + $0
[075F157E]{themeloader260.bpl}
Idetheme.Stylemanager.TIDEThemeStyleEngine.HookCBProc +
$232
[50060934]{rtl260.bpl } System.TMonitor.TryEnter (Line 19453,
"System.pas" + 10) + $0
[50067E88]{rtl260.bpl } System.@IntfClear (Line 38150,
"System.pas" + 10) + $0
[50D09493]{vcl260.bpl }
Vcl.Controls.TWinControl.IsControlMouseMsg (Line 10033,
"Vcl.Controls.pas" + 1) + $9
[075F1AB2]{themeloader260.bpl}
Idetheme.Stylemanager.TIDEThemeStyleEngine.UnRegisterSysSt
yleHook + $106
[50D09CD7]{vcl260.bpl } Vcl.Controls.TWinControl.WndProc
(Line 10278, "Vcl.Controls.pas" + 166) + $6
[50E54E89]{vcl260.bpl } Vcl.Forms.TCustomForm.WndProc
(Line 4629, "Vcl.Forms.pas" + 209) + $5
[5284A01B]{vcldesigner260.bpl}
VCLFormContainer.TControlSizer.ControlWndProc (Line 379,
"VCLFormContainer.pas" + 33) + $C
[50D092A4]{vcl260.bpl }
Vcl.Controls.TWinControl.MainWndProc (Line 9977,
"Vcl.Controls.pas" + 3) + $6
[501745B0]{rtl260.bpl } System.Classes.CalcJmpOffset (Line
17562, "System.Classes.pas" + 0) + $4
[50E5E877]{vcl260.bpl }
Vcl.Forms.TApplication.ProcessMessage (Line 10724,
"Vcl.Forms.pas" + 23) + $1
[50E5E8BA]{vcl260.bpl }
Vcl.Forms.TApplication.HandleMessage (Line 10754,
"Vcl.Forms.pas" + 1) + $4
[50E5EBED]{vcl260.bpl } Vcl.Forms.TApplication.Run (Line
10892, "Vcl.Forms.pas" + 26) + $3
[00518002]{bds.exe } bds.bds (Line 214, "" + 7) + $7
Kindly help if possible. Or Forward this to responsible team.
Regards
Fajrin
Comment by Fajrin on March 22, 02:30
Selling your Delphi apps via Microsoft Store is now Cheaper
Fajrin,
if I drop a TWindowsStore component in my application everything
works, compiles and runs as expected. Question: are you developing
on Windows 10 or Windows 7? Which version of Windows
10? There are minimal version requirements...
In any case, please don't report bugs on in a blog comment, but on
Quality Portal, https://quality.embarcadero.com.
Comment by Marco Cantu
[http://twitter.com/marcocantu]
on March 22, 10:20
Latest windows version
Hi Marco,
Thanks for replying, Ok I will post to Quality Portal later .
My windows version is Windows 1511 OS Build 10586.318.
Does it support for TWindowsStore component?
Regards
Fajrin
Comment by Fajrin on March 26, 01:11
There are currently 0 pending (unapproved) messages.