[ UWP ] how to use a COM based API in UWP application?

Question

0.00/5 (No votes)

See more:

.NET4.6

I’m currently working on a UWP app to work with scanners. This application is a POS app and reads barcodes. Windows 10 Provides its built in barcode scanner class. That is used for UWP apps but it is limited in functionalities. you can check it here.

Window 10 barcode Scanner for UWP < Available in Creaters Update only >

further! we are supposed to use SNAPI protocol with barcode scanning in our app. So instead of working with built in .NET class we proceeded with 3rd Party Barcode Scanner SDK, which provides us the SNAPI Protocol in its Code. It is a COM based API. You can check it here.

Zebra Scanner SDK for Windows

This SDK is very old. It works fine with older .NET platforms like Winforms and WPF etc. but I'm unable to consume its services from UWP app.
We want to use This COM based API in our UWP app, but we are unable to find a way to consume it from UWP. Is there a way to use COM based APIs in UWP apps?

What I have tried:

we tried to make WCF Services instead, to consume 3rd party SDK indirectly but this is a heavy solution of a large problem and it increases code complexity as well.
I also used PCL ( Portable class library ) to consume that API from UWP but PCL is also not able to access COM based APIs.
This is problem that on I’ve been stuck from few days, couldn’t find any appropriate solution on Internet as well.

Posted 29-Aug-17 0:54am

Ammar Shaukat

Updated 29-Aug-17 7:12am

v3

Add a Solution

1 solution

Add a Solution

Add your solution here

Treat my content as plain text, not as HTML

Preview 0

…

Existing Members

Sign in to your account

...or Join us

Download, Vote, Comment, Publish.

Your Email
Password
Forgot your password?

Your Email
This email is in use. Do you need your password?
Optional Password

I have read and agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
Please subscribe me to the CodeProject newsletters

When answering a question please:

Read the question carefully.
Understand that English isn't everyone's first language so be lenient of bad spelling and grammar.
If a question is poorly phrased then either ask for clarification, ignore it, or edit the question and fix the problem. Insults are not welcome.
Don't tell someone to read the manual. Chances are they have and don't get it. Provide an answer or move on to the next question.

Let's work to help developers, not make them feel stupid.

This content, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)

Dave Kreskowiak · Accepted Answer · 2017-08-29T05:12:00

Some COM components work in UWP apps, most don't. Why?

UWP applications run in a "sandbox" where the application needs permissions to do just about anything. They are restricted to using a limited subset of the Win32 and COM API's. Most existing COM components, unless they are explicitly written for UWP, will not work because they call API's that don't exist or are not available in the restricted sandbox.

Because of it's "universal" nature, not all platforms can handle COM or can really have any COM support, like Windows Phone. That's why you really don't have a good solution for using COM components in UWP.

You can try going through this[^] article. It's for Windows 8, but it still applies to Win10. Good luck!