[vbox-dev] Custom front-end using non-OSE SDK

[Klaus Espenlaub]

Brad Robinson wrote:
> Hi Josh,
> 
> Under windows, when running as a logged on user yep, ugly black console
> window appears.  But I can use CreateProcess to launch VBoxHeadless and get
> it running hidden.  Still to get this working properly in-process would be
> much nicer.

This is a known bug, and has been reported on this list several times 
already. And since it's a bug you're welcome helping to hunt it down. 
Since I don't know the Windows API by heart, I don't know what knobs to 
tune to get a process started without this console window at all - which 
is the goal. Hiding the window is just a workaround.

Note that this issue isn't a high priority, since there is no demand for 
Windows as a host OS. Don't ask me why.

> I haven't looked at VBoxWeb - I only installed VirtualBox for the first time
> last Thursday, so this is all new to me.

This certainly makes no difference here. The
> 
> Brad
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Josh Wright [mailto:jshwright at gmail.com] 
> Sent: Tuesday, 27 October 2009 12:28 AM
> To: Brad Robinson
> Cc: vbox-dev at virtualbox.org
> Subject: Re: [vbox-dev] Custom front-end using non-OSE SDK
> 
> OpenRemoteSession(... "vrdp"...) opens a console for you?
> 
> You might want to look at the VBoxWeb code, since it also starts
> headless/vrdp sessions.
> 
> http://code.google.com/p/vboxweb/source/browse/trunk/VBoxWebSrv.py#398
> 
> ~JW
> 
> On Mon, Oct 26, 2009 at 9:18 AM, Brad Robinson
> <brobinson at cantabilesoftware.com> wrote:
>> Thanks Frank,
>>
>> I did look quickly at VBoxSDL, but couldn't really find anything that
> helped
>> with this specific problem.
>>
>> Regarding the VRDP, it's a pity that a custom front-end can't support that
>> through the SDK.  Is that a deliberate measure, or should the SDK support
>> it, or could it export a method that wires up those frame buffers?
>>
>> Regarding the sharing violation, I suspect the log file is just not
> getting
>> closed correctly.  In my case I was trying to run the same VM twice (once
>> after the other) in the one process.  All the standard front ends seem to
>> run one VM and then shutdown - which would hide an unreleased file handle.
>>
>> My interim approach to this is going to be simply launching
> VBoxHeadless.exe
>> - it solves both problems for me but the code is a lot messier.
>>
>> In short what I'm trying to do here is run a headless VM, but not have the
>> console window show up - so OpenRemoteSession(... "vrdp"...) is no go to
> me.
>> Anyway, I'll get you a sample project ASAP so you can investigate what I'm
>> seeing.
>>
>> Regards
>> Brad
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Frank.Mehnert at Sun.COM [mailto:Frank.Mehnert at Sun.COM]
>> Sent: Monday, 26 October 2009 11:56 PM
>> To: Brad Robinson
>> Subject: Re: [vbox-dev] Custom front-end using non-OSE SDK
>>
>> Brad,
>>
>> please reply to the mailing list if possible because I get tons of mails
>> each day and probably other developers want to follow the discussion as
>> well.
>>
>> On Monday 26 October 2009, Brad Robinson wrote:
>>> Thanks for getting back to me on this.  I'll put together a simpler
>>> example as my real project brings in a couple of custom libraries you
>>> won't be interested in.  Shall I just email it directly to you?
>> That would be possible. Or, if the compressed code isn't too long, you
> could
>> post it to the mailing list as well.
>>
>>> Btw: I've noticed in the VBoxHeadless OSE source code there's code
>>> that sets a "new VRDPFramebuffer" to each display of the console...
>>> this is what I suspect I'm missing, but not sure how to implement with
> the
>> SDK.
>>
>> Right, the VRDPFramebuffer is closed source and actually I'm not sure if
> you
>> will be able to write a custom frontend which can do RDP. Did you already
>> have a look at VBoxSDL?
>>
>> Kind regards,
>>
>> Frank
>> --
>> Dr.-Ing. Frank Mehnert
>>
>> Sitz der Gesellschaft:
>> Sun Microsystems GmbH, Sonnenallee 1, 85551 Kirchheim-Heimstetten
>> Amtsgericht München: HRB 161028
>> Geschäftsführer: Thomas Schröder, Wolfgang Engels, Wolf Frenkel
> Vorsitzender
>> des Aufsichtsrates: Martin Häring