=========================

The library is not developed anymore by Microsoft and seems to have been left as 'free to use'. A clarification or update about the licence terms from Microsoft is welcome, however.

This release has the latest bug fixes applied, including the fix for 64-bit exceptions.

When you submit a bug:

• provide a short example code showing the bug
• describe the expected behavior/result
• if a pull request is applicable, please reference it

I'll be glad to accept pull requests if they fix a bug or add a worthwhile feature.

TaskDialog

If you get the following exception when you instantiate a TaskDialog:

An unhandled exception of type 'System.NotSupportedException' occurred in Microsoft.WindowsAPICodePack.dll

Additional information: TaskDialog feature needs to load version 6 of comctl32.dll but a different version is current loaded in memory.

To fix it, create an application manifest and un-comment the following block section:

  <!-- Enable themes for Windows common controls and dialogs (Windows XP and later) -->
  <!-- <dependency>
    <dependentAssembly>
      <assemblyIdentity
          type="win32"
          name="Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls"
          version="6.0.0.0"
          processorArchitecture="*"
          publicKeyToken="6595b64144ccf1df"
          language="*"
        />
    </dependentAssembly>
  </dependency>-->

Note: you might have to restart Visual Studio as the DLLs seems to be cached in memory and rebuilding your project doesn't seem to be enough in some cases.

DirectX

The DirectX package will work under x86 and x64 configuration platforms but not for AnyCPU platform (because there is no such platform for C++/CLI projects). Consequently, the package will purposefully fail the build and tell you why it did.

Note: package is here for historical reasons, it is highly recommended to use SharpDX instead.

Authenticode Signing

The project supports Authenticode signing of DLLs to provide code integrity verification. To enable Authenticode signing during build:

1. Using a Certificate File (.pfx):

   <PropertyGroup>
     <EnableAuthenticodeSigning>true</EnableAuthenticodeSigning>
     <CodeSigningCertificatePath>path\to\your\certificate.pfx</CodeSigningCertificatePath>
     <CodeSigningCertificatePassword>your-password</CodeSigningCertificatePassword> <!-- Optional -->
   </PropertyGroup>

2. Using a Certificate from Certificate Store:

   <PropertyGroup>
     <EnableAuthenticodeSigning>true</EnableAuthenticodeSigning>
     <CodeSigningCertificateThumbprint>your-certificate-thumbprint</CodeSigningCertificateThumbprint>
   </PropertyGroup>

3. Via MSBuild Command Line:

   dotnet build /p:EnableAuthenticodeSigning=true /p:CodeSigningCertificatePath="path\to\certificate.pfx" /p:CodeSigningCertificatePassword="password"

Requirements:

• Windows SDK must be installed (SignTool.exe is required)
• A valid code signing certificate (either .pfx file or installed in certificate store)
• The certificate must be valid for code signing

Note: Authenticode signing is disabled by default. You must explicitly enable it by setting EnableAuthenticodeSigning=true. The build will continue even if signing fails (with a warning), so you can build without a certificate for development purposes.

GitHub Actions Workflow Support:

Authenticode signing is also supported in GitHub Actions workflows. To enable signing in release builds:

1. Add your code signing certificate as a GitHub secret:

   • CODESIGN_CERTIFICATE_BASE64: Base64-encoded PFX certificate file
   • CODESIGN_CERTIFICATE_PASSWORD: Certificate password (if required)

2. The release workflow will automatically sign all DLLs when these secrets are present.

See .github/workflows/README.md for detailed setup instructions.