Hi,

Are there any ways to identify that the current machine is a tablet pc
machine?
I have an application that runs both on tablet and pc and I need to know at
certains points whether it is running on tablet or pc.
I found only one answer to this so far:

Check for registry entry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Tablet PC\Ident

If this is the way to do it, would this entry still exist if the tablet is
using full Windows XP rather than Windows XP Tablet edition.

Take a step back and ask "Why do I need to know?"

I'm not being a smartass, but I bring this up because the lines are blurred
today. For example, any computer running Windows Vista (except Home Basic
edition) has the Tablet PC capabilities, including the input panel,
handwriting recognizers, Journal, etc. The only thing that really
distinguishes a desktop from a branded Tablet PC is the presence of an
integrated digitizer. And that very same desktop could attach an external
Wacom digitizer and it too becomes a "Tablet PC".

Not to mention there are a couple models out there that *are* in fact Tablet
PC's but because of buggy or missing drivers, the hardware is not seen as a
tablet and so Windows just thinks the touchscreen is an ordinary mouse. In
this case, the check would give back a false negative.

Finally, just because a machine is a Tablet PC doesn't mean it isn't docked
at a desktop monitor and keyboard or in convertible laptop mode. In these
cases, being a Tablet PC doesn't change the way the user will interact with
an ordinary PC.

So the question is really, what did you want to do differently in the case
of a Tablet PC? What I usually recommend is just try to create an instance
of the recognizer objects and if they fail, then the machine is not capable
of doing "Tablet PC things". But ultimately, the notion of a Tablet PC is
getting more and more blurred and that's actually a good thing.

--
Josh Einstein (Tablet PC MVP)
Einstein Technologies
Tablet Enhancements for Outlook - Try it free: www.tabletoutlook.com


"nat" <nat@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:B347D185-93C3-455B-B614-1B88A3DC1217@microsoft.com...
> Hi,
>
> Are there any ways to identify that the current machine is a tablet pc
> machine?
> I have an application that runs both on tablet and pc and I need to know
> at
> certains points whether it is running on tablet or pc.
> I found only one answer to this so far:
>
> Check for registry entry:
> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Tablet
> PC\Ident
>
> If this is the way to do it, would this entry still exist if the tablet is
> using full Windows XP rather than Windows XP Tablet edition.
>
>

Josh,

Thank you very much for your reply.
Much appreciated.

"Josh Einstein" wrote:

> Take a step back and ask "Why do I need to know?"
>
> I'm not being a smartass, but I bring this up because the lines are blurred
> today. For example, any computer running Windows Vista (except Home Basic
> edition) has the Tablet PC capabilities, including the input panel,
> handwriting recognizers, Journal, etc. The only thing that really
> distinguishes a desktop from a branded Tablet PC is the presence of an
> integrated digitizer. And that very same desktop could attach an external
> Wacom digitizer and it too becomes a "Tablet PC".
>
> Not to mention there are a couple models out there that *are* in fact Tablet
> PC's but because of buggy or missing drivers, the hardware is not seen as a
> tablet and so Windows just thinks the touchscreen is an ordinary mouse. In
> this case, the check would give back a false negative.
>
> Finally, just because a machine is a Tablet PC doesn't mean it isn't docked
> at a desktop monitor and keyboard or in convertible laptop mode. In these
> cases, being a Tablet PC doesn't change the way the user will interact with
> an ordinary PC.
>
> So the question is really, what did you want to do differently in the case
> of a Tablet PC? What I usually recommend is just try to create an instance
> of the recognizer objects and if they fail, then the machine is not capable
> of doing "Tablet PC things". But ultimately, the notion of a Tablet PC is
> getting more and more blurred and that's actually a good thing.
>
> --
> Josh Einstein (Tablet PC MVP)
> Einstein Technologies
> Tablet Enhancements for Outlook - Try it free: www.tabletoutlook.com
>
>
> "nat" <nat@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:B347D185-93C3-455B-B614-1B88A3DC1217@microsoft.com...
> > Hi,
> >
> > Are there any ways to identify that the current machine is a tablet pc
> > machine?
> > I have an application that runs both on tablet and pc and I need to know
> > at
> > certains points whether it is running on tablet or pc.
> > I found only one answer to this so far:
> >
> > Check for registry entry:
> > HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Tablet
> > PC\Ident
> >
> > If this is the way to do it, would this entry still exist if the tablet is
> > using full Windows XP rather than Windows XP Tablet edition.
> >
> >
>

On Tue, 16 Oct 2007 06:48:00 -0700, nat
<nat@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>Hi,
>
>Are there any ways to identify that the current machine is a tablet pc
>machine?
>I have an application that runs both on tablet and pc and I need to know at
>certains points whether it is running on tablet or pc.
>I found only one answer to this so far:
>
>Check for registry entry:
>HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Cur rentVersion\Tablet PC\Ident
>
>If this is the way to do it, would this entry still exist if the tablet is
>using full Windows XP rather than Windows XP Tablet edition.
>
This is a slight variation on earlier reply.

If you're trying to decide whether certain features are available,
it's usually easier and more reliable to check for those features
directly. And once you determine whether a feature is available, you
still need a program that can use it when it is available, but still
run when it is not. That last requirement means you probably need to
avoid static linking. Altogether, using LoadLibrary and GetProcAddress
with error handling is often the most efficient approach.

-----------------------------------------
To reply to me, remove the underscores (_) from my email address (and please indicate which newsgroup and message).

Robert E. Zaret, eMVP
PenFact, Inc.
20 Park Plaza, Suite 478
Boston, MA 02116
www.penfact.com