Need help with finding out a UWP app's "address"

[LegzRwheelz]

Hi, I am not sure if this is where it should be, if not...I apologize and will post where requested.

Ok, so...

I know that LaunchBox now offers adding UWP games by signing into your live account, unfortunately it still misses a few. Does anybody know of a tool that can provide me with the address/path that Windows uses so I can copy and paste it to a txt, .bat, .ahk, or .py or manually adding an app to LaunchBox. 

How does LB get the correct path for launching UWP games installed on my PC? Is there a 3rd party tool that can provide me with the "address" for any/all UWP apps installed on my system? Is there a way to use PowerShell to output a text file with all the UWP apps' addresses/paths?

 

Here's an example of the UWP address for Asphalt Airborn:

Xbox://GAMELOFTSA.Asphalt8Airborne_0pp20fcewvvtj

 

How do I go about getting the actual name of the apps/games on my system, the part after "Xbox://"part?

I do know about UWPhook to add UWP games to steam but I want to cutout the middle-man. I just want to have either the internal name of the game or find a database of all the known UWP game addresses. I am looking for something better than using a program (LB) to launch a program(UWPhook) that launches games. 

I feel that I'm not really conveying my thoughts to text very clearly an apologize for any confusion, if any and apologize for being redundant with my question. This is cross posted

[neil9000]

1 hour ago, CtinD said:

Hi, I am not sure if this is where it should be, if not...I apologize and will post where requested.

Ok, so...

I know that LaunchBox now offers adding UWP games by signing into your live account, unfortunately it still misses a few. Does anybody know of a tool that can provide me with the address/path that Windows uses so I can copy and paste it to a txt, .bat, .ahk, or .py or manually adding an app to LaunchBox. 

How does LB get the correct path for launching UWP games installed on my PC? Is there a 3rd party tool that can provide me with the "address" for any/all UWP apps installed on my system? Is there a way to use PowerShell to output a text file with all the UWP apps' addresses/paths?

 

Here's an example of the UWP address for Asphalt Airborn:

Xbox://GAMELOFTSA.Asphalt8Airborne_0pp20fcewvvtj

 

How do I go about getting the actual name of the apps/games on my system, the part after "Xbox://"part?

I do know about UWPhook to add UWP games to steam but I want to cutout the middle-man. I just want to have either the internal name of the game or find a database of all the known UWP game addresses. I am looking for something better than using a program (LB) to launch a program(UWPhook) that launches games. 

I feel that I'm not really conveying my thoughts to text very clearly an apologize for any confusion, if any and apologize for being redundant with my question. This is cross posted

Check out my replies in the below linked thread.

 

[LegzRwheelz]

Hi, I appreciate your reply. I found your post previously with my various Google searches. Unfortunately, this isn't what I'm looking to do. Thank you for taking the time to respond and offering me a potential solution.

 

What I'm looking for the actual "path" that is used by windows. I know that where they're installed is encrypted and inaccessible. I'm needing what is found in the launching field  in the game properties when LB has added a game from my account. I think the correct term is "family name", which is what comes after the 'Xbox://' part. I'm needing a way to have a list of all my UWP games and apps either exported to a txt file or something similar like a database generator. 

[JoeViking245]

3 hours ago, CtinD said:

manually adding an app to LaunchBox.

Not sure if this is actually your end goal...   In Windows Explorer you can go to 

%windir%\explorer.exe shell:::{4234d49b-0245-4df3-b780-3893943456e1}

(hmmm.... which turns out to the same as  Run "shell:appsfolder".  lol )

From there, Right click Asphalt 8: Airborne and select Create Shortcut.  It'll freak out, but then give you the option to create a shortcut on your Desktop.  You can multi-select as well, then right click.

Move these new shortcuts to their own folder.  Drag and drop them into LaunchBox.     

.....And now that I actually looked at @neil9000's  linked post, you've read this method twice. 😊

 

1 hour ago, CtinD said:

I'm needing a way to have a list of all my UWP games and apps

Open the Command Prompt and navigate to the folder where you moved the shortcuts to [^above].   Type  "dir  /b >list.txt".   This'll create a text file [list.txt] listing the shortcuts.  Edit that text file and Replace All [Ctrl+h]  " - Shortcut.lnk" with {blank} to delete 'the ends'.   (Note:  include the {space} before AND after the - [dash]).   Save.

 

Not very elegant, but does get you a 'list'.  But still no "direct" paths.  I think your only way for that is using the shortcuts.

"C:\Users\Joe\Desktop\myOwnApps\Asphalt 8 Airborne - Shortcut.lnk"

[LegzRwheelz]

1 hour ago, JoeViking245 said:

Not sure if this is actually your end goal...   In Windows Explorer you can go to 

%windir%\explorer.exe shell:::{4234d49b-0245-4df3-b780-3893943456e1}

(hmmm.... which turns out to the same as  Run "shell:appsfolder".  lol )

From there, Right click Asphalt 8: Airborne and select Create Shortcut.  It'll freak out, but then give you the option to create a shortcut on your Desktop.  You can multi-select as well, then right click.

Move these new shortcuts to their own folder.  Drag and drop them into LaunchBox.     

.....And now that I actually looked at @neil9000's  linked post, you've read this method twice. 😊

 

Open the Command Prompt and navigate to the folder where you moved the shortcuts to [^above].   Type  "dir  /b >list.txt".   This'll create a text file [list.txt] listing the shortcuts.  Edit that text file and Replace All [Ctrl+h]  " - Shortcut.lnk" with {blank} to delete 'the ends'.   (Note:  include the {space} before AND after the - [dash]).   Save.

 

Not very elegant, but does get you a 'list'.  But still no "direct" paths.  I think your only way for that is using the shortcuts.

"C:\Users\Joe\Desktop\myOwnApps\Asphalt 8 Airborne - Shortcut.lnk"

Hi Joe! Thanks for commenting! I really appreciate the time you took to chime in. Unfortunately, this isn't what I'm needing. I use startisback, which gives me direct access to the apps folder.

 

I'm having issues articulating what I am needing and why and so my thoughts are not being conveyed concisely. 

So I'll try rewording my needs and expectations. These UWP games are launched using an address with an "internal" name (I believe correct term is "home name"), so that windows can launch the game/app without needing an absolute path. This works along the same lines as how Steam's shortcuts work. I am trying to find a way to get windows to just tell me what's installed using the "home name", the names that Windows gives the app/game packages. Having this "address" allows for launching without a using shortcut. If I can get PowerShell or CMD to list them all in the "Xbox://home.gamename" format and then output the results in a txt file, it would be EXTREMELY helpful for me. I apologize for not being able to express what I am needing and why with concision. I understand if what I'm asking for is confusing.

[JoeViking245]

Not sure there's an easy way... But as (almost) always, there is a way.  

In the new window that's going to pop up    I don't know what clicking OK actually does.  So you probably DON'T WANT TO CLICK IT!!!  Click "Cancel" or "X" (upper right corner of the window) to close it.  Otherwise, you're good to proceed.   Now on with the show...

 

Press your Windows key, and start typing "powershell" and it (Windows Powershell) should show up.  Start the application.  Type in (or copy and paste) 

 Get-AppxPackage | Out-GridView -Passthru

This will open a new window. Right click on one of the Column Titles and select Select Columns... (the only option there is).

Under Selected Columns, double click on the columns you don't want/need to see.  (moves them to Available Columns).  Click OK.  To help sift through the mess, click the Column Header "Name" to sort them.  Press "home" [keyboard] to quickly get to the top.

Click a row to select it.  Hold Ctrl and click a different row to add it to the selection. Or press Ctrl+A to select all.  Once you selected what you're after, press Ctrl+C to copy them.

Open your spreadsheet program of choice. With the selected cell being "A1", press Ctrl+V to paste.

Alternately, you can paste it into a text document.  Each Row will be separated by a carriage return, and each column (within each row) will be separated by a {tab}.  aka: a tab-delimited text fie.

In the new window that popped up    I don't know what clicking OK actually does.  So you probably DON'T WANT TO CLICK IT!!!  Click "Cancel" or "X" (upper right corner of the window) to close it.

 

 

[LegzRwheelz]

On 9/4/2021 at 1:00 PM, JoeViking245 said:

Not sure there's an easy way... But as (almost) always, there is a way.  

In the new window that's going to pop up    I don't know what clicking OK actually does.  So you probably DON'T WANT TO CLICK IT!!!  Click "Cancel" or "X" (upper right corner of the window) to close it.  Otherwise, you're good to proceed.   Now on with the show...

 

Press your Windows key, and start typing "powershell" and it (Windows Powershell) should show up.  Start the application.  Type in (or copy and paste) 

 Get-AppxPackage | Out-GridView -Passthru

This will open a new window. Right click on one of the Column Titles and select Select Columns... (the only option there is).

Under Selected Columns, double click on the columns you don't want/need to see.  (moves them to Available Columns).  Click OK.  To help sift through the mess, click the Column Header "Name" to sort them.  Press "home" [keyboard] to quickly get to the top.

Click a row to select it.  Hold Ctrl and click a different row to add it to the selection. Or press Ctrl+A to select all.  Once you selected what you're after, press Ctrl+C to copy them.

Open your spreadsheet program of choice. With the selected cell being "A1", press Ctrl+V to paste.

Alternately, you can paste it into a text document.  Each Row will be separated by a carriage return, and each column (within each row) will be separated by a {tab}.  aka: a tab-delimited text fie.

In the new window that popped up    I don't know what clicking OK actually does.  So you probably DON'T WANT TO CLICK IT!!!  Click "Cancel" or "X" (upper right corner of the window) to close it.

 

 

WOW! Thank you so much Joe!!! I came back to comment that I found a way and found that you didn't just find a way, but a sophisticated way. This is AMAZING! Thank you so much, as always....you come in to save the day. You are the best.