How to start the winui packaged app that installed in the computer

[hoshiizumiya]

I dont know how to list all the app installed in the computer especially winui registered app.
I only know that there are some pwsh command such as

Get-AppxPackage | Select-Object Name, Version, InstallLocation, PackageFullName
Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product | Select-Object Name, Version, InstallLocation
Get-StartApps

Which is the standard method or are there any api to access?
The content is so messed up like:

Windows Sandbox                                    Microsoft.Windows.Containers.Sandbox
Windows Software Development Kit                   Microsoft.AutoGenerated.{3B6E7DF3-19A3-70DB-96F6-86E65A17E61C}
Windows Tools                                      Microsoft.Windows.AdministrativeTools
WinMerge                                           Thingamahoochie.WinMerge
WinUI 3 Gallery                                    Microsoft.WinUI3ControlsGallery_8wekyb3d8bbwe!App
WinUI 3 Gallery Dev                                Microsoft.WinUI3ControlsGallery.Debug_8wekyb3d8bbwe!App

For Microsoft.WinUI3ControlsGallery_8wekyb3d8bbwe!App I need to use shell, and the exe path need to create process, some are guid I...

[DrusTheAxe]

This is a Windows question (not WinAppSDK) but here's some tips...

Start interactively or programmatically?

Programmatically the best answer is to activate via ApplicationUserModelID (AUMID). That's a combination of PackageFamilyName + PackageRelativeApplicationID (PRAID). You can determine AUMIDs for all packaged apps registered for the user via powershell:

$aumids = @{}
$packages = get-AppxPackage
foreach ($package in $packages)
{
    foreach ($praid in (get-AppxPackage $package.Name | Get-AppxPackageManifest).package.applications.application.id)
    {
        Write-Host -NoNewline '.'
        $aumid = $package.packagefamilyname + "!" + $praid
        $aumids[$aumid] = $aumid
    }
}
Write-Host "$($aumids.Length) AUMIDs found"
$aumids.Keys | Sort-Object

You launch a packaged app via ApplicationActivationManager::ActivationApplication()

Alternatively, IF the packaged app is defined with an AppExecutionAlias you can activate the app via CreateProcess or ShellExecute. Some powershell to list the AppExecutionAliases for apps in packages registered to the user

$aliases = @()
$packages = Get-AppxPackage
foreach ($package in $packages)
{
    try
    {
        [xml]$manifest = ($package | Get-AppxPackageManifest)
        $apps = $manifest.SelectNodes("/*[local-name()='Package']/*[local-name()='Applications']/*[local-name()='Application']")
        foreach ($app in $apps)
        {
            Write-Host -NoNewline '.'
            $aumid = $package.packagefamilyname + "!" + $app.id
            $appexecutionaliases = $app.SelectNodes("./*[local-name()='Extensions']/*[local-name()='Extension'][@Category='windows.appExecutionAlias']/*[local-name()='AppExecutionAlias']/*[local-name()='ExecutionAlias']")
            foreach ($appexecutionalias in $appexecutionaliases)
            {
                $o = New-Object System.Object
                $o | Add-Member -type NoteProperty -name "ApplicationUserModelId" -value $aumid
                $o | Add-Member -type NoteProperty -name "AppExecutionAlias" -value $appexecutionalias.Alias
                $aliases += $o
            }
        }
    }
    catch
    {
        continue
    }
}
Write-Host ''
Write-Host "$($a.Length) AppExecutionAliases found"
$aliases | Sort-Object | Format-Table -AutoSize

Of course these are just interactive hacking around tools. As package content is a constant once you know a packaged app's AUMID or AppExecutionAlias you just need the string constant for reuse later. Developers rarely change these things in their package ('cause, inertia, plus if they do it'd be a Breaking Change impactful to other devs and users).

NOTE: The AppExecutionAlias is irrelevant if the package has an ExternalLocation. In this case IF the .exe in the ExternalLocation has a Fusion manifest declaring the identity via AND the package is in a PackageVolume (e.g. C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\...pkgfullname...) then you can CreateProcess the .exe and it'll run with identity.