| name | verify |
| description | Launch RemoteHub (WPF) and drive its real UI to verify a change — screenshots, clicks, window-drag checks. Use when verifying UI/behaviour changes in src/RemoteHub. |
Verifying RemoteHub by running it
RemoteHub is a WPF desktop app. The only surface that proves a UI change is the running
window: build it, launch it, click it, screenshot it. Tests (dotnet test) cover
RemoteHub.Core only and prove nothing about the shell.
Build & launch
dotnet build RemoteHub.sln -c Debug
Exe: src/RemoteHub/bin/x64/Debug/net10.0-windows/RemoteHub.exe
Gotcha 1 — the master-password gate will kill your session
If the connections document has a security header, startup prompts "Unlock RemoteHub",
and cancelling calls Application.Current.Shutdown() (MainViewModel.InitializeAsync).
Without the password you cannot get past it — the app just exits.
Don't touch the user's real data. The connections path is not hard-coded: it comes from
connectionsFilePath in %AppData%\RemoteHub\settings.json (on this machine it points at
OneDrive, not the AppData copy). To get a usable app:
- Back up
%AppData%\RemoteHub\settings.json.
- Point
connectionsFilePath at a throwaway doc with no security key → no prompt.
- Restore the backup when done.
Use forward slashes in that JSON path. A bash heredoc mangles \\ into \, which is
invalid JSON and the app silently falls back.
Minimal test doc ({"version":2,"roots":[...]}), one entry per connection:
{"$type":"rdp","host":"10.99.99.1","port":3389,"username":"tester",
"id":"11111111-1111-1111-1111-111111111111","name":"Test Alpha",
"display":{"screenMode":"fitToWindow","desktopWidth":1920,"desktopHeight":1080,
"colorDepth":"bpp32","fullScreen":false,"redirectClipboard":true,"audio":"local"}}
Opening a tab does not auto-connect (only the pop-out window does), so unreachable hosts
like 10.99.99.x are fine — you get a tab with the toolbar and a "Disconnected" overlay, and
never touch a real server.
Gotcha 2 — SetForegroundWindow is unreliable; pin topmost instead
Windows blocks foreground stealing, so SetForegroundWindow often silently fails and your
clicks land on whatever window is actually on top (you'll see a screenshot of someone
else's app and think the feature is broken). This wasted the most time.
Before clicking, pin the window and confirm the target pixel belongs to it:
SetWindowPos($h, (IntPtr)(-1), 0,0,0,0, 0x0002|0x0001|0x0040) # HWND_TOPMOST
WindowFromPoint(pt) -> GetWindowThreadProcessId -> must equal RemoteHub's pid
Screenshots use Graphics.CopyFromScreen(GetWindowRect(h)) — that captures screen pixels,
so an un-pinned window screenshots as whatever covers it.
Coordinate mapping is otherwise exact: screenshot pixel (x,y) == screen (rect.X + x, rect.Y + y).
Verify a coordinate is live by hovering first — buttons show a hover background.
Gotcha 3 — UI Automation only sees part of the tree
AutomationElement finds the nav-toolbar and caption buttons, but not the session action
toolbar inside RdpSessionView. Don't conclude a button is missing/dead from UIA alone.
A modal ShowDialog() also blocks the owner's message pump, so a dialog that is open may
not show up when you enumerate windows — screenshot instead of trusting the enumeration.
UIA BoundingRectangle.X is the left edge, not the centre.
Driving it
- Click:
SetCursorPos then mouse_event(LDOWN)/(LUP).
- Window drag: press, move in ~20 steps (a teleport doesn't trigger WM_NCHITTEST drag),
release. Assert via
GetWindowRect delta.
- Find dialogs by enumerating the pid's visible windows; dismiss with
WM_CLOSE (0x0010).
The connection editor's window title is Connection.
Flows worth driving
| Change | How to reach it |
|---|
| Caption drag / chrome | Drag from empty caption band right of the tabs → rect must move by the delta. Then drag from a tab → rect must NOT move (tabs stay interactive). |
| Tab overflow | Needs ~7+ tabs at 1200px wide. The "..." toggle appears only when PART_HeaderScroller.ScrollableWidth > 0. |
| Session toolbar | Open a tab; toolbar is at window-rel y≈51, centred. |
| Update banner | Bottom row; disabled in DEBUG (empty RepoUrl) — log says "Update repo URL not configured". |
Logs (%AppData%\RemoteHub\logs\) are the fastest way to see whether a handler ran.
