Application and Session Time-Outs
Surface Shell sets timers to track contact changes in various situations. If there is no contact with the screen of a Microsoft Surface unit for a specified period of time, several actions occur that will ultimately close a user session and return the unit to the attract application.
You can change the default time-out settings. Time-outs are set for the following situations:
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The user is inactive after starting an application.
If one or more applications are running and there is no contact change for 60 seconds, Surface Shell sends an InactivityTimeoutOccurring event to each application and asks the application if it wants to time out and close. An application has 5 seconds to respond.-
If you do not want an application to time out, subscribe to the InactivityTimeoutOccurring event and set the Cancel property to true in the event handler. For example, an application might be showing a movie or playing a song.
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If the time-out event is not canceled, the Microsoft Surface unit displays a screen that gives the user two options:
- Continue my activity. Users can tap the icon of the running application to return to the application.
- Start a new experience. Users can tap the end session icon to close all running applications and return the system to the attract application (that is, end the user's session). If there is no contact within 60 seconds, the session ends.
- Continue my activity. Users can tap the icon of the running application to return to the application.
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If you do not want an application to time out, subscribe to the InactivityTimeoutOccurring event and set the Cancel property to true in the event handler. For example, an application might be showing a movie or playing a song.
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The user is inactive after starting Launcher from an attract application.
If a user starts Launcher and does not start an application or scroll through Launcher (that is, there is no contact) within 60 seconds, the time-out event dismisses Launcher and returns to the attract application (that is, ends the user's session). -
An application fails to dismiss the loading screen.
If an application is loading but it does not dismiss the loading screen within 10 seconds, Launcher reappears and the application process is stopped in the background.
User Session Ending Time-Out
From Launcher, a user can end a session by tapping the I'm done button and then tapping the Close everything button. Surface Shell sends a Windows Close (WM_CLOSE) message to each running application. Each application has 5 seconds to close or else Surface Shell overrides the application and closes it. All applications and any user data are removed, and the Microsoft Surface unit returns to the attract application.
Changing Time-Out Durations
Time-out duration values can be changed by editing the registry keys for the associated mode profile. For more information about registry settings and mode profiles, see the Registry Keys article. For more information about time-outs, see Time-Outs.
