WinBioLocateSensor function (winbio.h)

Article
10/13/2021

Retrieves the ID number of a biometric unit selected interactively by a user.

Syntax

HRESULT WinBioLocateSensor(
  [in]            WINBIO_SESSION_HANDLE SessionHandle,
  [out, optional] WINBIO_UNIT_ID        *UnitId
);

Parameters

[in] SessionHandle

A WINBIO_SESSION_HANDLE value that identifies an open biometric session. Open a synchronous session handle by calling WinBioOpenSession. Open an asynchronous session handle by calling WinBioAsyncOpenSession.

[out, optional] UnitId

A pointer to a ULONG value that specifies the biometric unit.

Return value

If the function succeeds, it returns S_OK. If the function fails, it returns an HRESULT value that indicates the error. Possible values include, but are not limited to, those in the following table. For a list of common error codes, see Common HRESULT Values.

Return code	Description
E_HANDLE	The session handle is not valid.
E_POINTER	The pointer specified by the UnitId parameter cannot be NULL.
WINBIO_E_ENROLLMENT_IN_PROGRESS	The operation could not be completed because the biometric unit is currently being used for an enrollment transaction (system pool only).

Remarks

You can use this function on systems with multiple sensors to determine which sensor is preferred for enrollment by the user. No identification information is returned by this function. It is provided only to indicate user sensor selection.

Calls to this function using the system pool will block until the application acquires window focus and the user has provided a biometric sample. We recommend, therefore, that your application not call WinBioLocateSensor until it has acquired focus. The manner in which you acquire focus depends on the type of application you are writing. For example, if you are creating a GUI application you can implement a message handler that captures a WM_ACTIVATE, WM_SETFOCUS, or other appropriate message. If you are writing a CUI application, call GetConsoleWindow to retrieve a handle to the console window and pass that handle to the SetForegroundWindow function to force the console window into the foreground and assign it focus. If your application is running in a detached process and has no window or is a Windows service, use WinBioAcquireFocus and WinBioReleaseFocus to manually control focus.

To use WinBioLocateSensor synchronously, call the function with a session handle created by calling WinBioOpenSession. The function blocks until the operation completes or an error is encountered.

To use WinBioLocateSensor asynchronously, call the function with a session handle created by calling WinBioAsyncOpenSession. The framework allocates a WINBIO_ASYNC_RESULT structure and uses it to return information about operation success or failure. The WINBIO_ASYNC_RESULT structure is returned to the application callback or to the application message queue, depending on the value you set in the NotificationMethod parameter of the WinBioAsyncOpenSession function:

If you choose to receive completion notices by using a callback, you must implement a PWINBIO_ASYNC_COMPLETION_CALLBACK function and set the NotificationMethod parameter to WINBIO_ASYNC_NOTIFY_CALLBACK.
If you choose to receive completion notices by using the application message queue, you must set the NotificationMethod parameter to WINBIO_ASYNC_NOTIFY_MESSAGE. The framework returns a WINBIO_ASYNC_RESULT pointer to the LPARAM field of the window message.

To prevent memory leaks, you must call WinBioFree to release the WINBIO_ASYNC_RESULT structure after you have finished using it.

Windows 7: You can perform this operation asynchronously by using the WinBioLocateSensorWithCallback function. The function verifies the input arguments and returns immediately. If the input arguments are not valid, the function returns an error code. Otherwise, the framework starts the operation on another thread. When the asynchronous operation completes or encounters an error, the framework sends the results to the PWINBIO_LOCATE_SENSOR_CALLBACK function implemented by your application.

Examples

The following function calls WinBioLocateSensor to locate an installed biometric sensor. Link to the Winbio.lib static library and include the following header files:

Windows.h
Stdio.h
Conio.h
Winbio.h

HRESULT LocateSensor( )
{
    HRESULT hr = S_OK;
    WINBIO_SESSION_HANDLE sessionHandle = NULL;
    WINBIO_UNIT_ID unitId = 0;

    // Connect to the system pool. 
    hr = WinBioOpenSession( 
            WINBIO_TYPE_FINGERPRINT,    // Service provider
            WINBIO_POOL_SYSTEM,         // Pool type
            WINBIO_FLAG_DEFAULT,        // Configuration and access
            NULL,                       // Array of biometric unit IDs
            0,                          // Count of biometric unit IDs
            NULL,                       // Database ID
            &sessionHandle              // [out] Session handle
            );
    if (FAILED(hr))
    {
        wprintf_s(L"\n WinBioEnumBiometricUnits failed. hr = 0x%x\n", hr);
        goto e_Exit;
    }

    // Locate the sensor.
    wprintf_s(L"\n Tap the sensor once...\n");
    hr = WinBioLocateSensor( sessionHandle, &unitId);
    if (FAILED(hr))
    {
        wprintf_s(L"\n WinBioLocateSensor failed. hr = 0x%x\n", hr);
        goto e_Exit;
    }
    wprintf_s(L"\n Sensor located successfully. ");
    wprintf_s(L"\n Unit ID = %d \n", unitId);

e_Exit:
    if (sessionHandle != NULL)
    {
        WinBioCloseSession(sessionHandle);
        sessionHandle = NULL;
    }

    wprintf_s(L"\n Hit any key to exit...");
    _getch();

    return hr;
}

Requirements

Requirement	Value
Minimum supported client	Windows 7 [desktop apps only]
Minimum supported server	Windows Server 2008 R2 [desktop apps only]
Target Platform	Windows
Header	winbio.h (include Winbio.h)
Library	Winbio.lib
DLL	Winbio.dll