Windows Phone 8 Launcher and Chooser Task

The following is the list of launchers and choosers in Windows Phone 8.

AddressChooserTask	Allows an application to launch the Contact application
BingMapsTask	Allows an application to launch the Bing Maps
CameraCaptureTask	Allows an application to launch the Camera application
EmailAddressChooserTask	Allows an application to launch the Contacts application
EmailComposeTask	Allows an application to launch the Email application
PhoneCallTask	Allows an application to launch the Phone application
PhoneNumberChooserTask	Allows an application to launch the Phone Contact application
PhotoChooserTask	Allows an application to launch the Photo Chooser application
SearchTask	Allows an application to launch the Web Search application
SmsComposeTask	Allows an application to launch the Messaging application to compose new SMS
WebBrowserTask	Allows an application to launch the browser

Let us see the procedure for doing this in Windows Phone 8. Create a new project with a valid name. Once everything is ready our project looks as in the following screen.

project screen

Now add a Button control to trigger the Launcher and Chooser as shown in the following screen.

XAML Code

<phone:PhoneApplicationPage
x:Class="LauncherAndChooser.MainPage"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:phone="clr-namespace:Microsoft.Phone.Controls;assembly=Microsoft.Phone"
xmlns:shell="clr-namespace:Microsoft.Phone.Shell;assembly=Microsoft.Phone"
xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
mc:Ignorable="d"
FontFamily="{StaticResource PhoneFontFamilyNormal}"
FontSize="{StaticResource PhoneFontSizeNormal}"
Foreground="{StaticResource PhoneForegroundBrush}"
SupportedOrientations="Portrait" Orientation="Portrait"
shell:SystemTray.IsVisible="True">
<Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot" Background="Transparent">
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
<RowDefinition Height="*"/>
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<Grid x:Name="ContentPanel" Grid.Row="1" Margin="12,0,12,0">
<Button x:Name="BingMapsTaskBtn" Content="BingMapsTask" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="65,69,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="239" Click="BingMapsTaskBtn_Click"/>
<Button x:Name="CameraCaptureTaskBtn" Content="CameraCaptureTask" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="65,141,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="295" Click="CameraCaptureTaskBtn_Click"/>
<Button x:Name="EmailAddressChooserTaskBtn" Content="EmailAddressChooserTask" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="65,209,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="317" Click="EmailAddressChooserTaskBtn_Click"/>
<Button x:Name="EmailComposeTaskBtn" Content="EmailComposeTask" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="65,281,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="274" Click="EmailComposeTaskBtn_Click"/>
<Button x:Name="PhoneCallTaskBtn" Content="PhoneCallTask" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="65,345,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="239" Click="PhoneCallTaskBtn_Click"/>
<Button x:Name="PhoneNumberChooserTaskBtn" Content="PhoneNumberChooserTask" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="65,403,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="343" Click="PhoneNumberChooserTaskBtn_Click"/>
<Button x:Name="PhotoChooserTask" Content="PhotoChooserTask" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="65,474,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="239" Click="PhotoChooserTask_Click"/>
<Button x:Name="SearchTaskbtn" Content="SearchTask" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="65,541,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="239" Click="SearchTaskbtn_Click"/>
<Button x:Name="AddressChooserTaskBtn" Content="AddressChooserTask" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="65,10,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="333" Click="AddressChooserTaskBtn_Click" />
<Button x:Name="SmsComposeTaskBtn" Content="SmsComposeTask" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="65,613,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="239" Click="SmsComposeTaskBtn_Click"/>
<Button x:Name="WebBrowserTaskBtn" Content="WebBrowserTask" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="65,686,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="239" Click="WebBrowserTaskBtn_Click"/>
</Grid>
</Grid>
</phone:PhoneApplicationPage>

Now go to the code behind page. We need to open the WMAppManifest file and enable the following capabilities as shown in the following screen.

ID_CAP_CONTACTS
ID_CAP_MAP
ID_CAP_MEDIA
ID_CAP_ISV_CAMERA
ID_CAP_WEBBROWSERCOMPONENT
ID_CAP_PHONEDIALER

Go to the code behind page and write the following code. Add the following namespace first:

using Microsoft.Phone.Tasks;

C# Code

AddressChooserTask

private void AddressChooserTaskBtn_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
AddressChooserTask openTask = new AddressChooserTask();
openTask.Completed += openTask_Completed;
openTask.Show();
}
void openTask_Completed(object sender, AddressResult e)
{
MessageBox.Show(e.Address + "-" + e.DisplayName);
}

BingMapsTask

private void BingMapsTaskBtn_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
BingMapsTask openBing = new BingMapsTask();
openBing.SearchTerm = "Chennai";
openBing.ZoomLevel = 10;
openBing.Show();
}

CameraCaptureTask

private void CameraCaptureTaskBtn_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
CameraCaptureTask openCameraTask = new CameraCaptureTask();
openCameraTask.Show();
}

EmailAddressChooserTask

private void EmailAddressChooserTaskBtn_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
EmailAddressChooserTask openEmailTask = new EmailAddressChooserTask();
openEmailTask.Completed += openEmailTask_Completed;
openEmailTask.Show();
}
void openEmailTask_Completed(object sender, EmailResult e)
{
MessageBox.Show(e.Email);
}

EmailComposeTask

private void EmailComposeTaskBtn_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
EmailComposeTask openEmailComposeTask = new EmailComposeTask();
openEmailComposeTask.To = "toAddress";
openEmailComposeTask.Subject = "openEmail";
openEmailComposeTask.Bcc = "bcc";
openEmailComposeTask.Cc = "cc";
openEmailComposeTask.Body = "Message Content";
openEmailComposeTask.Show();
}

PhoneCallTask

private void PhoneCallTaskBtn_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
PhoneCallTask openPhoneCall = new PhoneCallTask();
openPhoneCall.PhoneNumber = "+919442921025";
openPhoneCall.DisplayName = "Suresh";
openPhoneCall.Show();
}

PhoneNumberChooserTask

private void PhoneNumberChooserTaskBtn_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
PhoneNumberChooserTask openPhoneNumberChooser = new PhoneNumberChooserTask();
openPhoneNumberChooser.Completed += openPhoneNumberChooser_Completed;
openPhoneNumberChooser.Show();
}
void openPhoneNumberChooser_Completed(object sender, PhoneNumberResult e)
{
MessageBox.Show(e.PhoneNumber);
}

PhotoChooserTask

private void PhotoChooserTask_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
PhotoChooserTask openPhotos = new PhotoChooserTask();
openPhotos.Completed += openPhotos_Completed;
openPhotos.Show();
}
void openPhotos_Completed(object sender, PhotoResult e)
{
MessageBox.Show(e.OriginalFileName);
//write the code to view or process the selected photo/image
}

SearchTask

private void SearchTaskbtn_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
SearchTask openSearch = new SearchTask();
openSearch.SearchQuery = "C sharp corner";
//here you write your own query to search
openSearch.Show();
}

SmsComposeTask

private void SmsComposeTaskBtn_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
SmsComposeTask openSMSTask = new SmsComposeTask();
openSMSTask.Body = "Message Body";
openSMSTask.To = "+919442921025";
openSMSTask.Show();
}

WebBrowserTask

private void WebBrowserTaskBtn_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
WebBrowserTask openBrowser = new WebBrowserTask();
openBrowser.Uri = new Uri("http://www.windowsapptutorials.wordpress.com/");
openBrowser.Show();
}

Now run your application. The output looks as in the following screen.

12 Comments

Join the conversation! Your thoughts help the community grow.

Kumaresh Rajalingam10y ago
good one
Kumaresh Rajalingam10y ago
Nice explanation
Sr Karthiga10y ago
Nice explanation
Sr Karthiga10y ago
Good one
Suresh M11y ago
Thank you Santhakumar
Santhakumar Munuswamy11y ago
Thanks for nice article
Santhakumar Munuswamy11y ago
Good work
Vithal Wadje11y ago
nice
Sibeesh Venu11y ago
Suresh M You are welcome.
Suresh M11y ago
Thanks ..........
Rahul Kumar Saxena11y ago
Great Work...
Sibeesh Venu11y ago
Good One.