How to: Integrate with App Instant Answer for Windows Phone
March 22, 2012
In Windows Phone 7.5, your Windows Phone application can be launched from App Instant Answer. App Instant Answer presents a link to relevant Windows Phone applications with search results. If launched from App Instant Answer, your application can determine the search terms that lead to the launch, and immediately use those terms to provide a rich user experience based on those terms.
This topic describes how to create a basic application that determines if it was launched by App Instant Answer, what the corresponding search terms were, and how to simulate an App Instant Answer launch. For information about other ways to integrate your application with the search experience, see Search Extensibility Overview for Windows Phone.
This topic covers the following major steps:
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The steps in the following procedure are for Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone. You may see some minor variations in menu commands or window layouts when you are using the add-in for Visual Studio 2010 Professional or Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate. |
In this section, you create a basic UI to display the App Instant Answer parameter and value, or a message stating that the application was not launched by App Instant Answer. The corresponding TextBlock controls are collapsed or made visible depending on how the application is launched.
To create the UI
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In Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone, create a new project by selecting the File | New Project menu command.
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The New Project window is displayed. Expand the Visual C# templates, and then select the Silverlight for Windows Phone templates.
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Select the Windows Phone Application template. Fill in the Name box with a name of your choice.
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Click OK. The New Windows Phone Application window is displayed.
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In the Target Windows Phone Version menu, ensure that Windows Phone 7.1 is selected.
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Click OK. A new project is created, and MainPage.xaml is opened in the Visual Studio designer window.
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In MainPage.xaml, replace the grid named LayoutRoot with the following code.
<!--LayoutRoot is the root grid where all page content is placed--> <Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot" Background="Transparent"> <Grid.RowDefinitions> <RowDefinition Height="Auto"/> <RowDefinition Height="*"/> </Grid.RowDefinitions> <!--TitlePanel contains the name of the application and page title--> <StackPanel x:Name="TitlePanel" Grid.Row="0" Margin="12,17,0,28"> <TextBlock x:Name="ApplicationTitle" Text="APP INSTANT ANSWER EXAMPLE" Style="{StaticResource PhoneTextNormalStyle}"/> <TextBlock x:Name="PageTitle" Text="URI details" Margin="9,-7,0,0" Style="{StaticResource PhoneTextTitle1Style}"/> <!-- Made visible when app is launched by App Instant Answer, otherwise collapsed. --> <TextBlock x:Name="txtUriParameterName" Text="bing_query" TextWrapping="Wrap" Style="{StaticResource PhoneTextExtraLargeStyle}" Visibility="Collapsed"/> <TextBlock x:Name="txtUriParameterValue" Text="URI parameter value here" TextWrapping="Wrap" Style="{StaticResource PhoneTextAccentStyle}" Visibility="Collapsed"/> <!-- Made visible when app is not launched by App Instant Answer, otherwise collapsed. --> <TextBlock x:Name="txtNoLaunch" Text="This application was not launched by an App Instant Answer." TextWrapping="Wrap" Style="{StaticResource PhoneTextSubtleStyle}" Visibility="Collapsed"/> </StackPanel> </Grid>The TextBlock controls named txtUriParameterName and txtUriParameterValue display the App Instant Answer URI parameter name and value, respectively. The value corresponds to the search terms that lead to the application launch. The TextBlock named txtNoLaunch displays a message indicating that App Instant Answer did not launch the application.
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In the code-behind file for the main page, MainPage.xaml.cs, add the following code to the MainPage constructor.
// Configure event handler for page Loaded event. this.Loaded += new RoutedEventHandler(MainPage_Loaded);When the page loads, it will call the MainPage_Loaded event, a method created in the next step.
In this section, you add code to check the launch URI for the presence of the bing_query URI parameter. If bing_query is present, the application was launched from App Instant Answer. If not, it was a standard application launch.
To check for an App Instant Answer Launch
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In MainPage.xaml.cs, add the following code to the MainPage class.
void MainPage_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) { try { // Try to obtain App Instant Answer URI parameter & value. string tempSearchTerms = NavigationContext.QueryString["bing_query"]; // Show App Instant Answer URI parameter and value. ShowUriParameter(tempSearchTerms); } catch { // Hide App Instant Answer URI parameter and value. HideUriParameter(); } }If the bing_query parameter is present in the launch URI, the call to the NavigationContext QueryString will return the search terms that lead to the launch. ShowUriParameter and HideUriParameter are helper methods that are created in the next step.
In this section, you create the helper methods that collapse UI elements or make them visible. These methods are called depending on how the application was launched.
To complete the application
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In MainPage.xaml.cs, add the following code to the MainPage class.
void ShowUriParameter(string searchTerms) { // Hide message that app was not launched by App Instant Answer. txtNoLaunch.Visibility = Visibility.Collapsed; // Show URI parameter and value. txtUriParameterName.Visibility = Visibility.Visible; txtUriParameterValue.Visibility = Visibility.Visible; txtUriParameterValue.Text = searchTerms; } void HideUriParameter() { // Show message that app was not launched by App Instant Answer. txtNoLaunch.Visibility = Visibility.Visible; // Hide URI parameter and value. txtUriParameterName.Visibility = Visibility.Collapsed; txtUriParameterValue.Visibility = Visibility.Collapsed; }
In this section, you modify the application manifest file to simulate an application launch from App Instant Answer. Simulating an App Instant Answer launch is required because it is not possible to control when App Instant Answer displays Windows Phone applications with search results.
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You must submit your application to Marketplace before App Instant Answer can feature your application with search results. |
To simulate an App Instant Answer launch
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In the application manifest file, WMAppManifest.xml, comment the DefaultTask element. This element specifies a standard application launch.
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In WMAppManifest.xml, add the following code to the Tasks element.
<!-- To simulate App Instant Answer launch from search terms "Xbox 360 4 GB Console with Kinect" --> <DefaultTask Name ="_default" NavigationPage="MainPage.xaml?bing_query=Xbox 360 4 GB Console with Kinect"/>This DefaultTask element simulates an App Instant Answer launch from a Bing search on the terms “Xbox 360 4 GB Console with Kinect”.
Caution:Uncomment the original DefaultTask element when you are finished debugging so that your application can perform a standard launch. Commenting this element prevents real App Instant Answer launches from working properly. Only one DefaultTask element can be present at a time.
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Press F5 to debug your application and deploy it to the emulator or device.
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Observe that the application launches to the main page and displays the bing_query parameter and the search terms specified in the DefaultTask element.
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In WMAppManifest.xml, comment the temporary DefaultTask element and uncomment the original. When finished, the Tasks element should look like the following code.
<Tasks> <DefaultTask Name ="_default" NavigationPage="MainPage.xaml"/> <!-- To simulate App Instant Answer launch from search terms "Xbox 360 4 GB Console with Kinect" --> <!--<DefaultTask Name ="_default" NavigationPage="MainPage.xaml?bing_query=simulated search terms"/>--> </Tasks> -
Press F5 to debug your application and deploy it to the emulator or device.
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Observe that the application launches to the main page and displays the message for a standard launch.
