In This Chapter
The internal workings of chooser event tombstoning
Providing directions using the built-in Maps app
Sending emails, SMS messages, and making calls
Sharing links on social networks
Launching the built-in Marketplace app
Launching the built-in web browser app
Launching the phone’s network settings pages
Playing local and remote media files
Capturing images
Sharing images with other devices via NFC
Saving ringtones
Retrieving the user’s contacts and appointments
Storing contacts in a segregated contact store
Saving an appointment
Data binding to ListBox.SelectedItems
Windows Phone apps execute within a sandbox and lack direct access to phone services such as email and messaging. Launchers and choosers allow your app to reach outside the sandbox in a safe and system-friendly way to give indirect access to a set of built-in system applications.
Launchers and choosers are fundamental to Windows Phone development. They enable users to perform common tasks in the same way across all apps, providing a consistent user experience.
This chapter begins by looking at the two types of tasks: launchers and choosers. It then explores the execution model of choosers, the internal workings of event subscriptions that span across application lifetimes. It then examines each launcher and chooser in detail.
Finally, the chapter examines how to programmatically retrieve contact and appointment information in a read-only manner.
Many launchers and choosers are presented in this chapter, so do not think that you need to absorb them all at once. You may want to skim over them, just to get a feel for what is on offer, and then refer back to this chapter when you are implementing a particular launcher or chooser in your app.
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