Controlling the Lock Screen’s Background and Notification Area

Beginning with the Windows Phone 8 SDK, you have the opportunity to integrate your app with the phone’s lock screen, which includes setting of the lock screen background image, posting notification text to the notification area, and displaying a numeric count field (see Figure 13.9). Apps that integrate with the phone’s lock screen are known as live apps.

FIGURE 13.9 Lock screen background and notification area.

Three parts of the lock screen can potentially be modified by your app. Changing the lock screen background image is achieved using the phone SDK’s lock screen API. Setting of the lock screen’s notification text and count field is done via your app’s primary tile.

To enable modification of the lock screen, you need to add extension elements to the app’s WMAppManifest.xml file. In the Visual Studio Solution Explorer, expand Properties, right-click WMAppManifest.xml, click View Code. If not already present, insert an Extensions element immediately after the Tokens element in the WMAppManifest.xml file. Observe the following excerpt, which shows the extensions elements for the various lock screen related features:

Click here to view code image

<Extensions>
  <Extension ExtensionName="LockScreen_Background"
      ConsumerID="{111DFF24-AA15-4A96-8006-2BFF8122084F}"
      TaskID="_default" />
  <Extension ExtensionName="LockScreen_Notification_IconCount"
      ConsumerID="{111DFF24-AA15-4A96-8006-2BFF8122084F}"
      TaskID="_default" />
  <Extension ExtensionName="LockScreen_Notification_TextField"
      ConsumerID="{111DFF24-AA15-4A96-8006-2BFF8122084F}"
      TaskID="_default" />
</Extensions>

If you plan to change the lock screen’s background image, include the LockScreen_Background extension. If you plan to include your tile’s Count on the lock screen, include the LockScreen_Notification_IconCount extension. Include the LockScreen_Notification_TextField extension if you plan to include notification text on the lock screen.