In Windows Phone we have a number of Launchers and Choosers for interacting with system features. For the most part the approach used in Windows Store is to use special URI schemes to achieve the same end result and launch platform features. I’ve collated together a list below of some known ones. Some like maps are documented in detail, others not. All can be launched with Windows.System.Launcher.LaunchUriAsync() (which also exists in Windows Phone 8 for launching other apps via a uri).
ms-windows-store: – Windows Store “Hub”
ms-windows-store:PDP?PFN={your package family name} – App detail page. Get your PFN from Windows.ApplicationModel.Package.Current.Id.FamilyName
ms-windows-store:REVIEW?PFN={your package family name} – Write a review page
ms-windows-store:Search?query={query term} -Remember to URI escape your query term text
xboxgames: – launches the games hub
The following launch Microsoft/Bing apps (if installed)
bingfinance: – Finance
bingfoodanddrink: – Food & Drink
binghealthnfitness: – Health & Fitness
bingmaps: – Maps. Full details here:- http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/jj635237.aspx
bingnews: – News
bingsports: – Sports
bingtravel: – Travel
bingweather: – Weather
microsoftmusic: – Music
microsoftvideo: – Video
ms-mail: – Mail
windowsreadinglist: – Reading List
wlcalendar: – Calendar
wlpeople: – People
xboxsmartglass: – Smart Glass
Jumping back to the first set which cover the Store. In order to make these simpler to call and help with porting existing code from Windows Phone I’ve added a new library to the Charming suite. This is the first library to go the other way – provide a phone style API for Windows Store.
https://www.nuget.org/packages/InTheHand.Phone.Tasks.RT/
This library provides the MarketplaceHubTask, MarketplaceDetailTask and MarketplaceSearchTask which we know and love from Windows Phone and launches the equivalent functionality on Windows. The key differences beside the namespaces are that the content identifier for the MarketplaceDetailTask is a Package Family Name and there is no ContentType property to distinguish between apps, games and music. For the purposes of Windows Store all apps and games are treated the same and there is no music in the Windows Store. Code and documentation will be updated on the CodePlex site shortly though if you’ve used these features under Windows Phone you already know how to use it!
In The Hand Ltd 