Linking to your other apps

Using the Windows Phone SDK the only method to return a list of your other published apps (e.g. for your About page) is to use the MarketplaceSearchTask and specify your company name in the search criteria. The problem with this is that it doesn’t return the actual publisher list but does a keyword search so you may find that a few other apps appear if other devs have used your company name in their descriptions or keywords.

The solution is to use a Uri and the LaunchUriAsync method in Windows Phone 8. The zune (yes it’s a throwback from the olden days) Uri scheme includes the ability to specify a publisher name e.g.

Windows.System.Launcher.LaunchUriAsync(new Uri(“zune:search?publisher=In The Hand Ltd”));

In case you don’t want to hard-code your publisher name (to create a shared component for example) you can add this from the metadata of your app using Charming ApplicationModel e.g.

Windows.System.Launcher.LaunchUriAsync(new Uri(“zune:search?publisher=” + InTheHand.ApplicationModel.Package.Current.PublisherDisplayName));

The equivalent functionality in Windows 8 is implemented through the ms-windows-store Uri scheme:-

ms-windows-store:Publisher?name=In%20The%20Hand%20Ltd

or again using package information:-

Windows.System.Launcher.LaunchUriAsync(new Uri(“ms-windows-store:Publisher?name=” + Windows.ApplicationModel.Package.Current.PublisherDisplayName));