how to integrate vserv ads sdk to windows phone 8 application - visual-studio-2012

I have developed a windows phone 8 application. Now I want to display vserv ads to my application.
I have added the sdk to my application and also applied code to show ads:
public MainPage()
{
InitializeComponent();
VservAdControl VMB = VservAdControl.Instance;
VMB.DisplayAd(zoneID, LayoutRoot);
VMB.VservAdClosed += new EventHandler(VACCallback_OnVservAdClosing);
VMB.VservAdNoFill += new EventHandler(VACCallback_OnVservAdNoFill);
}
void VACCallback_OnVservAdClosing(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
MessageBox.Show("Ad close by user.");
}
void VACCallback_OnVservAdNoFill(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (adGrid != null)
adGrid.Visibility = Visibility.Collapsed;
}
But after closing the ad the application page goes blank, all content, application bar automatically goes blank. After using back arrow that quits my application, i try to relaunch my application but application stuck at the splash screen on the emulator.

Wrap ad control inside a grid. Ad control could have manipulated the grid
I encountered the same issue and they have updated their SDK several times. If you provide the stacktrace they will provide you a fix.
Apart from what you have seen, there are other issues with the SDK. I integrated it few weeks back. So issues could have been resolved after that.
Memory leak. Click the ad or navigate back and forth - you will see the memory ever growing. This is because of events not being detached (withing SDK). I was consistently able to see my app crash in 512 MB emulator when banner ad is loaded (after 4 - 5 times). They could have used weak listeners. You might need to tweak a lot to overcome this issue (In multi page app)
RequestAdCallback throws null pointer exception sometimes crashing
the app. When people use app, they will navigate fast - forcing the
webbrowser to unload. All callbacks should be null pointer exception
free. Make sure that you handle unhandled exception globally otherwise app will not pass certification
It reads WMAppManifest.xml as text not as XML. So I had App element commented in first line before the actual one. It picked title from commented XML element
Application bar is manipulated in many events in the SDK. So you have to make sure that app bar is built dynamically. Test all navigation paths.
SDK assumes user will click the left arrow button which fires ad closing event. Try pressing phone back button instead. The app bar still disappears
SDK documentation requests app to demand ID_CAP_REMOVABLE_STORAGE capability. I don't see a reason to request this capability but I didn't add this
I have emailed them all these details. May be their latest SDK could have resolved these issues. But please do thorough testing after integration.

Add a function to load applicationbar using code
private void BuildLocalizedApplicationBar()
{
// Set the page's ApplicationBar to a new instance of ApplicationBar.
ApplicationBar = new ApplicationBar();
ApplicationBar.Mode = ApplicationBarMode.Default;
ApplicationBar.Opacity = 1.0;
ApplicationBar.IsVisible = true;
ApplicationBar.IsMenuEnabled = false;
// Create a new button and set the text value to the localized string from AppResources.
ApplicationBarIconButton button1 = new ApplicationBarIconButton();
button1.IconUri = new Uri("/Images/sms.png", UriKind.Relative);
button1.Text = "sms";
ApplicationBar.Buttons.Add(button1);
}
and then in VACCallback_OnVservAdClosing event handler call the function
BuildLocalizedApplicationBar()

Please check the following link,
where to add application id and adUnitiD while integrating vserv ads sdk to windows phone 8 application, which is related to your question.

Related

Show apps on top of the lock screen

I'm building an app using Electron. And I really want to recreate what UWP apps can do. UWP apps can get shown on top of the lock screen. How can I achieve that using Electron/NodeJS?
I tried to do this, but it didn't work:
const mainWindow = electron.remote.getCurrentWindow();
if(isWindows10){
try{
lockSystem();
}catch{
//return an error
}
}
mainWindow.restore();
mainWindow.focus();
mainWindow.setKiosk(true);
And if you're wondering about the fact that UWP apps can get rendered on top of the lock screen, yes they indeed can get rendered on top of the lock screen. You can try to take an exam on exam.net on a windows 10 device, and choose the restricted mode. This will result in chrome opening a pop-up window that asks you to run a UWP app that will lock the device and get rendered on top of the lock screen.
https://www.electronjs.org/docs/tutorial/windows-store-guide - This won't help, as the app doesn't gain access to UWP APIs/features.
EDIT: https://github.com/felixrieseberg/electron-uwp-background - Never mind, it is possible to access those features. But I can't figure out how to do it. Any idea?

How to hide my app's calendar from built-in calendar app?

My app needs an internal calendar. I can create a new calendar like this:
var store = await AppointmentManager.RequestStoreAsync(AppointmentStoreAccessType.AppCalendarsReadWrite);
var cacheCalendar = await store.CreateAppointmentCalendarAsync("unique name here");
This succeeds and I get a new calendar. But this calendar is visible in the phone's built-in calendar app. I don't want this calendar to be visible since it's for internal bookkeeping.
So I try to hide the calendar like this:
var store = await AppointmentManager.RequestStoreAsync(AppointmentStoreAccessType.AppCalendarsReadWrite);
var cacheCalendar = await store.CreateAppointmentCalendarAsync("unique name here");
cacheCalendar.IsHidden = true; // <---- make calendar hidden
await cacheCalendar.SaveAsync(); // <---- save; error here
When calling SaveAsyncI get the following exception:
Access is denied. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070005
(E_ACCESSDENIED))"
Why can't I hide my calendar from the built-in phone calendar app? Is this an undocumented limitation? Are there other ways to do this?
(Note: I tested this on a Windows 10 Mobile as well as desktop Win 10 - same error.)
Edit/Addition: Since Anthony discovered the IsHidden property is documented as read-only in MSDN here is a screenshot from Visual Studio showing the public setter (which makes it compile, run and seemingly legit to call):
(The app targets Win 10 Build 10586 - maybe it's new, but unfinished?)
Honestly I am surprised this even compiles.
According to the MSDN documentation for AppointmentCalandar
IsHidden - Read-only - Gets whether the AppointmentCalendar is hidden in
the device's built-in calendar UI
This is a read only property and can't be set.
As for your actual question, after carfully reviewing the documentation it appears that this is an oversight in the API. I would raise this concern on the MSDN forums.
This was a bug in 10586 but if you’re using 14393 SDK you can use IsHidden if your app has rights to the calendar without an InvalidAccessException
https://wpdev.uservoice.com/forums/110705-universal-windows-platform/suggestions/15278775-appointmentcalendar-ishidden-setter-throws-a-inval

InterstitialAd not working with Windows Phone 10 (UWP - Windows 10)

I cant' get InterstitialAd to work in my UWP app when running on the Windows Phone Emulator (Note that I haven't tried it yet on actual real phone)
It works as expected when I run my UWP app in the Simulator or Local Machine as a Windows Store app.
Any ideas?
Thanks.
UPDATE - 1
Here is the code I use to display the InterstitialAd. In my MainPage.xaml.cs I have the following code:
public sealed partial class MainPage : Page
{
private InterstitialAd interstitialAd;
public MainPage()
{
this.InitializeComponent();
// Instantiate the interstitial video ad
interstitialAd = new InterstitialAd();
// Attach event handlers
interstitialAd.ErrorOccurred += OnAdError;
interstitialAd.AdReady += OnAdReady;
interstitialAd.Cancelled += OnAdCancelled;
interstitialAd.Completed += OnAdCompleted;
}
}
// This is an event handler for the interstitial ad. It is
// triggered when the interstitial ad is ready to play.
private void OnAdReady(object sender, object e)
{
// The ad is ready to show; show it.
interstitialAd.Show();
}
// This is an event handler for the interstitial ad. It is
// triggered when the interstitial ad is cancelled.
private void OnAdCancelled(object sender, object e)
{
}
// This is an event handler for the interstitial ad. It is
// triggered when the interstitial ad has completed playback.
private void OnAdCompleted(object sender, object e)
{
}
// This is an error handler for the interstitial ad.
private void OnAdError(object sender, AdErrorEventArgs e)
{
}
I've literarily taken this code from their UWP Store sample except that instead of launching this from a button, I'm launching it when my page is loaded:
private void Page_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
// Request an ad. When the ad is ready to show,
// the AdReady event will fire.
// The application id and ad unit id are passed in here.
// The application id and ad unit id can be obtained from Dev
// Center.
// See "Monetize with Ads" at https://msdn.microsoft.com/
// en-us/library/windows/apps/mt170658.aspx
#if DEBUG
interstitialAd.RequestAd(AdType.Video,
"d25517cb-12d4-4699-8bdc-52040c712cab", "11389925");
#else
interstitialAd.RequestAd(AdType.Video,
"d25517cb-12d4-4699-8bdc-52040c712cab", "11389925");
#endif
}
I've left both ApplicationId and UnitAdId as the test values for the time being as I haven't released it yet, well, not with ads anyway.
Thanks
UPDATE - 2:
I've added some debugging logs in the various events and this is what I get:
Page_Loaded: 00:00:00.0001590
Page_Loaded - RequestAd: 00:00:00.0091840
OnAdReady - Elasped Time: 00:01:04.6923865
OnAdError: NetworkConnectionFailure : Media timeout occurred
during playback. - Elasped
Time: 00:00:08.1955928
It takes over 1 minute for the OnAdReady to be triggered which is really odd and then I get an OnAdError 8 seconds later so from these logs you would assume that there is a network problem but my data is being loaded correctly which is all pulled from a web service, so there is definitely a connection. Also my AdMediator displays Ads as expected (well, kind of! That's another story!).
I will try to transfer it directly to my phone tomorrow and see if it makes any differences and I plug in my laptop to an Ethernet port instead of using the wireless but my wireless is pretty decent, so I'm not sure why I'm getting network connectivity errors.
The above code is correct and does actually work with UWP on Windows Phone but it doesn't work great in the emulator as:
it intermittently generates network connectivity errors when they are none.
it can take over a minute to display the advert but it eventually will.
I've just uploaded my app to the store and downloaded it to my phone and it works as expected. It displays the advert immediately or within a couple of seconds or so.
I would recommend you do not waste too much time trying it via the phone emulator as it appears to be the main problem. Implement your code and then test it directly on your device or download it from the store assuming you haven't released your app yet.
UPDATE:
I just thought I'd update my answer as I was just reading about the do's and dont's with interstitial adverts from UI and User Experience Guidelines and the way I'm actually doing it, is one of points in the "avoid" list.
It recommends that you fetch the advert 30-60 seconds ahead of time and you don't display it when the app starts, which is what I'm doing, so I guess I will change the logic in that regards.

notify user to play sound windows phone 8 and stop current music

In my Windows Phone 7 and 7.5 apps I used to prompt a message box when the app was launched if the user was already playing music, to notify the user to stop current music to play the sounds, or to exit the app, this was working, but when I coded from the beginning for Windows Phone 8, for some reason this code doesn't work, if you are playing a sound, instead to prompt the notification, the apps opens and close itself.
This is the code I was using:
private void Application_Launching(object sender, LaunchingEventArgs e)
{
FrameworkDispatcher.Update();
if (MediaPlayer.GameHasControl != true)
{
if (MessageBox.Show("This application requires play sounds and stop your currently playlist", "Information",
MessageBoxButton.OK) == MessageBoxResult.OK)
{
MediaPlayer.Stop();
FrameworkDispatcher.Update();
}
}
}
I'm pretty sure must be some change in the Api with the MediaPlayer? I couldn't find any information about that, someone knows how can I fix that?
Thanks!!!
As you guessed,there are some changes in APIs.
First thing I notice, calling MessageBox.Show(string) from the Application_Launching event causes an exception. You app is probably shutting down due to an unhandled exception.
From MSDN: "If you call Show(String) method from the app Activated and Launching event handlers an InvalidOperationException is thrown with the message Error Displaying MessageBox."
EDIT: The documentation on MSDN is unclear whether calling .Show(string, string, messageBoxButton) raises the same exception.
App platform compatibility for Windows Phone

Windows phone app link

So - I want to make a windows phone app that links to my webpage when I open it - how do i do that? I have the SDK, and tried with the browser, but I can't seem to find anyway to set a homepage?
You could use the WebBrowser control, placing it on an otherwise empty page. This may allow you to fine tune the experience if wish.
But what would be even easier is to just use the WebBrowserTask. This would launch you right back out of your app and into OS's true browser experience. In the App.xaml.cs file, just add the following code:
private void PhoneApplicationService_Launching(object sender, LaunchingEventArgs e)
{
WebBrowserTask webBrowserTask = new WebBrowserTask();
webBrowserTask.Uri = new Uri("http://my.superawesomewebsite.com", UriKind.Absolute);
webBrowserTask.Show();
}
You app will immediately launch the browser an you don't have to do anything else.

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