Access names of other apps -windows phone

1
votes

I know one can't access internal storage of another app,but can we make an app that just gets the names of all other apps installed?

1
windows-phone

1 Answers

4
votes

No you do not have access to the other apps installed that are not "Microsoft" apps. The best you can do is have access to "launchers." Read this article by Jeff Blankenburg: http://www.jeffblankenburg.com/2010/10/07/31-days-of-windows-phone-day-7-launchers/

Per Jeff's article (source code is available via the url above):

For a quick look at the list of Launchers, here’s what you’ve got so far:

using Microsoft.Phone.Tasks;

BingMapsDirectionsTask – allows you to provide turn by turn directions from either a start AND end point, or from the user’s current location to an end point.

BingMapsTask – you can use this task to launch a map with a specific point labeled.

ConnectionSettingsTask – a task that allows you to direct your users to their wi-fi, bluetooth, and other settings of their device.

EmailComposeTask – allows the user to send an email using their email accounts.

MarketplaceDetailTask – launches the Windows Phone Marketplace, and takes the user to a specific product offering.

MarketplaceHubTask – launched the Windows Phone Marketplace, and allows you to specify a category of applications to show by default.

MarketplaceReviewTask – takes the user to the Windows Phone Marketplace to review the current application.

MarketplaceSearchTask – launches search results for the Windows Phone Marketplace, based on a search term your user enters (or that you specify.)

MediaPlayerLauncher – launches the internal Media Player application, and plays the media file that you specify.

PhoneCallTask – launches the Phone application and displays the provided phone number and name. The phone call isn’t dialed until the user presses “Call.”

SearchTask – think of this as a way to provide a Bing search from your application.

SMSComposeTask – launches the Messaging application, and presents the user with the ability to send a text message. You can specify recipients and message body, but the user has to send it.

WebBrowserTask – launches the Web Browser, and navigates to the specified URL.

Also, Windows Phone 8 has released some new features to add to this list. Check out the new items via MSDN.