Badge Notifications
Learn to use Badge Notifications in Windows App SDK with this Tutorial
Badge Notifications shows how you can use BadgeNotification with the Windows App SDK. This
allows you to display different Badges on the Icon for your application in the Taskbar of Windows.
Step 1
Follow Setup and Start on how to get Setup and Install what you need for Visual Studio 2022 and Windows App SDK.
Step 2
Then in Visual Studio within Solution Explorer for the Solution, right click on the Project shown below the Solution and then select Add then New Item…
Step 3
Then in Add New Item from the C# Items list, select Code and then select Code File from the list next to this, then type in the name of Library.cs and then Click on Add.
Step 4
You will now be in the View for the Code of Library.cs, within this type the following Code:
using Microsoft.UI.Xaml.Controls;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using Windows.Data.Xml.Dom;
using Windows.UI.Notifications;
internal class Library
{
public List<string> Options => new()
{
"number", "activity", "alarm", "attention", "available", "away",
"busy", "error", "newMessage", "paused", "playing", "unavailable"
};
public void SetBadge(ComboBox options, TextBox number)
{
var selected = options.SelectedValue as string;
var result = selected == "number" ? number.Text : selected;
XmlDocument badge = BadgeUpdateManager.GetTemplateContent(
int.TryParse(result, out _) ?
BadgeTemplateType.BadgeNumber :
BadgeTemplateType.BadgeGlyph);
XmlNodeList attributes = badge.GetElementsByTagName("badge");
attributes[0].Attributes.GetNamedItem("value").NodeValue = result;
BadgeNotification notification = new(badge);
BadgeUpdateManager.CreateBadgeUpdaterForApplication().Update(notification);
}
public void ClearBadge()
{
BadgeUpdateManager.CreateBadgeUpdaterForApplication().Clear();
}
}
The Class that has been defined in Library.cs has a Property for Options, with the exception number
these are all the different types of Glyph that can be shown for a BadgeNotification.
Then there is a Method of SetBadge which will get the SelectedValue of a ComboBox passed in.
To get the Value to use, if the selected option was number then it should use the contents of a
TextBox passed in, which is the Property for Text along with the BadgeTemplateType.BadgeNumber
or it should use the one for BadgeTemplateType.BadgeGlyph. The lines to do this use a value that
is a bool before ? which if true, the value after ? will be used, if false the value after :
will be used, these together are Conditional Operators. There is some code to build up the
elements of the Badge Notification using XML which is needed to create the BadgeNotification
and then this is used with the BadgeUpdateManager. The other Method is used to clear the BadgeNotification using with the BadgeUpdateManager.
Step 5
Step 6
In the XAML for MainWindow.xaml there will be some XAML for a StackPanel, this should be Removed:
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal"
HorizontalAlignment="Center" VerticalAlignment="Center">
<Button x:Name="myButton" Click="myButton_Click">Click Me</Button>
</StackPanel>
Step 7
While still in the XAML for MainWindow.xaml above </Window>, type in the following XAML:
<Grid>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
<RowDefinition Height="*"/>
<RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<StackPanel Grid.Row="0" Margin="25">
<ComboBox Margin="5" Name="Options"
HorizontalAlignment="Stretch"/>
<TextBox Margin="5" PlaceholderText="Number"
Name="Number" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch"/>
</StackPanel>
<CommandBar Grid.Row="3" VerticalAlignment="Bottom">
<AppBarButton Icon="Accept" Label="Accept" Click="Accept_Click"/>
<AppBarButton Icon="Cancel" Label="Clear" Click="Clear_Click"/>
</CommandBar>
</Grid>
This XAML features a Grid with a StackPanel for the ComboBox and TextBox along with an AppBarButton to set or clear the BadgeNotification depending on which one was Clicked.
Step 8
Step 9
In the Code for MainWindow.xaml.cs there be a Method of myButton_Click(...) this should be Removed by removing the following:
private void myButton_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
myButton.Content = "Clicked";
}
Step 10
Once myButton_Click(...) has been removed, type the following Code below the end of the Constructor of public MainWindow() { ... }:
private readonly Library _library = new();
private void Accept_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
_library.SetBadge(Options, Number);
}
private void Clear_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
_library.ClearBadge();
}
The Methods of Accept_Click and Clear_Click will call the Methods within Library.cs of SetBadge and
ClearBadge respectively from an Instance of Library called _library created with new().
Step 11
While still in the Code for MainWindow.xaml.cs within the Constructor of public MainWindow() { ... } and below the line of this.InitializeComponent(); type in the following Code:
Options.ItemsSource = _library.Options;
Options.SelectedIndex = 0;
The Constructor of public MainWindow() { ... } should look like the following:
public MainWindow()
{
this.InitializeComponent();
Options.ItemsSource = _library.Options;
Options.SelectedIndex = 0;
}
These set up the Properties for the ComboBox for ItemsSource to the list of Options from Library and for SelectedIndex to the first index which is 0 to select the first item.
Step 12
Step 13
Once running you should see the ComboBox, TextBox and CommandBar with Accept and Clear options.
Step 14
You can select a value from the ComboBox and then use Accept to see this on a Badge on the Icon for the application in the Taskbar for example select number then enter a number or use Clear to reset the Badge.
Step 15
