Closing Windows Phone 8 apps programatically

[Ahmed Emad]

I searched for away to close Windows Phone 8 app programmatically and found 2 Ways :

1 - By throwing Exception like this:

http://blog.roboblob.com/2012/08/19/...grammatically/

Which is not suitable way and not working always.

2- By using XNA Game Exit like this:

http://blog.roboblob.com/2012/08/21/...e-application/

And I cannot use it in Windows Phone 8.


Is there is any new idea or way suitable for Windows Phone 8?

[Loukt]

On windows phone 8, there is a new method which help you terminate/exit the app. Application.Current.Terminate();
(I didn't test it yet, can you give us some feedback after trying it)

[Ahmed Emad]

On windows phone 8, there is a new method which help you terminate/exit the app. Application.Current.Terminate();
(I didn't test it yet, can you give us some feedback after trying it)

Thanks LouKt, it works prefectly

[Metro Developer]

Application.Current.Terminate() is only allowed in very limited circumstances. Otherwise your app won't pass certification. See the documentation: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/libr...v=vs.105).aspx

This method should only be used in cases where the user is unable to make any useful forward progress such as if the user is presented with an End User License Agreement and declines or if the app requires the user to login and the user can’t provide credentials. Otherwise, apps should not use this method to provide an “Exit” mechanism.

In Windows Phone (just like Android and iOS), you should take the approach that a user will "quit" your app by simply switching another app.

[SB Dev]

We discussed this issue with MS Developers during the WP8 Beta Preview program and came up with several use cases where closing an App in that way made perfect sense and caused no issues with certification. One example would be the Shortcut Apps. They open at a certain URL and forward users to the selected settings. When the Back button is pressed the user should not arrive at the gateway page he never saw in the first place but get back to the Home screen where he started out. Application.Current.Terminate in that case gives you the behavior the user was expecting anyway. That is the guideline underlying the usage of Application.Current.Exit: will it achieve behavior consitent with what the user would expect to happen based on how other apps (especially system apps) work in that situation.

Raising an exception to crash the App might give you problems in certification even if the behavior was intended.

The biggest problem with Application.Current.Terminate seems to be that it does not raise Application Live Cycle Events like "NavigatedFrom" or "App.Exiting" so you will have to ensure that all data is saved properly before exiting in that way.