Windows 8.1 appointmentsprovider Api not working

Question

Hello,

I am using Windows 8.1 RC. When I try to utilize the new appointments api:

   var datetoShow = new DateTime(2013, 6-1, 6);
   Windows.ApplicationModel.Appointments.AppointmentManager.ShowTimeFrameAsync(datetoShow, TimeSpan.FromHours(1));

I am getting the following message:

"No apps are installed to complete this task(windows.appointmentsprovider.showtimeframe)"

Look for an app in the appstore

Seems that the windows calendar is not setup as a default appointments provider in windows 8.1

Any ideas?

Answer 1

I'm not sure what you mean by Windows 8.1 RC and I don't have an RTM system handy, but you can write a test appointment provider until the store has full Windows 8.1 apps available.

--Rob

Answer 2

Before marking this as an adequate answer, could we be more complete here?  Would a link to guidance for writing "a test appointment provider" be applicable (as near as I could ascertain, there is no such link available in the MSDN documentation stack at the time this post was made.)

The general gist is that, in fact, the appointment API's indicated by AbsGuayaco require a registered appointment provider, and as of this date/point with the early-access to the 8.1 RTM build, the built-in Calendar app does not provide that, but is expected to do so by the GA date later in October.  Additionally, the best guidance for how to provide a custom provider seems to be a link in the 3-007 //Build slide deck to the AppointmentsProvider namespace (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/windows.applicationmodel.appointments.appointmentsprovider.aspx), but there is no guidance yet for how to go about making use of this / registering to handle the activation event, handling the activation event, etc.

Answer 3

Hi dotnetgator,

I'm also curious and (not) surprised that there is no info on this topic but at the same time it has been announced and what not.

 I took some (not much) time to research this and I think it's a bit different than what you said. So the AppointmentsProvider namespace's classes serve as hubs/entry points that give access to all apps that can be activated for an appointment operation (add, remove, replace, show time frame). They only establish the link between the client app and the 'appointment provider' apps.

Then if you want to implement an appointment provider app you must declare it as such, but right now there is no such option in the available app contracts (App contracts and extensions; Visual Studio also doesn't present the option). If it had, though, you'd still need an API to access the events store, which as I have read (Limitations) is not directly accessible by apps. Yet, there are appointment-action activation event args available (Windows.ApplicationModel.Activation namespace). All this is contradictory.

Currently the only real appointment provider, which has access to the events store is the default Calendar app (yes, if it weren't for the bug). So, I hope with the official release this situation is resolved at least. For now this is all we have:

"Alternate Calendars

Other applications are capable of registering themselves as the user’s calendar of choice. Details about how this will be offered is not available yet." (source)

Answer 4

Until there are real appointments providers available on the Windows Store, I would recommend you take a look at this blog post that covers how to make your own AppointmentsProvider app for the purposes of testing.

Blog Post: So you want to write a calendar replacement app? A look into Appointments Providers in Windows 8.1

---

Nick Eubanks (MSFT)

Answer 5

Hi Hick,

Thank you very much for your response and the blog post. I tried the sample and got the idea. So, it's totally certain that the events store cannot be accessed by developers and the only entity that can to this is the built-in calendar app, is that correct?