How to get Phone Network Information in WP7 Mango via code

published on: 5/27/2011 | Views: N/A | Tags: Mango

by WindowsPhoneGeek

In this post I am going to talk about how to get device network information in a Windows Phone 7.1(Mango) application.

With the Mango release your applications can now access information about the network and network interfaces. You can determine the mobile operator and network capabilities of a user's phone, and you can get and set connection preferences and requirements.

NOTE: Before Windows Phone 7.1 the only way to get network information was through the NetworkInterface Class which allows you to get only limited details, such as, whether there is a network connection available and if it is a cellular or WiFi connection. It was not possible to access details like the mobile operator name or id or whether the device is in roaming.

NOTE: Before we begin make sure that you have installed the Windows Phone Developer Tools 7.1 Beta(Mango).

When you create a Windows Phone app, you might want to know the network capabilities of the user's phone. You can determine the network capabilities by using the properties of the DeviceNetworkInformation class. Because the properties are static, you do not have to create an instance of the class first; you can just access the properties directly. You can use the following properties:

CellularMobileOperator
IsNetworkAvailable
IsCellularDataEnabled
IsCellularDataRoamingEnabled
IsWiFiEnabled

Here are the answers to some questions that we received regarding the new Mango update:

1. How to get the Mobile Operator Name

You can get the mobile operator name through the CellularMobileOperator property of DeviceNetworkInformation:

<TextBlock x:Name="tbCellOperator" FontSize="25"/>

 this.tbCellOperator.Text ="Mobile Operator: "+ DeviceNetworkInformation.CellularMobileOperator;

2. How to determine whether Roming is available

You can determine whether Roming is available or not by using the IsCellularDataRoamingEnabled property of DeviceNetworkInformation:

<TextBlock x:Name="tbRoaming" FontSize="25"/>

this.tbRoaming.Text = "Roming Available: " + DeviceNetworkInformation.IsCellularDataRoamingEnabled;

3. How to determine whether Cellular Data is available

You can determine whether Cellular Data is available or not by using the IsCellularDataEnabled property of DeviceNetworkInformation:

<TextBlock x:Name="tbCellular" FontSize="25"/>

 this.tbCellular.Text = "Cellular Data Available: " + DeviceNetworkInformation.IsCellularDataEnabled;

4. How to determine whether Network is available

You can determine whether Network is available or not by using the IsNetworkAvailable property of DeviceNetworkInformation:

<TextBlock x:Name="tbNetAvailable" FontSize="25"/>

this.tbNetAvailable.Text = "Network Available: " + DeviceNetworkInformation.IsNetworkAvailable;

5. How to determine whether Wi Fi is available

You can determine whether Wi Fi is available or not by using the IsWiFiEnabled property of DeviceNetworkInformation:

<TextBlock x:Name="tbWiFi" FontSize="25"/>

 this.tbWiFi.Text = "WiFi Available: " + DeviceNetworkInformation.IsWiFiEnabled;

6. How to detect when the availability of the network changes

You can use the NetworkAvailabilityChanged event which occurs when the availability of the network changes:

DeviceNetworkInformation.NetworkAvailabilityChanged += new EventHandler<NetworkNotificationEventArgs>(DeviceNetworkInformation_NetworkAvailabilityChanged);
...
void DeviceNetworkInformation_NetworkAvailabilityChanged(object sender, NetworkNotificationEventArgs e)
{
    //add some code here
}