Is it possible to check whether the location services are active? - windows-phone-7

Question

is it possible to check whether the location services are active?
I mean Settings > Location > Location services
There is probably no direct API for calling, but could it work with the GeoCoordinateWatcher?

Answer 1

GeoCoordinateWatcher g = new GeoCoordinateWatcher();
g.Start();
if (g.Permission.Equals(GeoPositionPermission.Granted))
{
//Your location services is enabled. Go ahead.
//Your codes goes here.
}
else if (g.Permission.Equals(GeoPositionPermission.Denied) || g.Permission.Equals(GeoPositionPermission.Unknown))
{
MessageBox.Show("Location services are disabled. To enable them, Goto Settings - Location - Enable Location Services.", "Location services", MessageBoxButton.OK);
}

Answer 2

You can use the following code to determine the status of the Location service:
var watcher = new GeoCoordinateWatcher();
if (GeoPositionStatus.Disabled == watcher.Status)
{
// Watcher is disabled.
}
More realistically, you'll want to pay more attention to change to the status (just because the service isn't disabled doesn't mean you've got location data), so you shoudl take a look at the MSDN Documentation for working with the Location service.
There's also a good post on filtering and emulating location data using the Reactive extensions, which is perfect for that pre-device testing, though to save you time on that front the Widnows Phone Team have released the Windows Phone GPS Emulator.

Answer 3

Even with the started GeoCoordinateWatcher you will get NoData if the sensor is disabled. What you should try using instead is TryStart:
GeoCoordinateWatcher g = new GeoCoordinateWatcher();
MessageBox.Show(g.TryStart(false,TimeSpan.FromSeconds(30)).ToString());
If it returns False, it means that the sensor is disabled. If it returns True, it is enabled. Set an appropriate timeout period (in the snippet above I am using 30 seconds) and delegate this process to a secondary thread, so it won't hang the UI.

Answer 4

You can add a StatusChanged event to your GeoCoordinateWatcher and test for GeoPositionPermission.Denied in the permissions when it fires.
watcher = new GeoCoordinateWatcher();
watcher.StatusChanged += new EventHandler<GeoPositionStatusChangedEventArgs>(watcher_StatusChanged);
watcher.Start();
void watcher_StatusChanged(object sender, GeoPositionStatusChangedEventArgs e)
{
if (watcher.Permission == GeoPositionPermission.Denied)
{
// Location services were disabled
}
}
Hope that helps.

Answer 5

Made this one based on TeJ's answer.
public override void OnNavigatedTo()
{
using (var watcher = new GeoCoordinateWatcher())
{
try
{
watcher.Start();
}
finally
{
IsAllowedInSystem = watcher.Permission.Equals(GeoPositionPermission.Granted);
watcher.Stop();
}
}
}
And my apps' ToggleSwitch.IsEnabled is binded to IsAllowedInSystem.
When i'm switching to Location Service, disable it and return back to app, my ToggleSwitch is disabled (also a string "Please, enable Location Service in System settings" in visible). When i'm switching to Location Service, enable it and return back to my app, my ToggleSwitch is enabled and user can set it up.