Search

Jun 11, 2019
4 minutes to read

The Map Control library includes several classes that return search result from geo-search services:

When the search is enabled, you can type a search criterion in the built-in Search Panel and view the results on the map and in the search panel's result list:

MapControl_Searching

Alternatively, Search Providers' API allows you to implement a custom UI to send a search request and display search results.

IMPORTANT

Due to Bing canceling the SOAP service on July 30, 2017, the Map Control's Bing Search provider does not work correctly in version 16.1 and earlier.

Enabling Search

Do the following to enable search in the Map control:

Create an information layer and add it to the map.

The information layer provides vector elements that represent GIS data obtained from the Search service in the Map control. Refer to the Layers guide to learn more about layers.
Create the BingSearchDataProvider or OsmSearchDataProvider instance and assign it to the InformationLayer.DataProvider property.
Specify the Bing Maps key for the Bing Data Provider using the BingMapDataProviderBase.BingKey property.

NOTE
Go to The Bing Maps Portal website to create a developer account.

Refer to How to: Get a Bing Maps Key to learn more about how to register a Bing Maps account and create a key for it.

The code snippet below shows how to do this.

XAML

<!-- -->
<dxm:MapControl>
    <!-- Image Tile Provider customization here.-->
    <dxm:InformationLayer>
        <dxm:InformationLayer.DataProvider>
            <dxm:BingSearchDataProvider BingKey="YOUR_BING_MAPS_KEY"/>
        </dxm:InformationLayer.DataProvider>
    </dxm:InformationLayer>
</dxm:MapControl>
<!-- -->

You can also specify the request result count obtained from the service using the BingSearchDataProvider.SearchOptions property.

XAML

<!-- -->
<dxm:BingSearchDataProvider BingKey="YOUR_BING_MAPS_KEY">
    <dxm:BingSearchDataProvider.SearchOptions>
        <dxm:BingSearchOptions ResultsCount="5"/>
    </dxm:BingSearchDataProvider.SearchOptions>
</dxm:BingSearchDataProvider>
<!-- -->

When the Map Control contains an Information Layer that provides Search data, the Map control automatically invokes its built-in search panel (the MapControl.ShowSearchPanel is set to true by default). Refer to the Search Panel topic to learn more about the built-in Search panel.

Using a Custom UI

The Map control provides a search functionality with additional parameters like a country region or postal code. Using this approach, you can build a custom search panel to get additional search results from the Search services.

NOTE

Set the MapControl.ShowSearchPanel property to false to disable the default Search panel when using this approach.

To start searching for a location, call the BingSearchDataProvider.Search or OsmSearchDataProvider.Search method.

For example, an Application's UI contains a text edit named "teKeywords" and a button named "btnSearch". To start a search, click the Search button which calls the following Search method overload:

NOTE

A complete sample project is available at https://github.com/DevExpress-Examples/how-to-programmatically-search-using-the-bing-map-search-service-e4238.

MainWindow.xaml.vb
MainWindow.xaml.cs

Private Sub Search_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As RoutedEventArgs)
    searchDataProvider.Search(teKeywords.Text)
End Sub

private void Search_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) {
    searchDataProvider.Search(teKeywords.Text);
}

Search Results

To get the search results, handle the BingSearchDataProvider.SearchCompleted or OsmSearchDataProvider.SearchCompleted event.

The SearchCompleted event handler arguments' SearchCompletedEventArgs.RequestResult provides the SearchRequestResult descendant class instance to store Search results.

The results contain a display name, address, and the geographic coordinates (latitude and longitude) associated with the search location.

NOTE

A complete sample project is available at https://github.com/DevExpress-Examples/how-to-programmatically-search-using-the-bing-map-search-service-e4238.

<dxm:BingSearchDataProvider x:Name="searchDataProvider"
                            BingKey="{Binding Source={StaticResource bingMapsKey}}"
                            SearchCompleted="OnSearchCompleted"
                            LayerItemsGenerating="OnLayerItemsGenerating"/>

Private Sub OnSearchCompleted(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As BingSearchCompletedEventArgs)
    If e.Cancelled Then
        Return
    End If
    If e.RequestResult.ResultCode <> RequestResultCode.Success Then
        teResult.Text = "The Bing Search service does not work for this location."
        Return
    End If

    Dim resultList As New StringBuilder("")
    Dim resCounter As Integer = 1
    For Each resultInfo As LocationInformation In e.RequestResult.SearchResults
        resultList.Append(String.Format("Result {0}:  " & ControlChars.CrLf, resCounter))
        resultList.Append(String.Format("Name: {0}" & ControlChars.CrLf, resultInfo.DisplayName))
        resultList.Append(String.Format("Address: {0}" & ControlChars.CrLf, resultInfo.Address.FormattedAddress))
        resultList.Append(String.Format("Geographic coordinates:  {0}" & ControlChars.CrLf, resultInfo.Location))
        resultList.Append(String.Format("______________________________" & ControlChars.CrLf))
        resCounter += 1
    Next resultInfo
    teResult.Text = resultList.ToString()
End Sub

private void OnSearchCompleted(object sender, BingSearchCompletedEventArgs e) {
    if(e.Cancelled) return;
    if(e.RequestResult.ResultCode != RequestResultCode.Success) {
        teResult.Text = "The Bing Search service does not work for this location.";
        return;
    }

    StringBuilder resultList = new StringBuilder("");
    int resCounter = 1;
    foreach(LocationInformation resultInfo in e.RequestResult.SearchResults) {
        resultList.Append(String.Format("Result {0}:  \r\n", resCounter));
        resultList.Append(String.Format("Name: {0}\r\n", resultInfo.DisplayName));
        resultList.Append(String.Format("Address: {0}\r\n", resultInfo.Address.FormattedAddress));
        resultList.Append(String.Format("Geographic coordinates:  {0}\r\n", resultInfo.Location));
        resultList.Append(String.Format("______________________________\r\n"));
        resCounter++;
    }
    teResult.Text = resultList.ToString();
}

The search results for the "New York" keywords are shown in the image below.

CustomSearchResult

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IMPORTANT

Enabling Search

NOTE

Using a Custom UI

NOTE

NOTE

Search Results

NOTE