How to: Connect a Map Control to the Bing Search Service

• Nov 13, 2018
• 2 minutes to read

This example demonstrates how to allow users to search for a specific place on a map using the Search panel.

To enable searching in the map control, do the following.

• Create an InformationLayer and add it to the map.
• Create an instance of the BingSearchDataProvider and assign it to the InformationLayer.DataProvider property.
• Specify the Bing Maps key using the BingMapDataProvider.BingKey property.

The Search panel appears automatically (since the BingSearchDataProvider.ShowSearchPanel property value is true by default).

Note

Refer to How to: Get a Bing Maps Key if you run the application and see a window with the following error message: “The specified Bing Maps key is invalid. To create a developer account, refer to https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/maps/create-a-bing-maps-key“.

Form1.cs

using DevExpress.XtraMap;
using System.Windows.Forms;

namespace ConnectBingSearchProvider {
    public partial class Form1 : Form {
        const string bingKey = "YOUR BING KEY HERE";

        InformationLayer SearchLayer { 
            get {
                return (InformationLayer)mapControl1.Layers["SearchLayer"];
            }
        }

        public Form1() {
            InitializeComponent();

            BingSearchDataProvider searchProvider = new BingSearchDataProvider() { 
                BingKey = bingKey 
            };

            searchProvider.SearchOptions.ResultsCount = 5;

            SearchLayer.DataProvider = searchProvider;
        }      
    }
}

Form1.vb

Imports DevExpress.XtraMap
Imports System.Windows.Forms

Namespace ConnectBingSearchProvider
    Partial Public Class Form1
        Inherits Form

        Private Const bingKey As String = "YOUR BING KEY HERE"

        Private ReadOnly Property SearchLayer() As InformationLayer
            Get
                Return CType(mapControl1.Layers("SearchLayer"), InformationLayer)
            End Get
        End Property

        Public Sub New()
            InitializeComponent()

            Dim searchProvider As New BingSearchDataProvider() With {.BingKey = bingKey}

            searchProvider.SearchOptions.ResultsCount = 5

            SearchLayer.DataProvider = searchProvider
        End Sub
    End Class
End Namespace