ShellTile.Update Template type mismatch Exception
Windows Phone 8 app developers can create secondary tiles programmatically within their Windows Phone app codes. It is also possible to update these Windows Phone 8 app tiles too. Unfortunately developers can only update tiles with the same type of tile which also has an exception as I experienced.
Let's talk on a sample case with sample code just like a tutorial. To update a tile, developers can use a similar C# code as shown below in their Windows Phone apps.
// Get tile data
ShellTile tile = ShellTile.ActiveTiles.FirstOrDefault(o => o.NavigationUri.ToString().Contains("/MainPage.xaml"));
// Create new tile and set properties
List<Uri> imageList = new List<Uri>();
Uri uri = new Uri(imageURL, UriKind.Relative);
imageList.Add(uri);
FlipTileData tiledata = new FlipTileData();
tiledata.Title = "App title";
tiledata.BackTitle = "App Tile Back title";
tiledata.BackContent = "App tile back content";
tiledata.Count = null;
tiledata.BackBackgroundImage = imageList[0];
tiledata.BackgroundImage = imageList[0];
// Update ShellTile with new tile data
tile.Update(tiledata);
But it is also possible to get "Template type mismatch" exception at ShellTile.Update() method. This error occurs when you update a tile with an other type of tile.
{System.ArgumentException: Template type mismatch. You can only update the tile using the same template it was created with.
at Microsoft.Phone.Shell.ShellTile.Update(ShellTileData data)
at wp8app.MainPage.setTile(String imageURL, Boolean all)
at wp8app.MainPage.Image_Tap(Object sender, GestureEventArgs e)
at MS.Internal.CoreInvokeHandler.InvokeEventHandler(Int32 typeIndex, Delegate handlerDelegate, Object sender, Object args)
at MS.Internal.JoltHelper.FireEvent(IntPtr unmanagedObj, IntPtr unmanagedObjArgs, Int32 argsTypeIndex, Int32 actualArgsTypeIndex, String eventName)}
For example, assume that you create CycleTile for Windows Phone 8 app at first. If you try to update CycleTile with a FlipTile, then your Windows Phone 8 app code will throw an exception at ShellTile.Update() method. The exception message is describing the cause briefly: "You can only update the tile using the same template it was created with"
But it is also interesting that if you have a FlipTileData, you can update it with a CycleTileData object. So I assume that there is a hierarchy between tile templates which is not very clear.
Although I tried to find a method to test and get the existing tile template type, but I could not find a build-in method or function. What I could only do to overcome this exception is to use TRY - CATCH method and within the CATCH block I deleted the existing tile and created a new tile instead of update task.
try
{
tile.Update(tiledata);
}
catch
{
tile.Delete();
ShellTile.Create(new Uri("/MainPage.xaml", UriKind.Relative), tiledata, false);
}
I hope this code sample helps you if you have also experienced a similar problem.