Sharing content target app sample

Code Sample
06/21/2023

Shows how an app receives content shared from another app. This sample uses classes from the Windows.ApplicationModel.DataTransfer and Windows.ApplicationModel.DataTransfer.Share namespaces.

Note: This sample is part of a large collection of UWP feature samples. You can download this sample as a standalone ZIP file from docs.microsoft.com, or you can download the entire collection as a single ZIP file, but be sure to unzip everything to access shared dependencies. For more info on working with the ZIP file, the samples collection, and GitHub, see Get the UWP samples from GitHub. For more samples, see the Samples portal on the Windows Dev Center.

Some of the classes you might want to review in more detail are the ShareOperation class, which you use to manage a share operation, and the DataPackageView class, which you use to get the content being shared. Because each share scenario usually involves two apps—the source app that provides the content and a target app that receives the content—we recommend you install and deploy the Sharing content source app sample when you install and run this one. That way, you can see how sharing works from end to end.

This sample covers how to receive shared content in a variety of formats, including:

Text
Web link
Application link
Images
Files
Delay-rendered files
HTML content
Custom data

Also, this sample shows how to display the source app's 30x30 logo and the source app's package family name.

We also recommend you take a look at the Sharing and exchanging data section of our documentation, which describes how sharing works and contains several how-to topics that cover how to share text, an image, files, and other formats. Our Guidelines and checklist for sharing content can also help you create a great user experience with the share feature.

For more info about the concepts and APIs demonstrated in this sample, see these topics:

ShareTarget sample for JavaScript (archived)

System requirements

Windows 10

Build the sample

If you download the samples ZIP, be sure to unzip the entire archive, not just the folder with the sample you want to build.
Start Microsoft Visual Studio and select File > Open > Project/Solution.
Starting in the folder where you unzipped the samples, go to the Samples subfolder, then the subfolder for this specific sample, then the subfolder for your preferred language (C++, C#, or JavaScript). Double-click the Visual Studio Solution (.sln) file.
Press Ctrl+Shift+B, or select Build > Build Solution.

Run the sample

The next steps depend on whether you just want to deploy the sample or you want to both deploy and run it.

Deploying the sample

Select Build > Deploy Solution.

Deploying and running the sample

To debug the sample and then run it, press F5 or select Debug > Start Debugging. To run the sample without debugging, press Ctrl+F5 or select Debug > Start Without Debugging.