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Enable consumable add-on purchases

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This article demonstrates how to use methods of the StoreContext class in the Windows.Services.Store namespace to manage the user's fulfillment of consumable add-ons in your UWP apps. Use consumable add-ons for items that can be purchased, used, and purchased again. This is especially useful for things like in-game currency (gold, coins, etc.) that can be purchased and then used to purchase specific power-ups.

Note

The Windows.Services.Store namespace was introduced in Windows 10, version 1607, and it can only be used in projects that target Windows 10 Anniversary Edition (10.0; Build 14393) or a later release in Visual Studio. If your app targets an earlier version of Windows 10, you must use the Windows.ApplicationModel.Store namespace instead of the Windows.Services.Store namespace. For more information, see this article.

Overview of consumable add-ons

Apps can offer two types of consumable add-ons that differ in the way that fulfillments are managed:

  • Developer-managed consumable. For this type of consumable, you are responsible for keeping track of the user's balance of items that the add-on represents, and for reporting the purchase of the add-on as fulfilled to the Store after the user has consumed all of the items. The user cannot purchase the add-on again until your app has reported the previous add-on purchase as fulfilled.

    For example, if your add-on represents 100 coins in a game and the user consumes 10 coins, your app or service must maintain the new remaining balance of 90 coins for the user. After the user has consumed all 100 coins, your app must report the add-on as fulfilled, and then the user can purchase the 100 coin add-on again.

  • Store-managed consumable. For this type of consumable, the Store keeps track of the user's balance of items that the add-on represents. When the user consumes any items, you are responsible for reporting those items as fulfilled to the Store, and the Store updates the user's balance. The user can purchase the add-on as many times as they want (they do not need to consume the items first). Your app can query the Store for the current balance for the user at any time.

    For example, if your add-on represents an initial quantity of 100 coins in a game and the user consumes 50 coins, your app reports to the Store that 50 units of the add-on were fulfilled, and the Store updates the remaining balance. If the user then repurchases your add-on to acquire 100 more coins, they will now have 150 coins total.

    Note

    Store-managed consumables were introduced in Windows 10, version 1607.

To offer a consumable add-on to a user, follow this general process:

  1. Enable users to purchase the add-on from your app.
  2. When the user consumes the add-on (for example, they spend coins in a game), report the add-on as fulfilled.

At any time, you can also get the remaining balance for a Store-managed consumable.

Prerequisites

These examples have the following prerequisites:

  • A Visual Studio project for a Universal Windows Platform (UWP) app that targets Windows 10 Anniversary Edition (10.0; Build 14393) or a later release.
  • You have created an app submission in Partner Center and this app is published in the Store. You can optionally configure the app so it is not discoverable in the Store while you test it. For more information, see our testing guidance.
  • You have created a consumable add-on for the app in Partner Center.

The code in these examples assume:

  • The code runs in the context of a Page that contains a ProgressRing named workingProgressRing and a TextBlock named textBlock. These objects are used to indicate that an asynchronous operation is occurring and to display output messages, respectively.
  • The code file has a using statement for the Windows.Services.Store namespace.
  • The app is a single-user app that runs only in the context of the user that launched the app. For more information, see In-app purchases and trials.

For a complete sample application, see the Store sample.

Note

If you have a desktop application that uses the Desktop Bridge, you may need to add additional code not shown in these examples to configure the StoreContext object. For more information, see Using the StoreContext class in a desktop application that uses the Desktop Bridge.

Report a consumable add-on as fulfilled

After the user purchases the add-on from your app and they consume your add-on, your app must report the add-on as fulfilled by calling the ReportConsumableFulfillmentAsync method of the StoreContext class. You must pass the following information to this method:

  • The Store ID of the add-on that you want to report as fulfilled.
  • The units of the add-on you want to report as fulfilled.
    • For a developer-managed consumable, specify 1 for the quantity parameter. This alerts the Store that the consumable has been fulfilled, and the customer can then purchase the consumable again. The user cannot purchase the consumable again until your app has notified the Store that it was fulfilled.
    • For a Store-managed consumable, specify the actual number of units that have been consumed. The Store will update the remaining balance for the consumable.
  • The tracking ID for the fulfillment. This is a developer-supplied GUID that identifies the specific transaction that the fulfillment operation is associated with for tracking purposes. For more information, see the remarks in ReportConsumableFulfillmentAsync.

This example demonstrates how to report a Store-managed consumable as fulfilled.

private StoreContext context = null;

public async void ConsumeAddOn(string addOnStoreId)
{
    if (context == null)
    {
        context = StoreContext.GetDefault();
        // If your app is a desktop app that uses the Desktop Bridge, you
        // may need additional code to configure the StoreContext object.
        // For more info, see https://aka.ms/storecontext-for-desktop.
    }

    // This is an example for a Store-managed consumable, where you specify the actual number
    // of units that you want to report as consumed so the Store can update the remaining
    // balance. For a developer-managed consumable where you maintain the balance, specify 1
    // to just report the add-on as fulfilled to the Store.
    uint quantity = 10;
    Guid trackingId = Guid.NewGuid();

    workingProgressRing.IsActive = true;
    StoreConsumableResult result = await context.ReportConsumableFulfillmentAsync(
        addOnStoreId, quantity, trackingId);
    workingProgressRing.IsActive = false;

    // Capture the error message for the operation, if any.
    string extendedError = string.Empty;
    if (result.ExtendedError != null)
    {
        extendedError = result.ExtendedError.Message;
    }

    switch (result.Status)
    {
        case StoreConsumableStatus.Succeeded:
            textBlock.Text = "The fulfillment was successful. " + 
                $"Remaining balance: {result.BalanceRemaining}";
            break;

        case StoreConsumableStatus.InsufficentQuantity:
            textBlock.Text = "The fulfillment was unsuccessful because the remaining " +
                $"balance is insufficient. Remaining balance: {result.BalanceRemaining}";
            break;

        case StoreConsumableStatus.NetworkError:
            textBlock.Text = "The fulfillment was unsuccessful due to a network error. " +
                "ExtendedError: " + extendedError;
            break;

        case StoreConsumableStatus.ServerError:
            textBlock.Text = "The fulfillment was unsuccessful due to a server error. " +
                "ExtendedError: " + extendedError;
            break;

        default:
            textBlock.Text = "The fulfillment was unsuccessful due to an unknown error. " +
                "ExtendedError: " + extendedError;
            break;
    }
}

Get the remaining balance for a Store-managed consumable

This example demonstrates how to use the GetConsumableBalanceRemainingAsync method of the StoreContext class to get the remaining balance for a Store-managed consumable add-on.

private StoreContext context = null;

public async void GetRemainingBalance(string addOnStoreId)
{
    if (context == null)
    {
        context = StoreContext.GetDefault();
        // If your app is a desktop app that uses the Desktop Bridge, you
        // may need additional code to configure the StoreContext object.
        // For more info, see https://aka.ms/storecontext-for-desktop.
    }

    workingProgressRing.IsActive = true;
    StoreConsumableResult result = await context.GetConsumableBalanceRemainingAsync(addOnStoreId);
    workingProgressRing.IsActive = false;

    // Capture the error message for the operation, if any.
    string extendedError = string.Empty;
    if (result.ExtendedError != null)
    {
        extendedError = result.ExtendedError.Message;
    }

    switch (result.Status)
    {
        case StoreConsumableStatus.Succeeded:
            textBlock.Text = "Remaining balance: " + result.BalanceRemaining;
            break;

        case StoreConsumableStatus.NetworkError:
            textBlock.Text = "Could not retrieve balance due to a network error. " +
                "ExtendedError: " + extendedError;
            break;

        case StoreConsumableStatus.ServerError:
            textBlock.Text = "Could not retrieve balance due to a server error. " +
                "ExtendedError: " + extendedError;
            break;

        default:
            textBlock.Text = "Could not retrieve balance due to an unknown error. " +
                "ExtendedError: " + extendedError;
            break;
    }
}