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

Nov 13, 2018

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 MapSearchPanelOptions.Visible property value is true by default).

Form1.cs
Form1.vb

csharp

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;
        }      
    }
}

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