Nick Gravelyn

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Using GamerServicesDispatcher to fix up exception handling

February 21st, 2010 | 3 comments

Since my last update to my exception handling code that showed how to handle using GamerServices in the exception game after the first game uses it, I’ve found out a much, much better way to handle this scenario. The key here: don’t use the GamerServicesComponent.

The GamerServicesComponent is a very minimal wrapper on top of the GamerServicesDispatcher. If we avoid using the GamerServicesComponent in both games, we’ll be fine. I’m personally moving away from using the component entirely, but you can keep using it in the real game and just use the dispatcher directly in the second.

Basically what you’ll do in your exception game is simply initialize the dispatcher directly if it needs to by calling Initialize and setting the window handle.

protected override void Initialize()
{
	if (!GamerServicesDispatcher.IsInitialized)
	{
		GamerServicesDispatcher.Initialize(Services);
	}
	GamerServicesDispatcher.WindowHandle = Window.Handle;
	base.Initialize();
}

And then just remember to Update the dispatcher each frame:

protected override void Update(GameTime gameTime)
{
	GamerServicesDispatcher.Update();
	// update other stuff
	base.Update(gameTime);
}

And there you go. No more need to make your GamerServicesComponent a static property or rely on that bug in the Game class. Much better.

Using GamerServicesDispatcher to fix up exception handling

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