windows phone 8 replace default emoticons

Question

How can one replace the default emoticons in windows phone 8 by custom glypths? Do i have to provide my own font? I know that whatsapp managed to replace the default set with their custom set.

If there is no "easy" way to replace them, is there a way to increase the glypth size without changing the "normal" text size!

Answer 1

You cannot do anything with built-in SIP client (on screen keyboard). What you can do is create your own custom keyboard, but you probably don't want to do that.

But if you take a look at WhatsApp, you will notice that they actually have a custom keyboard which is activated when you tap on the emoji icon. This is not a built in keyboard and is completely custom control. And you can create one yourself in that case.

Also note that when you add an emoticon, they are not the ones shown in that special keyboard and they default to the built in ones.

If you want a custom glyphs, you can always provide a custom font for that case.

Answer 2

You cannot replace the built in emoticons with your own custom icons. Further, you won't be able to use a custom font and get the high fidelity icons you're apparently looking for as well (full color). With a bit of effort and simple string parsing, you can use a RichTextBox in read only mode to produce a very similar UI:

<Grid x:Name="ContentPanel" Grid.Row="1" Margin="12,0,12,0">
    <Grid.Resources>
        <Color x:Key="CommentColor">#FFEC4521</Color>
        <SolidColorBrush x:Key="CommentColorBrush" Color="{StaticResource CommentColor}"></SolidColorBrush>
    </Grid.Resources>
    <StackPanel>
        <Grid>
            <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
                <ColumnDefinition Width="*"/>
                <ColumnDefinition Width="Auto" />
                <ColumnDefinition Width="Auto" />
            </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
            <RichTextBox IsReadOnly="True" Background="{StaticResource CommentColorBrush}" Padding="6">
                <Paragraph>
                    <Run Text="You are so funny!"/>
                    <InlineUIContainer>
                        <Image Source="/Assets/happy.png" Height="16"></Image>
                    </InlineUIContainer>
                </Paragraph>
            </RichTextBox>
            <TextBlock Grid.Column="2" VerticalAlignment="Center">Michael</TextBlock>
        </Grid>
    </StackPanel>
</Grid>

It's unlikely that the application you referred to customized the keyboard, rather they are just translating the text into a different representation as shown above and not leaving the text as a plain string.