Searching Home Group Location in Windows Store Apps

Introduction

In this article I describe how to create a Windows Store App for searching the Home Group Location using JavaScript. Home Group is a known location and can be searched like any other folder hierarchy. Type a query to search what is shared with the home group. The users and PCs in the home group won't be returned for a search query. Example Queries: "song", "report" or "kind: picture" or "size:>1MB".

I assume you can create a simple Windows Store App using JavaScript. For more help visit Simple Windows Store Apps using JavaScript.

To start the creation of the app, add two JavaScript pages by right-clicking on the js folder in the Solution Explorer and select Add > new item > JavaScript Page and then give an appropriate name. In the same way, add one HTML page to your project.

Homegroup-windows-store-app.jpg

Write the following code in default.html:

<!DOCTYPE html>

<html>

<head>

    <meta charset="utf-8" />

    <title>App</title>

    <link rel="stylesheet" href="//Microsoft.WinJS.1.0/css/ui-light.css" />

    <script src="//Microsoft.WinJS.1.0/js/base.js"></script>

    <script src="//Microsoft.WinJS.1.0/js/ui.js"></script>

    <link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/default.css" />

    <script src="/js/script1.js"></script>

    <script src="/js/default.js"></script>

</head>

<body role="application" style="background-color: lightslategray">

    <center><div id="rootGrid">

        <div id="content">

            <h1 id="featureLabel"></h1>

            <div id="contentHost"></div>

        </div>       

    </div></center>

</body>

</html>

Write the following code in default.js:
 

(function () {

    "use strict";

    var appTitle = "";

    var pages = [

        { url: "page.html", title: "Advanced search" }

    ];

    function activated(eventObject) {

        if (eventObject.detail.kind === Windows.ApplicationModel.Activation.ActivationKind.launch) {

            eventObject.setPromise(WinJS.UI.processAll().then(function () {

                var url = WinJS.Application.sessionState.lastUrl || pages[0].url;

                return WinJS.Navigation.navigate(url);

            }));

        }

    }

    WinJS.Navigation.addEventListener("navigated", function (eventObject) {

        var url = eventObject.detail.location;

        var host = document.getElementById("contentHost");

        host.winControl && host.winControl.unload && host.winControl.unload();

        WinJS.Utilities.empty(host);

        eventObject.detail.setPromise(WinJS.UI.Pages.render(url, host, eventObject.detail.state).then(function () {

            WinJS.Application.sessionState.lastUrl = url;

        }));

    });

    function ensureUnsnapped() {

        var currentState = Windows.UI.ViewManagement.ApplicationView.value;

        var unsnapped = ((currentState !== Windows.UI.ViewManagement.ApplicationViewState.snapped) || Windows.UI.ViewManagement.ApplicationView.tryUnsnap());

        if (!unsnapped) {

            WinJS.log && WinJS.log("Cannot unsnap the app application.", "app", "status");

        }

        return unsnapped;

    }

    WinJS.Namespace.define("App", {

        appTitle: appTitle,

        pages: pages,

        ensureUnsnapped: ensureUnsnapped

    });

    WinJS.Application.addEventListener("activated", activated, false);

    WinJS.Application.start();

})();


Write the following code in page.html:
 

<!DOCTYPE html>

<html>

<head>

    <title></title>

    <script src="/js/script.js"></script>

</head>

<body>

    <div data-win-control="App.pageInput">

        <b>Query: </b>

        <input type="text" id="queryString" />

        <button class="action" id="searchHomegroup">

            Search HomeGroup

        </button>

        <br />

        <br />

    </div>

    <div data-win-control="App.pageOutput">

        <label id="searchProgress" class="progressRingText">

            <progress class="win-ring withText"></progress>Searching

        </label>

    </div>

</body>

</html> 


Write the following code in script.js:
 

(function () {

    "use strict";

    var page = WinJS.UI.Pages.define("page.html", {

        ready: function (element, options) {

            document.getElementById("searchHomegroup").addEventListener("click", searchHomegroup, false);

            document.getElementById("searchProgress").style.visibility = "hidden";

        }

    });

    function searchHomegroup() {

        WinJS.log && WinJS.log("", "app", "status");

        document.getElementById("searchProgress").style.visibility = "visible";

        var query = document.getElementById("queryString").value;

        var options = new Windows.Storage.Search.QueryOptions(Windows.Storage.Search.CommonFileQuery.orderBySearchRank, ["*"]);

        options.userSearchFilter = query;

        var outputString = "";

        try {

            var queryResult = Windows.Storage.KnownFolders.homeGroup.createFileQueryWithOptions(options);

            queryResult.getFilesAsync().done(function (files) {

                if (files.size === 0) {

                    WinJS.log && WinJS.log("No files found for \"" + query + "\"", "app", "status");

                    document.getElementById("searchProgress").style.visibility = "hidden";

                }

                else {

                    outputString = (files.size === 1) ? (files.size + " file found\n") : (files.size + " files found\n");

                    files.forEach(function (file) {

                        outputString = outputString.concat(file.name, "\n");

                    });

                    WinJS.log && WinJS.log(outputString, "app", "status");

                    document.getElementById("searchProgress").style.visibility = "hidden";

                }

            });

        }

        catch (e) {

            document.getElementById("searchProgress").style.visibility = "hidden";

            WinJS.log && WinJS.log(e.message, "app", "error");

        }

    }

})();


Write the following code in script1.js:
 

(function () {

    var pageOutput = WinJS.Class.define(

        function (element, options) {

            element.winControl = this;

            this.element = element;

            new WinJS.Utilities.QueryCollection(element)

                        .setAttribute("role", "region")

                        .setAttribute("aria-labelledby", "outputLabel")

                        .setAttribute("aria-live", "assertive");

            element.id = "output";

 

            this._addOutputLabel(element);

            this._addStatusOutput(element);

        }, {

            _addOutputLabel: function (element) {

                var label = document.createElement("h2");

                label.id = "outputLabel";

                label.textContent = "Output";

                element.parentNode.insertBefore(label, element);

            },

            _addStatusOutput: function (element) {

                var statusDiv = document.createElement("div");

                statusDiv.id = "statusMessage";

                element.insertBefore(statusDiv, element.childNodes[0]);

            }

        }

    );

    var currentpageUrl = null;

 

    WinJS.Navigation.addEventListener("navigating", function (evt) {

        currentpageUrl = evt.detail.location;

    });

    WinJS.log = function (message, tag, type) {

        var statusDiv = document.getElementById("statusMessage");

    };

    function activated(e) {

        WinJS.Utilities.query("#featureLabel")[0].textContent = App.appTitle;

    }

 

    WinJS.Application.addEventListener("activated", activated, false);

    WinJS.Namespace.define("App", {

        pageOutput: pageOutput

    });

})();

Output:

Homegroup-windows-store-apps.jpg

Summary
In this app I described how to search the Home Group Location in a Windows Store App using JavaScript. I hope this article has helped you to understand this topic. Please share if you know more about this. Your feedback and constructive contributions are welcome.
 


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