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.

Write the following code in default.html:

<!DOCTYPE html>

<html>

<head>

</head>

</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>

</head>

<body>

<b>Query: </b>

Search HomeGroup

</button>

<br />

</div>

<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:

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.