Access HomeGroup Location in Windows Store Application

In this article we are going to learn how to access the HomeGroup location in a Windows Store Application using C#.

Introduction

HomeGroup is one of the known locations that can be suggested to the file picker as a starting location. The file picker will open at the last opened location and not always the suggested location. You can also picki a video from the homegroup, and stream it to a video tag in a Windows Store Application.

HomeGroup will only be available if the PC belongs to a homegroup. You can access the files and folders from the HomeGroup location.

Now, let's begin to create an Windows Store Application using C#.

Step 1

Select a Blank template of Windows Store Application using XAML.

Now to add some capabilities in the application to easily access the network location.



Add a Declaration of a FileOpenPicker Contract and select any file supported as the following image shows:



Step 2

In this step I put some UI control in the MainPage.xaml file.

<Page

    x:Class="HomeGroup_Location.MainPage"

    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"

    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"

    xmlns:local="using:HomeGroup_Location"

    xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"

    xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"

    mc:Ignorable="d">

 

    <Grid Background="{StaticResource ApplicationPageBackgroundThemeBrush}">

        <StackPanel Orientation="Vertical" Margin="0,10,0,0" Grid.Row="1">

            <Button x:Name="openPicker" Content="Open picker" Margin="0,0,10,0" Click="OpenPickerButton_Click"/>

 

            <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">

                <Button x:Name="videoPicker" Content="Pick video" Margin="0,0,10,0" Click="PickVideo_Click"/>

                <Grid x:Name="Output" >

                    <MediaElement x:Name="videoPlayer" AutomationProperties.Name="Video Placeholder" HorizontalAlignment="Left" VerticalAlignment="Top"/>

                </Grid>

            </StackPanel>

            <TextBlock x:Name="Status" FontSize="15"></TextBlock>

        </StackPanel>

    </Grid>

</Page>

Step 3

Pick a file from the HomeGroup Location.

Windows.Storage.Pickers.FileOpenPicker picker = new Windows.Storage.Pickers.FileOpenPicker();

picker.ViewMode = Windows.Storage.Pickers.PickerViewMode.Thumbnail;

picker.SuggestedStartLocation = Windows.Storage.Pickers.PickerLocationId.HomeGroup;

picker.FileTypeFilter.Add("*");

Windows.Storage.StorageFile file = await picker.PickSingleFileAsync();

In the preceding code I set the Location of the Picker to the HomeGroup location. When the FileOpenPicker opens it displays the default location as HomeGroup.

Step 4

Code for picking a media file from the HomeGroup Network.

async private void PickVideo_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)

{          

   Windows.Storage.Pickers.FileOpenPicker picker = new Windows.Storage.Pickers.FileOpenPicker();

   picker.ViewMode = Windows.Storage.Pickers.PickerViewMode.Thumbnail;

   picker.SuggestedStartLocation = Windows.Storage.Pickers.PickerLocationId.HomeGroup;

   picker.FileTypeFilter.Add(".mp4");

   picker.FileTypeFilter.Add(".wmv");

   Windows.Storage.StorageFile file = await picker.PickSingleFileAsync();

 

   if (file != null)

   {

      var stream = await file.OpenAsync(Windows.Storage.FileAccessMode.Read);

      videoPlayer.SetSource(stream, file.ContentType);

      videoPlayer.Stop();

      videoPlayer.Play();

   }               

}

Step 5

Now your application is ready to access the files from the HomeGroup Network location. Press F5 and run it.