[Project] WP8 File Explorer Project

[hjc4869]

Please visit https://wp8fileexplorer.codeplex.com/ for source code

I've posted the source code on Codeplex and the project will be continued by @rudironsoni and me.
New in 0.0.7 alpha:
Use LongListMultiSelector to select multi files.


---------20131027---------
Today I've made another alpha release (0.0.5).
New:
1.display the path on the top of the list
2.copy/cut and paste between internal storage / sd card
3.allow user to select the root path (will stay default after restart the app, currently I do not have time to save it)

What will be in the following updates:
1.a better UI (maybe I will redesign it when I have more time..)
2.a GUI registry editor
3.call samsung driver to move system files (edit small files in C:\Windows on device like HOSTS)
4.more...still thinking about that.

---------20131025---------
Yesterday I added some permissions to an app and succeeded to create,delete files on SD card and C:\data\user\public using both NativeAccess library by @GoodDayToDie and StorageFile in windows runtime.
these may be useful because at least we can manage files that we can see on PC very conveniently and we can open .docx files and etc. directly from SD card. I will post the file browser here several days later

another idea is the ServiceAgent. I know that this part is only for OEM but since we've already Interop Unlocked so I think it might be possible to develop a background Web Server (FTP,HTTP,etc.) so that every application can access them even they are downloaded from store.
and we can run that in the background after the device boot up and can keep running until the device shutdown or NotifyComplete() is called.
I take a look at the HTC app(clock) and find that it is using ServiceAgent to run in background to update the tile in a short period.

Also, some permissions are really interesting related to Package manager, using which we can install xap in some way..

the only problem is API documents.. I know it works but I don't know how to implement them.
maybe I can only make a common file manager..

Here comes my XAP...(English) currently it only supports browsing , opening and removing files in public internal folder (which you see in MTP) and SD card.
Double tap to open,you can also use multiselect (single tap)
it might be full of bug..

 

[GoodDayToDie]

You can actually do long-running processes without an official "agent" at all - just CreateProcess an executable in your app, and don't kill it; the OS won't even when your app exits - but the rest of your ideas are good and it's possible that a ServiceAgent has some useful features as well. Just checking: you had to use the official APIs for the SD card, right? You couldn't actually read the card directly.

 

[contable]

You can actually do long-running processes without an official "agent" at all - just CreateProcess an executable in your app, and don't kill it; the OS won't even when your app exits - but the rest of your ideas are good and it's possible that a ServiceAgent has some useful features as well. Just checking: you had to use the official APIs for the SD card, right? You couldn't actually read the card directly.

As I have allready added a full-working sd card filebrowser for pdf-files (copy, move, delete, open, create folder) to my PDF to Office app I have to say that actually it´s not possible to make visible filytypes like ".doc" or ".docx" because they are reserved for built-in apps.

I tried to register those file-extensions in the manifest-file without result....

Edit: Correct me if I´m wrong.

 

[GoodDayToDie]

It *may* be possible for homebrew to register those file types, but that's still not actually a proper filebrowser. If it were, you could read the file system directly... and you can't.

 

[hjc4869]

You can actually do long-running processes without an official "agent" at all - just CreateProcess an executable in your app, and don't kill it; the OS won't even when your app exits - but the rest of your ideas are good and it's possible that a ServiceAgent has some useful features as well. Just checking: you had to use the official APIs for the SD card, right? You couldn't actually read the card directly.

actually I even didn't add the SD card capability. I used your native access with some interesting caps and I will post it here.
it actually works..

 

[hjc4869]

Forgive my Chinese and Japanese but you can see that it is wma.

 

[contable]

Forgive my Chinese and Japanese but you can see that it is wma.

I see.

When can you post the source here ?

 

[hjc4869]

I see.

When can you post the source here ?

Actually source is not so important but here I will list the capabilities that i used. xap will be here in an hour.
after adding these capabilities, you can use NativeAccess library to operate files on C:\Data\User\Public and D:\
I only confirmed that i can delete any thing. Currently my GUI only support opening a file(with winrt storagefile api) and deleting file.
notice that many of these capabilities are useless, I didn't have time to check out what they are for. but I guess ID_CAP_PUBLIC_FOLDER_FULL and ID_CAP_STORAGE_MANAGEMENT make you see what located in C:\Data\User\Public and D:\

<Capability Name="ID_CAP_NETWORKING" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_MEDIALIB_AUDIO" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_MEDIALIB_PLAYBACK" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_SENSORS" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_WEBBROWSERCOMPONENT" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_ENTERPRISE_AUTHENTICATION"/>
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_ENTERPRISE_ENROLLMENT"/>
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_ENTERPRISE_SERVICE"/>
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_BUILTIN_SYMBOLICLINK" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_USB" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_APPRESOLVER"/>
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_APPPREINSTALL_DIRECTORY"/>
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_EMPLOYEEAPPS_ADMIN"/>
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_STORAGE_MANAGEMENT" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_PUBLIC_FOLDER_FULL" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_PM_INSTALL" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_PM_BSS" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_PM_1ST_PARTY" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_OEMPUBLICDIRECTORY" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_MICROPHONE" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_PHONEDIALER" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_MULTIMEDIA_ENCODER_HARDWARE" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_MEDIALIB" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_MEDIALIB_VIDEO" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_OEM_ADC"/>
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_INTEROPSERVICES"/>
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_MEDIALIB_PHOTO_FULL" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_DEVICE_MANAGEMENT" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_DEVICE_MANAGEMENT_ADMIN" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_DEVICE_MANAGEMENT_BOOTSTRAP" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_DEVICE_MANAGEMENT_SECURITY_POLICIES" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_PUSH_NOTIFICATION"/>
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_PROXIMITY"/>
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_CELL_WNF"/>
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_CELL_API_OEM_PASSTHROUGH"/>
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_CELL_API_COMMON"/>
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_CELL_API_UICC_LOWLEVEL"/>
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_CELL_API_LOCATION"/>
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_DEBUG" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_DEBUG_FOLDERS" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_BUILTIN_CREATEPERMANENT" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_BUILTIN_DEFAULT" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_BUILTIN_PROFILE" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_BUILTIN_BASEPRIORITY" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_BUILTIN_CREATEGLOBAL" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_BUILTIN_SHUTDOWN" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_BACKGROUND_WORKER" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_WPTOOLS_INSTALL_FOLDER" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_BUILTIN_TCB" />

 

[contable]

Actually source is not so important but here I will list the capabilities that i used. xap will be here in an hour.
after adding these capabilities, you can use NativeAccess library to operate files on C:\Data\User\Public and D:\
I only confirmed that i can delete any thing. Currently my GUI only support opening a file(with winrt storagefile api) and deleting file.
notice that many of these capabilities are useless, I didn't have time to check out what they are for. but I guess ID_CAP_PUBLIC_FOLDER_FULL and ID_CAP_STORAGE_MANAGEMENT make you see what located in C:\Data\User\Public and D:\

<Capability Name="ID_CAP_NETWORKING" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_MEDIALIB_AUDIO" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_MEDIALIB_PLAYBACK" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_SENSORS" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_WEBBROWSERCOMPONENT" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_ENTERPRISE_AUTHENTICATION"/>
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_ENTERPRISE_ENROLLMENT"/>
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_ENTERPRISE_SERVICE"/>
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_BUILTIN_SYMBOLICLINK" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_USB" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_APPRESOLVER"/>
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_APPPREINSTALL_DIRECTORY"/>
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_EMPLOYEEAPPS_ADMIN"/>
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_STORAGE_MANAGEMENT" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_PUBLIC_FOLDER_FULL" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_PM_INSTALL" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_PM_BSS" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_PM_1ST_PARTY" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_OEMPUBLICDIRECTORY" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_MICROPHONE" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_PHONEDIALER" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_MULTIMEDIA_ENCODER_HARDWARE" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_MEDIALIB" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_MEDIALIB_VIDEO" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_OEM_ADC"/>
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_INTEROPSERVICES"/>
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_MEDIALIB_PHOTO_FULL" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_DEVICE_MANAGEMENT" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_DEVICE_MANAGEMENT_ADMIN" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_DEVICE_MANAGEMENT_BOOTSTRAP" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_DEVICE_MANAGEMENT_SECURITY_POLICIES" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_PUSH_NOTIFICATION"/>
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_PROXIMITY"/>
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_CELL_WNF"/>
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_CELL_API_OEM_PASSTHROUGH"/>
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_CELL_API_COMMON"/>
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_CELL_API_UICC_LOWLEVEL"/>
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_CELL_API_LOCATION"/>
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_DEBUG" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_DEBUG_FOLDERS" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_BUILTIN_CREATEPERMANENT" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_BUILTIN_DEFAULT" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_BUILTIN_PROFILE" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_BUILTIN_BASEPRIORITY" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_BUILTIN_CREATEGLOBAL" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_BUILTIN_SHUTDOWN" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_BACKGROUND_WORKER" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_WPTOOLS_INSTALL_FOLDER" />
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_BUILTIN_TCB" />

I would say it must be ID_CAP_PUBLIC_FOLDER_FULL.

As I have all file-operations enabled (it´s a workaround) I will test it and reply.

Can you post the code for deleting a file on the sd card ?

Thanks for the info.:good:

 

[hjc4869]

I would say it must be ID_CAP_PUBLIC_FOLDER_FULL.

As I have all file-operations enabled (it´s a workaround) I will test it and reply.

Can you post the code for deleting a file on the sd card ?

Thanks for the info.:good:

Here it is part of my source code. NativeFileSystem is from NativeAccess.
"dir" can be D:\xxx .

var nativeFileSystem = new NativeFileSystem();
void DeleteDirectory(string dir)
{
if (!dir.EndsWith("\\")) dir += '\\';
var files = nativeFileSystem.GetFiles(dir + '*', true);

if (files == null || files.Length == 2)
{
NativeFileSystem.DeleteDirectory(dir.Remove(dir.Length - 1));
return;
}
foreach (var file in files)
{
if (file.Name == "." || file.Name == "..") ;//ignore
else if (file.Attributes.HasFlag(FileAttributes.Directory)) DeleteDirectory(dir + file.Name);
else
{
nativeFileSystem.DeleteFile(dir + file.Name);
}
}
NativeFileSystem.DeleteDirectory(dir.Remove(dir.Length - 1));
}

 

[GoodDayToDie]

See, I *swear* I was going to get around to enumerating the mounted drives at some point. Really, I promise I was! But there's always so much to do... this is fantastic work, hjc, thank you for sharing your research with us! Accessing the D: drive directly is much more straightforward that going through that silly official API. In any case, have a bunch of Thanks!

Either, or both, of those capabilities could grant access to the SD card; I really don't know. By the way, my webserver is perfectly capable of handling drive letters. You may need to add the relevant CAP, but it's interesting to see that you can get error 5 (ACCESS DENIED, and I really need to fix the error reporting for user-friendliness) on C:\ (or just \) and (without the required caps) on D:\, but E:\ gives error 3 (PATH NOT FOUND).

 

[contable]

See, I *swear* I was going to get around to enumerating the mounted drives at some point. Really, I promise I was! But there's always so much to do... this is fantastic work, hjc, thank you for sharing your research with us! Accessing the D: drive directly is much more straightforward that going through that silly official API. In any case, have a bunch of Thanks!

Either, or both, of those capabilities could grant access to the SD card; I really don't know. By the way, my webserver is perfectly capable of handling drive letters. You may need to add the relevant CAP, but it's interesting to see that you can get error 5 (ACCESS DENIED, and I really need to fix the error reporting for user-friendliness) on C:\ (or just \) and (without the required caps) on D:\, but E:\ gives error 3 (PATH NOT FOUND).

Indeed it´s great !

Please give me a hint how to add these capatilities.

If I add them to my manifestfile I get an error.

What am I missing ?

 

[hjc4869]

Indeed it´s great !

Please give me a hint how to add these capatilities.

If I add them to my manifestfile I get an error.

What am I missing ?

just patch the SDK!!
When you see an error, switch to "Output" in Visual studio.
it tells you that a .target file(actually xml) file "thinks" the manifest goes wrong.
then ,you can comment the line that reports the error message (request starting visual studio with administrator).

 

[contable]

just patch the SDK!!
When you see an error, switch to "Output" in Visual studio.
it tells you that a .target file(actually xml) file "thinks" the manifest goes wrong.
then ,you can comment the line that reports the error message (request starting visual studio with administrator).

Ok, running VS 2012 as admin now...

---------- Post added at 01:00 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:25 PM ----------

Ok,

patched VS 2012 succussfully, XAP is running again...

Thx again for your help !:good::good::good:

---------- Post added at 01:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:00 PM ----------

If I try to deploy your xap I get an error:

Correct the capatility values in "WMAppManifest.xml"

Any help ?

 

[GoodDayToDie]

Ah nice, I was just adding them to the XAP after building. I tried editing the XSD, but while that added the types to the auto-complete, it didn't actually let them pass validation. Very annoying. There's probably another file I'd need to tweak for that.

 

[contable]

Ok, I got it....

---------- Post added at 01:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:11 PM ----------

This is a great progress ! Really like it.:good:

Many thanks for your research...

---------- Post added at 01:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:24 PM ----------

As the internal folders are visible now we are able to copy and move files from there and to there... Great !!!

 

[hjc4869]

Ok, I got it....

---------- Post added at 01:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:11 PM ----------

This is a great progress ! Really like it.:good:

Many thanks for your research...

---------- Post added at 01:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:24 PM ----------

As the internal folders are visible now we are able to copy and move files from there and to there... Great !!!

hope more homebrew will come out..
btw , there seems to be the capability of installing xaps ,but I don't know how to call the package manager.
is pac-man service in wp8 similar with that in wp7?
possibly we can complete that without root access, just add the permission to the app

 

[GoodDayToDie]

I believe you're right. We should try to find the function prototypes for the pacman functions. The fact that the capabilities to use them are available to use should be put to good use.

 

[jessenic]

This is what I did for WPH Tweaks to disable the manifest validation. Add this snippet at the end of your .csproj before the closing tag:

  <Target Name="ValidateWMAppManifest">
    <!-- Do nothing -->
  </Target>

 

[hjc4869]

This is what I did for WPH Tweaks to disable the manifest validation. Add this snippet at the end of your .csproj before the closing tag:

  <Target Name="ValidateWMAppManifest">
    <!-- Do nothing -->
  </Target>

That's cool! Thanks!