Pick Single Folder in Windows Store Apps Using XAML

This article explain how to pick a folder from the computer local drive in a Windows Store Application using XAML.

In this article I will show how to use a FolderPicker contract to obtain the complete folder, so that its contents can be accessed later.

I have built an application to pick a folder and show it's necessary information such as Name, Created Date and Path of the selected folder.

So, let's start to create a Windows Store Application.

Step 1

Select the Windows Store template using XAML and C#.

Step 2

Create the XAML markup for the UI in the MainPage.XAML page.

<Page

    x:Class="PickAFolder.MainPage"

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

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

    xmlns:local="using:PickAFolder"

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

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

    mc:Ignorable="d">

 

    <Grid  Background="Black">

        <Grid.RowDefinitions>

            <RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>

            <RowDefinition Height="*"/>

        </Grid.RowDefinitions>

        <Grid x:Name="Input" Grid.Row="0">

            <Button Grid.Row="1" x:Name="PickFolderButton" Content="Pick folder" Margin="40,50,10,0"Click="PickFolderButton_Click"/>

        </Grid>

        <Grid x:Name="Output" Grid.Row="1" HorizontalAlignment="Left" VerticalAlignment="Top">

            <StackPanel Orientation="Vertical">

                <TextBlock x:Name="Name" Style="{StaticResource BasicTextStyle}" TextWrapping="Wrap" />

                <TextBlock x:Name="Path" Style="{StaticResource BasicTextStyle}" TextWrapping="Wrap" />

                <TextBlock x:Name="Date" Style="{StaticResource BasicTextStyle}" TextWrapping="Wrap" />

            </StackPanel>

        </Grid>

    </Grid>

</Page>

Step 3

The code of the MainPage.XAML.cs file:

using System;

using Windows.Storage;

using Windows.Storage.AccessCache;

using Windows.Storage.Pickers;

using Windows.UI.Xaml;

using Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls;

using Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls.Primitives;

using Windows.UI.Xaml.Input;

using Windows.UI.Xaml.Media;

using Windows.UI.Xaml.Navigation;

 

namespace PickAFolder

{

    public sealed partial class MainPage : Page

    {

        public MainPage()

        {

            this.InitializeComponent();

        }

        private async void PickFolderButton_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)

        {

            FolderPicker folderPicker = new FolderPicker();

            folderPicker.SuggestedStartLocation = PickerLocationId.Desktop;

            folderPicker.FileTypeFilter.Add(".docx");

            folderPicker.FileTypeFilter.Add(".xlsx");

            folderPicker.FileTypeFilter.Add(".pptx");

            StorageFolder folder = await folderPicker.PickSingleFolderAsync();

            if (folder != null)

            {

                // Application now has read/write access to all contents in the picked folder (including other sub-folder contents)

                StorageApplicationPermissions.FutureAccessList.AddOrReplace("PickedFolderToken", folder);

                Name.Text = folder.Name + " folder is picked.";

                Path.Text = "Path of Folder is : " + folder.Path;

                Date.Text = "Created Date is : " + folder.DateCreated;

            }

            else

            {

            }

        }

    }

}

Now to explain the above code step-by-step:

1. Add the following namespaces to the .cs file:
    

   using Windows.Storage;

   using Windows.Storage.AccessCache;

   using Windows.Storage.Pickers;
    

2. First of all create an object of FolderPikcer to access the folder.
   
   FolderPicker folderPicker = newFolderPicker();
    
3. We can also set the default location from where the folder will be picked. Add a filter to the folder properties, as in:
    

   folderPicker.SuggestedStartLocation =PickerLocationId.Desktop;

   folderPicker.FileTypeFilter.Add(".docx");

   folderPicker.FileTypeFilter.Add(".xlsx");

   folderPicker.FileTypeFilter.Add(".pptx");
    

4. Now, pick the folder using the PickSingleFolderAsync() method. This method allows the user to pick only the single folder from the drives.
   
   StorageFolder folder = await folderPicker.PickSingleFolderAsync();
    
5. Then, set read/write access to all contents in the chosen folder (including other sub-folder contents); see:
   
   if (folder != null)

   {

        // Application now has read/write access to all contents in the picked folder (including other sub-folder contents)

        StorageApplicationPermissions.FutureAccessList.AddOrReplace("PickedFolderToken", folder);

        Name.Text = folder.Name + " folder is picked.";

        Path.Text = "Path of Folder is : " + folder.Path;

        Date.Text = "Created Date is : " + folder.DateCreated;

   }

Step 4

Now, run the application and click on the button display in the UI.

Pick a folder.



You will see the necessary properties of the chosen folder.