My Explorer In C#

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Introduction

This article shows how to get system drives information using System.Managementnamespace and use Sysetm.IO namespace to get directories and files information to populate TreeView and ListView controls.

Getting Started

First we need to gather information on all the drives my computer have access to, and display the name and type of drive in the TreeView control. We can query the System.Management namespace to access drive information using the ManagementObjectSearcher class. It accepts a SQL like query as a parameter and returns a ManagementOjbectCollection class containing the drive information we requested. We now have all the drives information at our disposal (such as drive name, type, volume, description, etc...).

//This procedure populate the TreeView with the Drive list 

private void PopulateDriveList() 
{ 
    TreeNode nodeTreeNode; 
    int imageIndex = 0; 
    int selectIndex = 0; 
    
    const int Removable = 2; 
    const int LocalDisk = 3; 
    const int Network = 4; 
    const int CD = 5; 
    //const int RAMDrive = 6; 

    
    this.Cursor = Cursors.WaitCursor; 
    
    //clear TreeView 

    tvFolders.Nodes.Clear(); 
    nodeTreeNode = new TreeNode("My Computer",0,0); 
    tvFolders.Nodes.Add(nodeTreeNode); 
    
    //set node collection 

    TreeNodeCollection nodeCollection = nodeTreeNode.Nodes; 
    
    //Get Drive list 

    ManagementObjectCollection queryCollection = getDrives(); 
    foreach ( ManagementObject mo in queryCollection) 
    { 
        switch (int.Parse( mo["DriveType"].ToString())) 
        { 
            case Removable: //removable drives 

                imageIndex = 5; 
                selectIndex = 5; 
                break; 
            case LocalDisk: //Local drives 

                imageIndex = 6; 
                selectIndex = 6; 
                break; 
            case CD: //CD rom drives 

                imageIndex = 7; 
                selectIndex = 7; 
                break; 
            case Network: //Network drives 

                imageIndex = 8; 
                selectIndex = 8; 
                break; 
            default: //defalut to folder 

                imageIndex = 2; 
                selectIndex = 3; 
                break; 
        } 
        
        //create new drive node

        nodeTreeNode = new TreeNode(mo["Name"].ToString() 
            + "\\" ,imageIndex,selectIndex); 
        
        //add new node 
        nodeCollection.Add(nodeTreeNode); 
    } 
    
    //Init files ListView 
    InitListView();
    
    this.Cursor = Cursors.Default; 
} 
protected ManagementObjectCollection getDrives()
{ 
    //get drive collection 
    ManagementObjectSearcher query = new 
        ManagementObjectSearcher("SELECT * From Win32_LogicalDisk "); 
    ManagementObjectCollection queryCollection = query.Get(); 
    return queryCollection; 
} 

Directories and Files

When we click on a drive or a directory in the TreeView, we need to check if the drive or directory exists, before proceeding any further. Now we can get the directories for the current selection in the TreeView by using the Directory class from the System.IO namespace. Calling the Directory.GetDirectories method with the current node path as the parameter, will return an array of directories. We can loop through the directories array to populate sub-nodes under the current selected node. To get the currently selected node's files, we need to call the Directory.GetFiles method with the current node path as the parameter. This will return an array of files for the selected drive or directory. Now we can populate the ListView with the file array by looping through each array element and call FileInfo class to get the file size, creation date, and modified date.

protected void PopulateDirectory(TreeNode nodeCurrent, 
    TreeNodeCollection nodeCurrentCollection) 
{ 
    TreeNode nodeDir; 
    int imageIndex = 2; 
    int selectIndex = 3;
    
    if (nodeCurrent.SelectedImageIndex != 0) 
    {    //populate treeview with folders 

        try 
        { 
            if(Directory.Exists(getFullPath(nodeCurrent.FullPath)) 
                == false) 
            { 
                MessageBox.Show("Directory or path " + 
                    nodeCurrent.ToString() + " does not exist."); 
            } 
            else 
            {    //populate files 

                PopulateFiles(nodeCurrent);
                
                string[] stringDirectories = 
                    Directory.GetDirectories(getFullPath
                        (nodeCurrent.FullPath)); 
                
                string stringFullPath = ""; 
                string stringPathName = ""; 
                
                foreach (string stringDir in stringDirectories) 
                { 
                    stringFullPath = stringDir; 
                    stringPathName = GetPathName(stringFullPath); 
                    
                    //create node for directories 

                    nodeDir = new TreeNode(stringPathName.ToString(),
                        imageIndex,selectIndex); 
            
                    nodeCurrentCollection.Add(nodeDir); 
                } 
            } 
        } 
        catch (IOException e) 
        { 
            MessageBox.Show("Error: 
                Drive not ready or directory does not exist."); 
        } 
        catch (UnauthorizedAccessException e) 
        { 
            MessageBox.Show("Error: 
                Drive or directory access denided."); 
        } 
        catch (Exception e) 
        { 
            MessageBox.Show("Error: " + e); 
        } 
    } 
} 

protected string GetPathName(string stringPath) 
{ 
    //Get Name of folder 

    string[] stringSplit = stringPath.Split('\\'); 
    
    int _maxIndex = stringSplit.Length; 
    
    return stringSplit[_maxIndex-1]; 
} 

protected void PopulateFiles(TreeNode nodeCurrent)
{
    //Populate listview with files

    string[] lvData =  new string[4];
    
    //clear list

    InitListView();

    if (nodeCurrent.SelectedImageIndex != 0) 
    {
        //check path

        if(Directory.Exists((string) 
            getFullPath(nodeCurrent.FullPath)) == false)
        {
            MessageBox.Show("Directory or path " + 
                nodeCurrent.ToString() + " does not exist.");
        }
        else
        {
            try
            {
                string[] stringFiles = Directory.GetFiles
                    (getFullPath(nodeCurrent.FullPath));
                string stringFileName = "";
                DateTime dtCreateDate, dtModifyDate;
                Int64 lFileSize = 0;

                //loop throught all files

                foreach (string stringFile in stringFiles)
                {
                    stringFileName = stringFile;
                    FileInfo objFileSize = new 
                        FileInfo(stringFileName);
                    lFileSize = objFileSize.Length;
                    //GetCreationTime(stringFileName);

                    dtCreateDate = objFileSize.CreationTime; 
                    //GetLastWriteTime(stringFileName);

                    dtModifyDate = objFileSize.LastWriteTime; 

                    //create listview data

                    lvData[0] = GetPathName(stringFileName);
                    lvData[1] = formatSize(lFileSize);
                            
                    //check if file is in local current 

                    //day light saving time

                    if (TimeZone.CurrentTimeZone.
                        IsDaylightSavingTime(dtCreateDate) == false)
                    {
                        //not in day light saving time adjust time

                        lvData[2] = formatDate(dtCreateDate.AddHours(1));
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        //is in day light saving time adjust time

                        lvData[2] = formatDate(dtCreateDate);
                    }

                    //check if file is in local current day 

                    //light saving time

                    if (TimeZone.CurrentTimeZone.
                        IsDaylightSavingTime(dtModifyDate) == false)
                    {
                        //not in day light saving time adjust time

                        lvData[3] = formatDate(dtModifyDate.AddHours(1));
                    }
                    else{
                        //not in day light saving time adjust time

                        lvData[3] = formatDate(dtModifyDate);
                    }

                    //Create actual list item

                    ListViewItem lvItem = new ListViewItem(lvData,0);
                    lvFiles.Items.Add(lvItem);
                }
            }
            catch (IOException e)
            {
                MessageBox.Show("Error: 
                   Drive not ready or directory does not exist.");
            }
            catch (UnauthorizedAccessException e)
            {
                MessageBox.Show("Error: 
                   Drive or directory access denided.");
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                MessageBox.Show("Error: " + e);
            }
        }
    }
}

protected string getFullPath(string stringPath) 
{ 
    //Get Full path string 

    stringParse = ""; 
    
    //remove My Computer from path. 

    stringParse = stringPath.Replace("My Computer\\", ""); 
    
    return stringParse; 
} 

protected string formatDate(DateTime dtDate) 
{ 
    //Get date and time in short format 
    string stringDate = ""; 
    stringDate = dtDate.ToShortDateString().ToString() 
        + " " + dtDate.ToShortTimeString().ToString();
    
    return stringDate; 
} 

protected string formatSize(Int64 lSize) 
{
    //Format number to KB 
    string stringSize = ""; 
    NumberFormatInfo myNfi = new NumberFormatInfo();
    Int64 lKBSize = 0; 
    
    if (lSize < 1024 ) 
    { 
        if (lSize == 0) 
        { 
            //zero byte 
            stringSize = "0"; 
        } 
        else 
        { 
            //less than 1K but not zero byte 
            stringSize = "1"; 
        } 
    } 
    else 
    { 
        //convert to KB 
        lKBSize = lSize / 1024; 
        
        //format number with default format 
        stringSize = lKBSize.ToString("n",myNfi); 
        
        //remove decimal 
        stringSize = stringSize.Replace(".00", ""); 
    } 
    
    return stringSize + " KB"; 
}

Formating Numbers

Instead of writing string parsing functions to format the file size with comma in the thousand and millionth position, I use the NumberFormatInfo class in System.Globalization namespace to format the number, when I convert the number to the string format.

protected string formatSize(Int64 lSize) 
{ 
    //Format number to KB 

    string stringSize = ""; 
    NumberFormatInfo myNfi = new NumberFormatInfo(); 
    Int64 lKBSize = 0; 
    
    if (lSize < 1024 ) 
    { 
        :
        :
    } 
    else 
    { 
        //convert to KB 

        lKBSize = lSize / 1024; 
        
        //format number with default format 

        stringSize = lKBSize.ToString("n",myNfi); 
        
        //remove decimal 

        stringSize = stringSize.Replace(".00", ""); 
    } 
    
    return stringSize + " KB"; 
} 

Day Light Saving Time

At first glance, it looks like

FileInfo objFileSize = new FileInfo(stringFileName)

will give you all the correct information about the file to display on the screen. But it turns out that the file date time may not be correct due to Day Light Saving Time settings on your machine and how the file was saved. The files that does not have the Day Light Saving Time set to true will have the create, modify, and access time off by one hour. We need to check for this condition using the function TimeZone.CurrentTimeZone.IsDaylightSavingTime(dtCreateDate). This function returns a Boolean, true if the file Day Light Saving Time was set and returns a false if it was not set. Then we can adjust the time for those files that does not have the Day Light Saving Time setting set, by adding one hour to the file time.

 
protected void PopulateFiles(TreeNode nodeCurrent)
{
    //Populate listview with files

    string[] lvData =  new string[4];
    
    //clear list

    InitListView();

    if (nodeCurrent.SelectedImageIndex != 0) 
    {
        //check path

        if(Directory.Exists((string) 
            getFullPath(nodeCurrent.FullPath)) == false)
        {
            MessageBox.Show("Directory or path " + 
                nodeCurrent.ToString() + " does not exist.");
        }
        else
        {
            try
            {
                string[] stringFiles = Directory.
                    GetFiles(getFullPath(nodeCurrent.FullPath));
                string stringFileName = "";
                DateTime dtCreateDate, dtModifyDate;
                Int64 lFileSize = 0;

                //loop throught all files

                foreach (string stringFile in stringFiles)
                {
                    stringFileName = stringFile;
                    FileInfo objFileSize = new FileInfo(stringFileName);
                    lFileSize = objFileSize.Length;
                    //GetCreationTime(stringFileName);

                    dtCreateDate = objFileSize.CreationTime; 
                    //GetLastWriteTime(stringFileName);

                    dtModifyDate = objFileSize.LastWriteTime; 

                    //create listview data

                    lvData[0] = GetPathName(stringFileName);
                    lvData[1] = formatSize(lFileSize);
                            
                    //check if file is in local current 

                    //day light saving time

                    if (TimeZone.CurrentTimeZone.
                        IsDaylightSavingTime(dtCreateDate) == false)
                    {
                        //not in day light saving time adjust time

                        lvData[2] = formatDate(dtCreateDate.AddHours(1));
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        //is in day light saving time adjust time

                        lvData[2] = formatDate(dtCreateDate);
                    }

                    //check if file is in local current

                    //day light saving time

                    if (TimeZone.CurrentTimeZone.
                        IsDaylightSavingTime(dtModifyDate) == false)
                    {
                        //not in day light saving time adjust time

                        lvData[3] = formatDate(dtModifyDate.AddHours(1));
                    }
                    else                                        {
                        //not in day light saving time adjust time

                        lvData[3] = formatDate(dtModifyDate);
                    }

                    //Create actual list item

                    ListViewItem lvItem = new ListViewItem(lvData,0);
                    lvFiles.Items.Add(lvItem);
                }
            }
            catch (IOException e)
            {
                MessageBox.Show("Error: 
                    Drive not ready or directory does not exist.");
            }
            catch (UnauthorizedAccessException e)
            {
                MessageBox.Show("Error: 
                    Drive or directory access denied.");
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                MessageBox.Show("Error: " + e);
            }
        }
    }
}

Conclusion

We have used the System.Management namespace to get information on all the available drives in the system and used the Directory and FileInfo classes in the System.IO namespace to get information about directories and files. There are many other features available in the Directory and File classes we did not touch upon, like the ones for creating directory, deleting directory, creating file, copy file, move file, etc. Also with System.Management namespace, you could get access to management information about the system, devices, and application in the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) infrastructure. We can query for information such as how much space is left on the drive, what is the current CPU utilization and much more, using the classes in the System.Management namespace. You could find out more about these namespaces at http://msdn.microsoft.com.