Open programmatically search bar Win8 HTML5 JS

Question

Hi,

can anyone help me? I want to open programmatically (click on a button) the search sidebar in my Windows8 HTML/JS App. 

Thanks in advance,

Daniel

Answer 1

Hi Daniel,

No, you cannot do that.  Search is a system command always initiated by the user.

-Jeff

---

Jeff Sanders (MSFT)

Answer 2

Yes you can. See Windows.ApplicationModel.Search.SearchPane.show, as doc'd here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/windows.applicationmodel.search.searchpane.show.aspx

.Kraig

Answer 3

Thanks Kraig!

---

Jeff Sanders (MSFT)

Answer 4

cool, thx kraig! ;)

Answer 5

I have even mimic'ed the start menus "instant search" where you can just start to type (or ctrl+v) text and it will open the search pane. 

showSearchCharm = function(text) {
  return Windows.ApplicationModel.Search.SearchPane.getForCurrentView().show(text);
};

app.onactivated = function(event) {
    var _this = this;
    WinJS.UI.processAll().then(function() {
      return handleActivation(event);
    });
    return document.body.addEventListener('keypress', function(event) {
      var clipboard, searchPane, _ref;
      if ((_ref = document.activeElement.tagName.toLowerCase()) === 'input' || _ref === 'select') {
        return;
      }
      if (event.ctrlKey && event.key === "v") {
        clipboard = Clipboard.getContent();
        if (!clipboard.contains(StandardDataFormats.text)) {
          return;
        }
        clipboard.getTextAsync().done(function(text) {
          return showSearchCharm(text);
        });
        event.preventDefault();
        event.stopImmediatePropagation();
        return false;
      } else {
        if (event.ctrlKey || event.key.length > 1) {
          return;
        }
      }
      showSearchCharm(event.key);
      event.preventDefault();
      event.stopImmediatePropagation();
      return true;
    });
};

Enjoy!

Answer 6

Thanks for the code. Just so you know, the RTM release of Win8 will have a show-on-keyboard-input feature for the Search Pane, so all of this will become much simpler.

Answer 7

Can't wait for it :) Hopefully it will also fix the "first click does nothing" problem of current selection controls.