Changes Made to Windows Explorer in Windows 7

In Windows 7, Libraries address the problem of users’ data being stored all over the PC by allowing users to have full control over their Documents Library folder structure. This means that in Windows 7, users can define which folders to include in the Documents library. This is true for every library in Windows 7. But before we dive into the definition of a library in Windows 7, let’s look at the Libraries’ role in the experience of a user using Windows Explorer.

Windows 7 introduces several changes to Windows Explorer: both in the user interface and in the way users interact with Windows Explorer. The changes were made to simplify browsing as well as to provide better search capabilities so that you can quickly locate that one file you’re looking for, wherever it might be stored on the local computer or remote server.

Windows Explorer in Windows 7 offers a familiar user experience to users of Windows XP and Windows Vista. Using Libraries should feel just as natural as using any other folder. With that said, Windows Explorer in Windows 7 provides a cleaner user experience around everyday tasks like navigation; viewing common files such as documents, images, and music; removing a lot of the clutter in the Navigation pane; and making it easy to preview documents in the Preview pane.

Another improvement in Windows 7 is the integrated search function, which makes it easier to perform a customized search on a given library directly from Windows Explorer by adding to the existing search box specific search filters such as Authors, Modified Date, File Type, Date Taken, and others. These filters are based on metadata associated with each file and are quickly accessible to Windows Explorer because the files in a given library are indexed in advance.

For example, the following screen shot displays the view of the Pictures library, including an image preview and the search filters as shown in the gray box in the top right corner. The search filters enable the user to fine-tune a given search and therefore narrow the search results.

This rich and high-performance user experience is powered by Libraries and the way they integrate into the Windows Shell.

Welcome to Libraries

After presenting this brief preview, we can now say that a library is a logical representation of the user’s data that is independent of the folder hierarchy. Users can unify and flatten the folder hierarchy by aggregating any number of folders, located at different physical locations on their local machine or, in some cases, on remote machines, into a single view represented as a library. At the same time, a library can be viewed as a collection of user folders; it’s the new entry point to user data in Windows 7. Usually, libraries are used to view all files of the same type or files that share a common characteristic, such as pictures or music.

By allowing users to define and add new locations to a library, Windows 7 eliminates the problem of a user’s data existing outside the user’s Known Folders. Now, users can simply add any number of folders, making them an integral part of a library and thus virtually including these files in the user profile Known Folders. This means you don’t have to search multiple locations to find the files you’re looking for. Remember, these folders are automatically indexed by Windows Search; therefore, libraries can also be viewed as locations where users can quickly and easily find and organize their data as collections of items spanning multiple locations. And the nice thing about libraries in Windows 7 is that they are just another part of Windows Explorer, so users will find that they look and behave much like regular folders do.

Note that Libraries don’t actually store the files of the folders it aggregates: it provides a unified view of all the files that are present in the aggregated folders and subfolders. Libraries simply display the aggregates files as a set and enable users to access and arrange the files in different views. For instance, if a user has picture files in folders on his local hard disk or on another Windows 7 network share, the user can add these locations to his Pictures library and have a unified view of all his pictures using the Pictures library.

When viewing the contents of a library, the user can choose the way files are arranged and displayed. The user can choose the way pictures are arranged and displayed in the Pictures library from the drop-down menu in the top right corner of Windows Explorer. For example, users can choose to arrange their pictures into groups by the month the picture was taken. This results in a unified view of all the pictures in the Pictures library grouped by month.

Different arrangements are available per Library type. For example, the Videos library allows you to arrange videos by their length, and the Pictures library provides arrangements by tag or the month the picture was taken. Libraries can provide this rich user experience and functionality because the folders are being indexed; therefore, the contents of the library item’s metadata are highly accessible.

Having a unified view of all pictures in the Pictures library can be convenient for end users, but this is also useful for developers. Libraries promote consistency among applications. Before Windows 7, a music application for example, Windows Media Player had to maintain its own database that contained metadata about the location of each song. Usually, this database was not synchronized with the contents of the user’s Music folder. If the user moved a song from one folder to another, that change was not reflected in the music application database, resulting in a conflict that had a negative impact on the user experience.

With the unified view of the user’s music files presented by the user Music library, an application such as Windows Media Player can use the Music library as its music repository.

Now applications can take advantage of the fact that there is a single location where all of the user’s data is represented and accessible. Applications that rely on libraries are not required to maintain their own databases because the Windows Shell does it for them, ensuring that the application is always in sync with the user content. For example, the version of Windows Media Player that ships with Windows 7 maintains a limited database; it relies on the user’s Music library and is fully synchronized with it. Any change a user makes to a song’s location within the library boundaries in Windows Explorer is automatically reflected in Windows Media Player, and any change to a song location made in Windows Media Player is reflected in Windows Explorer.

In Windows 7, Windows Explorer has a dedicated user interface, allowing users to directly manipulate the contents of a library by adding or removing folders. Users can add any supported folder they want, even a library! For a folder to be supported in libraries, it must be indexable on the local machine, indexed on a remote Windows machine, or located on a server whose files are indexed by Windows Search. Libraries can contain network folders, but users won’t be able to access the contents of such folders unless the network is accessible. Using the Libraries API, developers can perform all the tasks that users can perform through the UI, plus additional tasks such as adding unsupported folders to a library or changing the library icon. Later in the article, we’ll review interfaces provided by this API.