WP8 Folder Access

Question

Can an app access and create a specific folder in the Windows phone 8 environment? I'm looking at building an audiobook player app and want to allow the user to drop these into an audiobook folder on the phones drive itself instead of mixing with the music folder. Could an app at least read from a specific folder outside its isolated storage?

Secondly, if so, is there any equivalent of the ".nomedia" file in Android that my app could insert into the folder to exclude the audiobook folder from being scanned by the music players on the phone?

I'm struggling to find the appropriate documentation that will answer my questions, as most documentation seems specific to WP7

Answer 1

RE: .nomedia file

Overall what you're asking for isn't supported and isn't complimentary to the zen of WP8. While I understand your need to create a unique music experience the WP8 media ecosystem is centered around the Music+Video hub and apps should work with it. Creating an experience like you were describing would just feel disjointed and jarring on WP8.

RE: letting users drag & drop files in file explorer

Some WP8 phones support having a Micro-SD card added to the phone. That uSD card can be accessed from File Explorer and WP8 apps can read files from it. The uSD card can have a folder called "Music" which would be used by the Music+Video app and invisible to 3rd party apps. However, your app can read any files that aren't in those uSD reserved folders. You can signup to file extensions but most media WP8 file extensions are reserved for 1st party experiences.

RE: Music Hub Integration

Please make sure to integrate your music player into the Music+Video hub otherwise it'll likely get downvoted to oblivion.