start-apps

Get a list of apps in the Start Menu, with details. Supports classic (desktop) and store (UWP) apps. For store apps, the paths to their icons are included.

This project is part of #CreateWeekly, my attempt to create something new publicly every week in 2020.

Installation

npm install -g @josephuspaye/start-apps

Example

The following program gets all the apps in the Start Menu and dumps the list in JSON format:

import { getApps } from '@josephuspaye/start-apps';

async function main() {
  const apps = await getApps();
  console.log(JSON.stringify(apps, null, '  '));
}

main();

View partial output

[
  {
    type: 'store',
    name: 'Mail',
    appUserModelId:
      'microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps_8wekyb3d8bbwe!microsoft.windowslive.mail',
    packagePath:
      'C:\\Program Files\\WindowsApps\\microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps_16005.13228.41011.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe',
    packageImages: {
      backgroundColor: '#0078D7',
      icon: {
        default:
          'C:\\Program Files\\WindowsApps\\microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps_16005.13228.41011.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\\images\\HxMailAppList.scale-400.png',
      },
      tile: {
        default:
          'C:\\Program Files\\WindowsApps\\microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps_16005.13228.41011.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\\images\\HxMailMediumTile.scale-400.png',
      },
    },
  },
  {
    type: 'classic',
    name: 'Zoom',
    appUserModelId: 'zoom.us.Zoom Video Meetings',
    targetPath: 'C:\\Users\\jpaye\\AppData\\Roaming\\Zoom\\bin\\Zoom.exe',
    targetArguments: '',
    startMenuLink:
      'C:\\Users\\jpaye\\AppData\\Roaming\\Microsoft\\Windows\\Start Menu\\Programs\\Zoom\\Zoom.lnk',
  },
  // ...more apps...
];

API

interface ClassicApp {
  type: 'classic';
  name: string;
  appUserModelId: string;
  targetPath: string;
  targetArguments: string;
  startMenuLink?: string;
}

interface Image {
  default?: string;
  onBlack?: string;
  onWhite?: string;
}

interface Images {
  backgroundColor: string;
  icon: Image;
  tile: Image;
}

interface StoreApp {
  type: 'store';
  name: string;
  appUserModelId: string;
  packagePath: string;
  packageImages?: Images;
}

type App = ClassicApp | StoreApp;

/**
 * Get all apps in the Start Menu
 */
function getApps(): Promise<App[] | undefined>;

Building the StartApps binary from source

The Node.js library uses a binary built from a .NET Core project to list the apps and their details. The source of this project is at StartAppsProject. You can build the project to get a binary as follows:

• Install Visual Studio Community (the project was created using the 2019 version)
• Clone this repo and double-click the StartApps.csproj file in the project directory to open it in Visual Studio
• In the Visual Studio application menu, click "Build" → "Publish StartApps"
• Choose "For NPM - Win x64, Framework-dependant" in the dropdown menu on the publish page and click "Publish" to build the binary
• Find the built binary in bin\Release\netcoreapp3.1\publish

Licence

MIT