Home Library Learn Downloads Support Community
Sign in | United States - English | |
1 out of 2 rated this helpful Rate this topic

How to: Use the Isolated Storage Explorer Tool

Windows Phone

December 15, 2011

Isolated Storage Explorer (ISETool.exe) is a command-line tool that gets installed with the Windows Phone SDK. You use Isolated Storage Explorer to list, copy, and replace files and directories in isolated storage. This enables you to verify that the files are being saved in the correct location with the correct data. Isolated Storage Explorer can be used in the emulator or a developer-registered device, and can be used for applications that target Windows Phone OS 7.0 and Windows Phone OS 7.1. For more information about how to register your Windows Phone device for development, see How to: Register Your Phone for Development. For more information about how to use isolated storage with Windows Phone applications, see Isolated Storage Overview for Windows Phone.

NoteNote:

Isolated Storage Explorer does not enable you to view application settings stored in isolated storage.

To complete these procedures, you must have the Windows Phone SDK. For more information, see Installing the Windows Phone SDK.

To use Isolated Storage Explorer, the application that you want to test must be installed on the emulator or device. The emulator or device must be running, but the application does not have to be running. Depending on your operating system, Isolated Storage Explorer is installed in one of following locations:

  • Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows Phone\v7.1\Tools\IsolatedStorageExplorerTool

  • Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows Phone\v7.1\Tools\IsolatedStorageExplorerTool

Isolated Storage Explorer has the following syntax:

ISETool.exe <ts|rs|dir[:device-folder]> <xd|de> <Product GUID> [<desktop-path>]

The following table lists the command-line options for Isolated Storage Explorer.

Option

Description

ts

(Take snapshot) Copies the files and directories in isolated storage from the device or emulator to your computer.

rs

(Restore snapshot) Replaces the files and directories in isolated storage on the device or emulator with files and directories from your computer.

dir

Lists the files and directories in the specified directory of isolated storage. If a directory is not specified, the files and directories in the root are listed.

device-folder

Specifies the directory in isolated storage on the device or emulator that you want to target.

xd

Indicates to target the emulator.

de

Indicates to target a tethered device.

Product GUID

Specifies the ProductID from the WPAppManifest.xml file for the application you want to test.

desktop-path

Specifies the directory on your computer where isolated storage files are written to or copied from. A subdirectory named IsolatedStore is created in desktop-path when files are copied using the ts command. If the specified directory already exists a ts command will overwrite the contents of the directory with no warning.

You can use Isolated Storage Explorer to list the files and directories in isolated storage for an application.

To list files in isolated storage

  1. Deploy the application you want to test to the emulator or a device.

  2. Run the application as appropriate to create files or directories in isolated storage.

  3. Get the Product GUID for the application specified in the ProductID attribute of the App element of the WPAppManifest.xml file.

  4. Open a command window and navigate to the location of ISETool.exe.

  5. To list the files and directories at the root, type the following command using the Product GUID obtained in the previous steps.

    ISETool.exe dir <xd|de> <Product GUID>

    The following example shows a command that lists the files and directories at the root on the emulator.

    ISETool.exe dir xd 11111111-2222-3333-4444-555555555555

    If no files or directories are found, the following text is displayed:

    • Directory Listing Error. The system cannot find the file specified.

  6. If isolated storage contains directories, type the following command.

    ISETool.exe dir:device-folder <xd|de> <Product GUID>

    The following example shows a command that lists the contents of a directory named Images on the emulator.

    ISETool.exe dir:"Images" xd 11111111-2222-3333-4444-555555555555

    Note Note:

    You should not include a leading or trailing slash in the directory entry.

You can use Isolated Storage Explorer to copy the files and directories in isolated storage on the emulator or device to your computer. You can then view the files to make sure they are being saved in the correct location with the correct data.

To copy files from isolated storage

  1. Deploy the application you want to test to the emulator or a device.

  2. Run the application as appropriate to create files or directories in isolated storage.

  3. Get the Product GUID for the application specified in the ProductID attribute of the App element of the WPAppManifest.xml file.

  4. Open a command window and navigate to the location of ISETool.exe.

    Note Note:

    When you copy files from the emulator, the command window must be running at the same permission level as the emulator or an error will occur.

  5. To copy all of the files from isolated storage to your computer, type the following command using the Product GUID obtained in the previous steps and specifying a directory on your computer.

    ISETool.exe ts <xd|de> <Product GUID> <desktop-path>

    The following example shows a command that copies the isolated storage files to the directory "C:\Data\My Files" on your computer.

    ISETool.exe ts xd 11111111-2222-3333-4444-555555555555 "C:\Data\My Files"

    This command creates a subdirectory on your computer named IsolatedStore and copies the files and directories in isolated storage into the IsolatedStore directory.

    Caution note Caution:

    If the IsolatedStore directory already exists and you copy the files again, the entire contents of the IsolatedStore directory are overwritten without any warning.
    Note Note:

    For applications that target Windows Phone OS 7.1, this command creates subdirectories in the IsolatedStore directory named Shared\Transfers and Shared\ShellContent. The Transfers directory contains background transfer data. For more information about background transfers, see Background File Transfers Overview for Windows Phone. The ShellContent directory contains tile data. For more information about tiles, see Tiles Overview for Windows Phone.

You can use Isolated Storage Explorer to replace the files and directories in isolated storage on an emulator or a device with files and directories from your computer. Replacing files can be useful for testing an application.

To replace files in isolated storage

  1. Deploy the application you want to test to the emulator or a device.

  2. Get the Product GUID for the application specified in the ProductID attribute of the App element of the WPAppManifest.xml file.

  3. Open a command window and navigate to the location of ISETool.exe.

    Note Note:

    When you replace files on the emulator, the command window must be running at the same permission level as the emulator or an error will occur.

  4. To replace all the files in isolated storage with files from your computer, type the following command using the Product GUID obtained in the previous steps and specifying the directory on your computer.

    ISETool.exe rs <xd|de> <Product GUID> <desktop-path>

    The following example shows a command that replaces the files and directories in isolated storage with the files from the directory "C:\Data\My Files\IsolatedStore" on your computer.

    ISETool.exe rs xd 11111111-2222-3333-4444-555555555555 "C:\Data\My Files\IsolatedStore"

    If you copied files using the ts command and you want to replace the same files using the rs command, you must specify the IsolatedStore directory in <desktop-path>.

Did you find this helpful?
(1500 characters remaining)