Device information properties
Each device has associated DeviceInformation properties that you can use when you need specific information or when you are building a device selector. An Advanced Query Syntax (AQS) filter can be used to specify these properties and limit the enumerated devices with the specified traits. You can also use these properties to indicate what information you want returned for each device. That enables you to specify the device information that is returned to your application.
Important APIs
For more information about using DeviceInformation properties in your device selector, see Build a device selector. This topic shows how to request information properties and describes some common properties.
A DeviceInformation object is composed of an identity (DeviceInformation.Id), a kind (DeviceInformation.Kind), and a property bag (DeviceInformation.Properties). All of the other properties of a DeviceInformation object are derived from the Properties property bag. For example, Name is derived from System.ItemNameDisplay. This means that the property bag always contains the information necessary to determine the other properties.
Requesting properties
A DeviceInformation object has some basic properties, such as Id and Kind, but most of the properties are stored in a property bag under Properties. Because of this, the property bag contains the properties used to source the properties out of the property bag. For example, use System.ItemNameDisplay to source the Name property. This is a case of a common and well-known property that has a user-friendly name. Windows provides several of these user-friendly names to make querying for properties easier.
When you are requesting properties, you are not limited to the common properties with user-friendly names. You can specify the underlying GUID and property ID (PID) to request any property that is available, even custom properties that are supplied by an individual device or driver. The format for specifying a custom property is "{GUID} PID". For example: "{744e3bed-3684-4e16-9f8a-07953a8bf2ab} 7".
Note
You can find the list of property GUIDs in the device property key header file of the device driver.
Some properties are common across all DeviceInformationKind objects, but most are unique to a specific kind. The following sections list some common properties sorted by the individual DeviceInformationKind. For more information about how the different kinds relate to one another, see DeviceInformationKind.
DeviceInterface properties
DeviceInterface is the default and most common DeviceInformationKind object used in app scenarios. This is the kind of object that you should use unless the device API indicates a different specific DeviceInformationKind.
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| System.Devices.ContainerId | GUID | Identity of the DeviceInformationKind.DeviceContainer that contains the Device containing this DeviceInterface. You can pass this value to CreateFromIdAsync along with DeviceInformationKind.DeviceContainer to find the appropriate container. |
| System.Devices.InterfaceClassGuid | GUID | The interface class GUID this interface represents. |
| System.Devices.DeviceInstanceId | String | Identity of the parent DeviceInformationKind.Device. You can pass this value to CreateFromIdAsync along with DeviceInformationKind.Device to find the appropriate device. |
| System.Devices.InterfaceEnabled | Boolean | Indicates if the interface is enabled. DeviceInformation.IsEnabled is derived from this property. |
| System.Devices.GlyphIcon | String | Icon path for the glyph. |
| System.Devices.IsDefault | Boolean | Indicates whether this is the default device for the System.Devices.InterfaceClassGuid. This is mainly used for printers. This does not work for audio since there are multiple audio defaults. Use GetDefaultAudioRenderId or GetDefaultAudioCaptureId to get audio defaults. |
| System.Devices.Icon | String | Icon path. |
| System.ItemNameDisplay | String | The best display name for the device object. |
Device properties
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| System.Devices.ClassGuid | GUID | Device class used during device installation. For more information, see Device Setup Classes. |
| System.Devices.CompatibleIds | String[] | The compatible ids of the device. These are used when Windows is determining the best driver to install on the device. For more information, see Compatible ID. |
| System.Devices.ContainerId | GUID | Identity of the DeviceInformationKind.DeviceContainer that includes this device. You can pass this value to CreateFromIdAsync along with DeviceInformationKind.DeviceContainer to find the appropriate container. |
| System.Devices.DeviceCapabilities | UInt32 | A bitwise-OR of the CM_DEVCAP_X capabilities flags that are defined in CfgMgr32.h. For more information, see DEVPKEY_Device_Capabilities. |
| System.Devices.DeviceHasProblem | Boolean | The device currently has a problem and is likely not functioning correctly. This could be due to an outdated, missing, or invalid driver. |
| System.Devices.DeviceInstanceId | String | The identity of the device. This is also the value of DeviceInformation.Id. |
| System.Devices.DeviceManufacturer | String | The manufacturer of the device. |
| System.Devices.HardwareIds | String[] | The hardware ids of the device. Windows uses these ids when determining the best driver to install. Device vendors can use this property to identify their device from their app. For more information, see Hardware ID. |
| System.Devices.Parent | String | The DeviceInformation.Id of the parent device. This is the connection parent, not the DeviceContainer parent. |
| System.Devices.Present | Boolean | Indicates whether the device is currently present and available. |
| System.ItemNameDisplay | String | The best display name for this device object. In this case, this is not necessarily the best name for users. A more likely candidate for a user-friendly name could be found by referencing the System.ItemNameDisplay of the associated DeviceContainer or DeviceInterface. |
DeviceContainer properties
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| System.Devices.Category | String[] | A list of descriptions of the categories the device belongs to. This list is provided as singular categories. For example, "Display", "Phone", or "Audio device". |
| System.Devices.CategoryIds | String[] | Contains a list of categories this device belongs to. For example, Audio.Headphone, Display.Monitor, or Input.Gaming. |
| System.Devices.CategoryPlural | String[] | A list of descriptions of the categories the device belongs to. This list is provided as plural categories. For example, "Displays", "Phones", or "Audio devices". |
| System.Devices.CompatibleIds | String[] | The collection of compatible ids for all the child DeviceInformationKind.Device objects. |
| System.Devices.Connected | Boolean | Indicates whether the device is currently connected to the system or not. |
| System.Devices.GlyphIcon | String | Icon path for the glyph. |
| System.Devices.HardwareIds | String[] | The collection of hardware ids for all the child DeviceInformationKind.Device objects. |
| System.Devices.Icon | String | Icon path. |
| System.Devices.LocalMachine | Boolean | True if this DeviceContainer represents the system itself, false if the device is external to the system. |
| System.Devices.Manufacturer | String | The manufacturer of the device. |
| System.Devices.ModelName | String | Model name of the device container. |
| System.Devices.Paired | Boolean | Indicates whether any of the child DeviceInformationKind.Device objects are wireless or network devices that are currently paired with the system. |
| System.ItemNameDisplay | String | The best display name for this device. |
DeviceInterfaceClass properties
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| System.ItemNameDisplay | String | The best display name for this device. |
DevicePanel properties
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| System.Devices.Panel.PanelId | String | The identifier of the DevicePanel object. |
| System.Devices.Panel.PanelGroup | String | The identifier of the parent PanelGroup. |
AssociationEndpoint properties
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| System.Devices.Aep.AepId | String | Identity of this device. This is also the value of DeviceInformation.Id. |
| System.Devices.Aep.CanPair | Boolean | Indicates if the device can be paired with the system or not. DeviceInformationPairing.CanPair is derived from this property. |
| System.Devices.Aep.Category | String[] | The categories that the device is part of. For example, printer or camera. |
| System.Devices.Aep.ContainerId | GUID | The id of the parent AssociationEndpointContainer object. |
| System.Devices.Aep.DeviceAddress | String | The address of the device. If the device is a network device, this is the IP address. |
| System.Devices.Aep.IsConnected | Boolean | Indicates if the device is currently connected to the system. |
| System.Devices.Aep.IsPaired | Boolean | Indicates if the device is currently paired. DeviceInformationPairing.IsPaired is derived from this property. |
| System.Devices.Aep.IsPresent | Boolean | Indicates if the device is currently present, meaning the device is live and discovered over the network or wireless protocol. Once a device has been paired with the system, the device is cached. After this, the device will be automatically discovered when querying for AssociationEndpoint objects. Because of this, you cannot rely on just discovering the device with a query to indicate whether or not it is currently usable. That is why this property is important. |
| System.Devices.Aep.Manufacturer | String | The manufacturer of the device. |
| System.Devices.Aep.ModelId | GUID | The model id of the device. |
| System.Devices.Aep.ModelName | String | The model name of the device. |
| System.Devices.Aep.ProtocolId | GUID | Indicates the protocol used to discover this AssocationEndpoint device. |
| System.Devices.Aep.SignalStrength | Int32 | The signal strength of the device. This property is only applicable for some protocols. |
| System.ItemNameDisplay | String | The best display name for the device. |
AssociationEndpointContainer properties
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| System.Devices.AepContainer.Categories | String[] | The categories that the device is part of. For example, printer or camera. |
| System.Devices.AepContainer.Children | String[] | The collection of ids for the AssocationEndpoint objects that are part of this container. |
| System.Devices.AepContainer.CanPair | Boolean | Indicates if one of the child AssociationEndpoint devices can be paired with the system or not. DeviceInformationPairing.CanPair is derived from this property. |
| System.Devices.AepContainer.ContainerId | GUID | Identity of this device. This is also the value of DeviceInformation.Id, but in GUID form. |
| System.Devices.AepContainer.IsPaired | Boolean | Indicates if one of the child AssociationEndpoint devices is currently paired. DeviceInformationPairing.IsPaired is derived from this property. |
| System.Devices.AepContainer.IsPresent | Boolean | Indicates if one of the child AssociationEndpoint devices is currently present, meaning the device is live and discovered over the network or wireless protocol. Once a device has been paired with the system, the device is cached. After this, the device will be automatically discovered when querying for AssociationEndpoint objects. Because of this, you cannot rely on just discovering the device with a query to indicate whether or not it is currently usable. That is why this property is important. |
| System.Devices.AepContainer.Manufacturer | String | The manufacturer of the device. |
| System.Devices.AepContainer.ModelIds | String[] | A list of model ids for the device. Each model is a GUID in string form. |
| System.Devices.AepContainer.ModelName | String | The model name of the device. |
| System.Devices.AepContainer.ProtocolIds | GUID[] | A list of protocol ids that have contributed to building this AssociationEndpointContainer object. Keep in mind that an AssociationEndpointContainer device is created by collecting all AssociationEndpoint devices discovered over different protocols for the same physical device. |
| System.Devices.AepContainer.SupportedUriSchemes | String[] | List of casting URI schemes supported by this device. |
| System.Devices.AepContainer.SupportsAudio | Boolean | Indicates if this device supports audio casting. |
| System.Devices.AepContainer.SupportsImages | Boolean | Indicates if this device supports image casting. |
| System.Devices.AepContainer.SupportsVideo | Boolean | Indicates if this device supports video casting. |
| System.ItemNameDisplay | String | The best display name for the device. |
AssociationEndpointService properties
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| System.Devices.AepService.AepId | String | The identifier of the parent AssociationEndpoint object. |
| System.Devices.AepService.ContainerId | GUID | The identifier of the parent AssociationEndpointContainer object. |
| System.Devices.AepService.ParentAepIsPaired | Boolean | Indicates whether the parent AssociationEndpoint object is paired with the system. |
| System.Devices.AepService.ProtocolId | GUID | Identity of the protocol used to discover this device. |
| System.Devices.AepService.ServiceClassId | GUID | Identity of the service represented by this device. |
| System.Devices.AepService.ServiceId | String | Identity of this service. This is also the value of DeviceInformation.Id. |
| System.ItemNameDisplay | String | The best display name for the service. |