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Optional Native Viewer

The ShareSurfer native viewer is an optional Windows-first review helper for very large exports. It is not a replacement for the collector, report.html, or the packaged standalone dashboard. It is a non-web escape hatch for cases where browser or WebView2 memory limits make large evidence review painful.

The first version is a PowerShell WinForms script:

powershell.exe -STA -NoLogo -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\scripts\Start-ShareSurferNativeViewer.ps1 `
  -ExportPath 'C:\ShareSurfer\exports\startup-scan'

What It Does

  • Opens a ShareSurfer export folder directly from disk.
  • Shows CSV datasets such as owner_review_packets.csv, findings.csv, conflicts.csv, evidence_confidence.csv, collection_errors.csv, permissioned_groups.csv, and raw evidence tables.
  • Loads table rows by page instead of building one large HTML or JavaScript payload.
  • Uses native Windows forms. It does not use npm, Vite, a browser, WebView2, Electron, a web server, or internet access at runtime.

When To Use It

Use the native viewer when:

  • report.html refuses a large export with an inline-data guardrail.
  • The standalone dashboard package is still too large or browser-limited for the review workstation.
  • An admin needs a simple local table browser for a very large export folder.

Use report.html when:

  • The export is small or moderate.
  • A single portable HTML file is more important than large-data paging.

Use the packaged standalone dashboard when:

  • Business owners need the richer guided dashboard experience.
  • The export is large but still works well with chunked offline dashboard data.

Validate Without Opening The GUI

Headless validation is useful for testing a transfer, CI, or a locked-down collector where a GUI is not appropriate:

powershell.exe -NoLogo -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\scripts\Start-ShareSurferNativeViewer.ps1 `
  -ExportPath 'C:\ShareSurfer\exports\startup-scan' `
  -ValidateOnly

With -PassThru, the command returns a summary object with dataset names, row counts, byte counts, scan date, and ACL export mode:

$viewerCheck = powershell.exe -NoLogo -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\scripts\Start-ShareSurferNativeViewer.ps1 `
  -ExportPath 'C:\ShareSurfer\exports\startup-scan' `
  -ValidateOnly `
  -PassThru

Runtime Notes

  • The GUI mode is Windows-only.
  • Start GUI mode with powershell.exe -STA; WinForms needs a single-threaded apartment session.
  • The viewer reads CSV files from the export folder. It does not rescan shares and does not change permissions.
  • It is intentionally plain in this first slice. A future signed .NET viewer can improve packaging, styling, search, and richer review workflows while preserving the same large-data principle: keep evidence on disk and page it into the UI as needed.

Current Limitations

  • Filtering/search is intentionally minimal in this first version.
  • CSV paging uses simple offset paging; very deep pages in very large files may take longer because the reader must skip earlier rows.
  • It is Windows-first. macOS and Linux users should use report.html or the packaged standalone dashboard.
  • This is not signed as a standalone executable yet.