[RESOLVED] [2008] Force a refresh of all Win Explorer windows showing a particular folder

The application I'm developing does some file management chores, such as renaming and deletion of files. I have noticed that often after a file is deleted via code, it is still shown in Windows Explorer although it doesn't exist anymore. A refresh (F5) solves this, however I wouldn't want end users to have to press F5 every couple of minutes when using the application.

Can a refresh of all open Windows Explorer windows be requested via code? Moreover, can the refresh be requested only for windows displaying a particular location?

I've thought of getting all open windows, filtering them and then sending the F5 keystroke, however it sounds a bit like overkill. Any easier way to do it?

Here you go. This should do it;

Code:

---

    <DllImport("shell32.dll")> _
    Shared Sub SHChangeNotify( _
    ByVal wEventID As HChangeNotifyEventID, _
    ByVal uFlags As HChangeNotifyFlags, _
    ByVal dwItem1 As IntPtr, _
    ByVal dwItem2 As IntPtr)
    End Sub

    <Flags()> _
      Public Enum HChangeNotifyFlags
        SHCNF_DWORD = &H3
        SHCNF_IDLIST = &H0
        SHCNF_PATHA = &H1
        SHCNF_PATHW = &H5
        SHCNF_PRINTERA = &H2
        ' SHCNF_PRINTERW = &H6
        SHCNF_FLUSH = &H1000
        SHCNF_FLUSHNOWAIT = &H2000
    End Enum


    <Flags()> _
      Public Enum HChangeNotifyEventID
        SHCNE_ALLEVENTS = &H7FFFFFFF
        SHCNE_ASSOCCHANGED = &H8000000
        SHCNE_ATTRIBUTES = &H800
        SHCNE_CREATE = &H2
        SHCNE_DELETE = &H4
        SHCNE_DRIVEADD = &H10
        SHCNE_DRIVEADDGUI = &H10000
        SHCNE_DRIVEREMOVED = &H80
        SHCNE_EXTENDED_EVENT = &H4000000
        SHCNE_FREESPACE = &H40000
        SHCNE_MEDIAINSERTED = &H20
        SHCNE_MEDIAREMOVED = &H40
        SHCNE_MKDIR = &H8
        SHCNE_NETSHARE = &H200
        SHCNE_NETUNSHARE = &H400
        SHCNE_RENAMEFOLDER = &H20000
        SHCNE_RENAMEITEM = &H1
        SHCNE_RMDIR = &H10
        SHCNE_SERVERDISCONNECT = &H4000
        SHCNE_UPDATEDIR = &H1000
        SHCNE_UPDATEIMAGE = &H8000
    End Enum

---

Call it like this.

Code:

---

        SHChangeNotify(HChangeNotifyEventID.SHCNE_ASSOCCHANGED, HChangeNotifyFlags.SHCNF_IDLIST, IntPtr.Zero, IntPtr.Zero)

---

It will refresh the Explorer windows regardless of their current directory however, but good enough I think.

The refresh works fine for all Windows Explorer windows, however it doesn't refresh the desktop. This means that the issue persists for all files residing on the desktop. Any way to solve that?

Try this;

Code:

---

SHChangeNotify(&H8000000, &H0, 0, 0)

---

If that does not work let me know, I have some other API code knocking around.

Nope, no effect.

Hmm.. that previous code works for me, in that case try;


SHChangeNotify(&H8000000, &H1000, 0, 0)


Another one is this;

Code:

---

Private Declare Function InvalidateRect Lib "user32" (ByVal hwnd As Long, lpRect As Long, ByVal bErase As Long) As Long

'Call it as follows
InvalidateRect( 0&, 0&, False)

---

InvalidateRect will fail at runtime, False cannot be converted to Long like that. I will try the SHChangeNotify method and report back.

I'm using Windows Vista if that is of any importance.

Both

SHChangeNotify(&H8000000, &H0, 0, 0)
and
SHChangeNotify(&H8000000, &H1000, 0, 0)

work for me. The second is the more thorough however.

Ok I've just tried it a couple more times and the desktop was refreshed, but only sporadically. It seems that although the code by itself is ok, a refresh is sometimes prevented. However, it's good enough for now I think. Thank you for your help. Cheers!