[VB6] Get extended details about Explorer windows by getting their IFolderView

https://www.vbforums.com/attachment....hmentid=186153
IShellWindows / IFolderView

There's some basic ways of working with open Explorer windows, but if you really want to do some intensive work with them, the IShellWindows interface lets you get a variety of other interfaces that allow you to get very detailed information about open windows and their items, as well as set view and selection options. You can get a direct line on the IShellBrowser, IShellView, IFolderView, and IShellFolder/IShellItem interfaces for all open folders using this method.
For the purposes of this demonstration, all we're doing is listing some details, but if you're not familiar with those interfaces already just look through their members in Object Browser to see all the other things you can get and set.

Requirements
-Sample project requires Vista+. Some info is retrieved with IFolderView2... but if you just stuck to what is available with IFolderView, you could use this in XP too.
-oleexp 4.0 or higher - oleexp.tlb must be a reference; IDE only- not needed after compiled.


Technique
The IShellWindows interface conveniently has a default implementation coclass (ShellWindows), so setting up the window enumeration is straightforward. The sample shows 2 different ways to loop through the open windows:

Code:

---

Set oSW = New ShellWindows
If oSW.Count < 1 Then Exit Sub
ReDim sSelected(oSW.Count - 1)
'METHOD 1: .Item/.Count
'For q = 0 To oSW.Count - 1
'    Set pdp = oSW.Item(CVar(q))
'    Set punkitem = pdp
'---------------

'METHOD 2: IEnumVARIANT
Set spunkenum = oSW.NewEnum
Set spev = spunkenum
Do While spev.Next(1&, pVar, pclt) = NOERROR
    Set punkitem = pVar
'---------------

---

Interestingly, the pVar here (declared As Variant) actually can be cast by VB into a variable declared As IUnknown just with Set. I had thought it would have been much harder and involve getting the pointer and setting the object through API.

Now that we've got a Variant representing a window, first we get the IShellBrowser interface for it. After that we're golden... we can get the IShellView through .QueryActiveShellView, and then IShellView also implements IFolderView/IFolderView2, so all we need is the Set keyword (this internally calls QueryInterface that you see in the C++ examples of this). Then IFolderView has .GetFolder which can get the IShellItem or IShellFolder of the folder.
(critical error checking and debug logging code omitted, see full sample)

Code:

---

            IUnknown_QueryService ObjPtr(punkitem), SID_STopLevelBrowser, IID_IShellBrowser, spsb 'get IShellBrowser
                spsb.QueryActiveShellView spsv 'get IShellView
                    Set spfv = spsv 'get IFolderView2
                    spfv.GetFolder IID_IShellItem, lsiptr 'this is original olelib's problem having it as a long, which now needs:
                    If lsiptr Then vbaObjSetAddRef spsi, lsiptr 'get IShellItem

---

And now we've got everything needed for advanced, detailed interaction with the open Explorer window and its contents.

---------------------------------------
Here's the full EnumWindows routine that fills the ListView in the sample (and the sSelection module-level holder of the contents) and some other supporters. Don't be scared of all the variables!

Code:

---

Private Sub EnumWindows()
Dim li As ListItem
Dim i As Long, j As Long
Dim s1 As String, s2 As String, s3 As String
Dim lp1 As Long, lp2 As Long, lp3 As Long, lp4 As Long, lp5 As Long
Dim siaSel As IShellItemArray
Dim lpText As Long
Dim sText As String
Dim sItems() As String
Dim punkitem As oleexp.IUnknown
Dim lPtr As Long
Dim pclt As Long
Dim spsb As IShellBrowser
Dim spsv As IShellView
Dim spfv As IFolderView2
Dim spsi As IShellItem
Dim lpPath As Long
Dim sPath As String
Dim lsiptr As Long
Dim ct As Long
Dim oSW As ShellWindows
Dim spev As oleexp.IEnumVARIANT
Dim spunkenum As oleexp.IUnknown
Dim pVar As Variant
Dim pdp As oleexp.IDispatch
Dim q As Long
Dim tSC(10) As SORTCOLUMN
lp1 = 0&
lp2 = 0&
lp3 = 0&
lp4 = 0&
lp5 = 0&
Set oSW = New ShellWindows
If oSW.Count < 1 Then Exit Sub
ReDim sSelected(oSW.Count - 1)
'                            On Error Resume Next
'METHOD 1: .Item/.Count
For q = 0 To oSW.Count - 1
    Set pdp = oSW.Item(CVar(q))
    Set punkitem = pdp
'---------------

'METHOD 2: IEnumVARIANT
'Set spunkenum = oSW.NewEnum
'Set spev = spunkenum
'Do While spev.Next(1&, pVar, pclt) = NOERROR
'    Set punkitem = pVar
'---------------
    ct = ct + 1
    Debug.Print "in loop " & ct
    If True Then
        If (punkitem Is Nothing) = False Then
            Debug.Print "queryservice"
            IUnknown_QueryService ObjPtr(punkitem), SID_STopLevelBrowser, IID_IShellBrowser, spsb
            If (spsb Is Nothing) = False Then
                Debug.Print "queryview"
                spsb.QueryActiveShellView spsv
                If (spsv Is Nothing) = False Then
'                    Set spfv = spsv
                    Dim pUnk As oleexp.IUnknown
                    Set pUnk = spsv
                    pUnk.QueryInterface IID_IFolderView2, spfv
                    If (spfv Is Nothing) = False Then
                        Debug.Print "getfolder"
                        spfv.GetFolder IID_IShellItem, lsiptr ' spsi
                        If lsiptr Then vbaObjSetAddRef spsi, lsiptr
                        If (spsi Is Nothing) = False Then
                       
                            'we've got all relevant interfaces, start adding data
                            spsi.GetDisplayName SIGDN_NORMALDISPLAY, lpPath
                            sPath = LPWSTRtoStr(lpPath)
                            Debug.Print "Open path " & sPath
                            Set li = ListView1.ListItems.Add(, , sPath)
                            spfv.ItemCount SVGIO_ALLVIEW, lp1
                            spfv.ItemCount SVGIO_SELECTION, lp2
                            spfv.GetSortColumnCount lp3
                            If lp3 > 11 Then lp3 = 11
                            spfv.GetSortColumns tSC(0), lp3
                            For j = 0 To lp3
                                If PSGetNameFromPropertyKey(tSC(j).PropKey, lpText) = S_OK Then
                                    sText = sText & LPWSTRtoStr(lpText) & "(" & tSC(j).direction & ") "
                                Else
                                    Debug.Print "sortcol name needs psstringfrompropertykey; not implemented in this sample"
                                End If
                            Next
                            spfv.GetViewModeAndIconSize lp4, lp5
                            With li
                                .SubItems(1) = lp1
                                .SubItems(2) = lp2
                                .SubItems(3) = sText
                                .SubItems(4) = ViewModeStr(lp4)
                                spsi.GetDisplayName SIGDN_DESKTOPABSOLUTEPARSING, lpPath
                                sPath = LPWSTRtoStr(lpPath)
                                .SubItems(5) = sPath
                            End With
                            If lp2 > 0& Then
                                spfv.GetSelection 0&, siaSel
                                If (siaSel Is Nothing) = False Then
                                    sSelected(ct - 1) = GetNamesFromSIA(siaSel)
                                End If
                            Else
                                sSelected(ct - 1) = "(none)"
                            End If
                        Else
                            Debug.Print "Failed to get IShellItem"
                        End If
                    Else
                        Debug.Print "Failed to get IFolderView2 for hwnd " & spsv.GetWindow
                    End If
                Else
                    Debug.Print "Failed to get IShellView"
                End If
            Else
                Debug.Print "Failed to get IShellBrowser"
            End If
        Else
            Debug.Print "Failed to cast enum lPtr to pUnk"
        End If

    Else
        Debug.Print "in loop but lptr=0"
    End If
Set spsi = Nothing
Set spsv = Nothing
Set spsb = Nothing
lsiptr = 0
lp1 = 0
lp2 = 0
lp3 = 0
lp4 = 0
Erase tSC

'switch to next for method 1
'Loop
Next


End Sub
Private Function GetNamesFromSIA(psia As IShellItemArray, Optional nType As SIGDN = SIGDN_NORMALDISPLAY) As String
Dim pEnum As IEnumShellItems
Dim psi As IShellItem
Dim lp As Long
Dim s1 As String
Dim sOut As String
Dim pcl As Long

psia.EnumItems pEnum
If (pEnum Is Nothing) Then Exit Function

Do While (pEnum.Next(1&, psi, pcl) = NOERROR)
    psi.GetDisplayName nType, lp
    sOut = sOut & LPWSTRtoStr(lp) & ", "
Loop
If Len(sOut) > 2 Then
    sOut = Left$(sOut, Len(sOut) - 2) 'remove trailing comma
End If
GetNamesFromSIA = sOut

End Function

---

BUGFIX: The original code fails if Internet Explorer is open, because it comes up in the enumeration but does not support the IFolderView interfaces. I've corrected the code above, and updated the attachment. Note that the fix requires IID_IFolderView2, which isn't in the original sample project module (but is now). So if you're using the sample project or this code in a project without the full mIID.bas addon be sure to add that too. In the long run, you should always use mIID with oleexp.


UPDATE - Jan 19 2022
I wrote a demo about registering a window in your app as a Shell Window that will be included in this enumeration (as well as work with SHOpenFolderAndSelectItems). The IFolderView2 interface needed to be slightly modified to work in both contexts.

This new version requires oleexp.tlb 4.81+ (released 19 Jan 2022).

---

twinBASIC 64bit compatible version at https://github.com/fafalone/MiscDemos

Hi!

Can this also be used to do a IShellWindows::RegisterPending to my app? See https://docs.microsoft.com/de-de/win...egisterpending

thanks,
voxy

I'm not familiar with that functionality at all. But the methods are there and appear to be declared correct... give it a try?

I'll try it and let you know. But more research is needed. Right now I'm not even sure what a "pending window" is supposed to be. Nor whether *pvarloc has to be updated whenever my window changes the location. The whole thing is mysterious. Why do I need it? I've heard that this is the only way that "Show in Folder" (as found in web browsers for the downloaded files) will pass the full path / file to a file manager, rather than just the path part.

Show in folder like you want to open a folder and select an item?

Not sure what context you're doing that in, but in case you don't know, there's the SHOpenFolderAndSelectItems API that does exactly that. It's confusing if you've never worked with pidls before, but here's a demo I made a while back.

I'm on the other side of the story. My app is registered as the default file manager, but with "Show in Folder" it is only called with "[path]" in the command line, not with "[path\file]". My (low) hope is that RegisterPending could change that.
On the other hand, I don't really understand how "Show in Folder" works because when Explorer is the default manager there is no command line at all when opening explorer.exe with "Show in Folder".

The SHOpenFileAndSelectItems selects by calling the IShellFolderViewDual interface's SelectItem method; have you implemented that interface?

Code:

---

HRESULT SelectPidlInSFV(IShellFolderViewDual *psfv, LPCITEMIDLIST pidl, DWORD dwOpts)
{
    VARIANT var;
    HRESULT hr = InitVariantFromIDList(&var, pidl);
    if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
    {
        hr = psfv->SelectItem(&var, dwOpts);
        VariantClear(&var);
    }
    return hr;
}

HRESULT OpenFolderAndGetView(LPCITEMIDLIST pidlFolder, IShellFolderViewDual **ppsfv)
{
    *ppsfv = NULL;

    IWebBrowserApp *pauto;
    HRESULT hr = SHGetIDispatchForFolder(pidlFolder, &pauto);
    if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
    {
        HWND hwnd;
        if (SUCCEEDED(pauto->get_HWND((LONG_PTR*)&hwnd)))
        {
            // Make sure we make this the active window
            SetForegroundWindow(hwnd);
            ShowWindow(hwnd, SW_SHOWNORMAL);
        }

        IDispatch *pdoc;
        hr = pauto->get_Document(&pdoc);
        if (S_OK == hr) // careful, automation returns S_FALSE
        {
            hr = pdoc->QueryInterface(IID_PPV_ARG(IShellFolderViewDual, ppsfv));
            pdoc->Release();
        }
        else
            hr = E_FAIL;
        pauto->Release();
    }
    return hr;
}

// pidlFolder  - fully qualified pidl to the folder to open
// cidl/apidl  - array of items in that folder to select
//
// if cild == 0 then pidlFolder is the fully qualified pidl to a single item, it's
// folder is opened and it is selected.
//
// dwFlags - optional flags, pass 0 for now

SHSTDAPI SHOpenFolderAndSelectItems(LPCITEMIDLIST pidlFolder, UINT cidl, LPCITEMIDLIST *apidl, DWORD dwFlags)
{
    HRESULT hr;
    if (0 == cidl)
    {
        // overload the 0 item case to mean pidlFolder is the full pidl to the item
        LPITEMIDLIST pidlTemp;
        hr = SHILClone(pidlFolder, &pidlTemp);
        if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
        {
            ILRemoveLastID(pidlTemp); // strip to the folder
            LPCITEMIDLIST pidl = ILFindLastID(pidlFolder);

            hr = SHOpenFolderAndSelectItems(pidlTemp, 1, &pidl, 0); // recurse

            ILFree(pidlTemp);
        }
    }
    else
    {
        IShellFolderViewDual *psfv;
        hr = OpenFolderAndGetView(pidlFolder, &psfv);
        if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
        {
            DWORD dwSelFlags = SVSI_SELECT | SVSI_FOCUSED | SVSI_DESELECTOTHERS | SVSI_ENSUREVISIBLE;
            for (UINT i = 0; i < cidl; i++)
            {
                hr = SelectPidlInSFV(psfv, apidl[i], dwSelFlags);
                dwSelFlags = SVSI_SELECT;  // second items append to sel
            }
          psfv->Release();
        }
    }
    return hr;
}

---

Thanks, didn't know that. But I cannot find any information about how to implement this in VB6. I conclude from your question that it is possible though.

When you say your app is the registered file handler, I was assuming it was working similar to a shell extension, which has to implement all the standard folder interfaces to work in Explorer. Alternatives to Explorer like Explorer++ seem to implement IWebBrowser and IWebBrowserApp for having it's ListView recognized as a Shell Window; which you also need for the API to open the window in the first place; then the same QueryInterface responder that passes IWebBrowser[App] should also have IShellFolderViewDual available.

You're probably not going to get much help in VB6 beyond shell extensions that will show implementing some other component interfaces like IShellFolder.

I'm not even using a common control ListView, so I guess all this interface approach is going nowhere in my case. All I can use is a simple command line, and I get one (so the system treats me differently here from File Explorer), but unfortunately that command line only gives me the path, not the file. Oh well. Thanks anyway!

It doesn't matter if you use a ListView or not; it's up to your application how to implement calls like selecting an item.

I see, thanks! (Currently this is beyond my skills, but I'm learning...)

A bit beyond mine too, at least without months to figure out. Given all the quirks with implementing interfaces in VB6, who knows if it's even possible. The best guide would probably be looking at the source of Explorer++, which is in C++ but as mentioned does go in to the right interfaces.

Actually looking at it closer... Now thanks to that source code leak telling us what interfaces to implement... I think it might be as simple as using IShellWindows.Register and RegisterPending, pointing the IDispatch param at a class that implements that, and also implementations of IWebBrowserApp and IShelllFolderViewDual.

As long as when there's no explorer open, your app is what gets opened by e.g. Run and a path... If it's recognized as the default at that level it should work. I'm going to play around with this later.

Edit: I think the most important question right now... if you call ShellExecuteEx on a path, is it opened in your program? Or Explorer? Because if it's not opened in your program, then this will only ever work if your program is already open.

My program is called with that path as the (only) command line parameter, regardless whether it is already opened or not.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by voxy

My program is called with that path as the (only) command line parameter, regardless whether it is already opened or not.

---

As long as your program is what opens with ShellExecute, I think this can be done. I'm on it.

Incidentally; how does that work? How do you replace Explorer with your app for what Windows opens as the file browser in system calls? I'm not familiar with that part.

Via the registry. These are the two crucial keys, exported as REG file:

Code:

---

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Shell]
@="MyFileManager"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Shell\MyFileManager\Command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\MyFileManager\\MyFileManager.exe\" \"%1\""

---

Directories dbl-clicked e.g. on Desktop will now open in MyFileManager.exe (well, passed as command line to it). Also the shell context menu for directories will now show "MyFileManager" in the place of "Open".

Thanks to some key help from The_trick, I've gotten it working.

I'm going to post a demo of the technique in a bit, but here's an overview of the steps:

-When your app opens a folder, it needs to use both IShellWindows.RegisterPending and IShellWindows.Register to register the path you've opened, and your object implementing all the critical interfaces (a Form or a UserControl, because they have a default IDispatch we can inherit from).

-Your object needs to implement IServiceProvider, IWebBrowserApp, and, depending on the OS, either IShellView or IShellFolderViewDual-- I don't know which yet, 10 uses IShellView, XP uses IShellFolderViewDual, it changed some time in between.

-You'll probably want to implement IFolderView as well, for the purposes of other apps that get a list of windows.

Code:

---

Private Sub IServiceProvider_QueryService(guidService As UUID, riid As UUID, ppvObject As Long)
Dim pUnk As oleexp.IUnknown
List1.AddItem "IServiceProvider_QueryService Entry"
If IsEqualGUID(riid, IID_IShellBrowser) Then
    Set pUnk = Me
    pUnk.QueryInterface IID_IShellBrowser, ppvObject
ElseIf IsEqualGUID(riid, IID_IShellView) Then
    Set pUnk = Me
    pUnk.QueryInterface IID_IShellView, ppvObject
ElseIf IsEqualGUID(riid, IID_IOleWindow) Then
    List1.AddItem "ISP QueryService IOleWindow"
ElseIf IsEqualGUID(riid, IID_IShellFolderViewDual) Then
    List1.AddItem "ISP QueryService IShellFolderViewDual"
ElseIf IsEqualGUID(riid, IID_IWebBrowser) Then
    List1.AddItem "ISP QueryService IWebBrowser"
ElseIf IsEqualGUID(riid, IID_IWebBrowserApp) Then
    List1.AddItem "ISP QueryService IWebBrowserApp"
Else
    List1.AddItem "ISP QS Serv=" & dbg_GUIDToString(guidService)
    List1.AddItem "ISP QS riid=" & dbg_GUIDToString(riid)
End If
Set pUnk = Nothing
End Sub

Private Property Get IWebBrowserApp_Document() As Object
List1.AddItem "Entry: IWebBrowserApp_Document"
Set IWebBrowserApp_Document = Me
End Property


Private Sub IShellView_SelectItem(ByVal pidlItem As Long, ByVal uFlags As SVSI_Flags)
List1.AddItem "Entry: IShellView_SelectItem"
If pidlItem Then
    Dim lp As Long
    Dim pItem As oleexp.IShellItem
    oleexp.SHCreateItemFromIDList pidlItem, IID_IShellItem, pItem
    If (pItem Is Nothing) = False Then
        pItem.GetDisplayName SIGDN_FILESYSPATH, lp
        List1.AddItem "ISV_SelectItem(0x" & Hex$(uFlags) & ") " & LPWSTRtoStr(lp)
    Else
        List1.AddItem "ISV_SelectItem Got pidl, couldn't create IShellItem"
    End If
Else
    List1.AddItem "ISV_SelectItem entered by no pidl"
End If
End Sub

---

Edit: Demo posted! Note that you'll need the latest version of my typelibs oleexp.tlb, oleexpimp.tlb, and the mIID.bas that comes with the new version, as I had to add interfaces for this.

[VB6] Using IShellWindows to register for SHOpenFolderAndSelectItems

Wow, impressive! Your work, as well as the complexity of what is required. (Hey Microsoft, what's wrong with sending a simple command line?)

Thank you, man! I'll let you know when I got it running.

It was definitely great to come back to a fun challenge like this :afrog:

Tomorrow I'm going to work on implementing IFolderView so the new demo for this API also works with the enumerator in this thread.

Some notes on registering windows:

-In the code above and the demo, the SelectItem handler returns just the filename, but the SIGDN_ flag can be changed to SIGDN_DESKTOPABSOLUTEPARSING or SIGDN_FILESYSPATH to get the complete path, if that makes it easier (though you should obviously know the folder; the message only comes in if you've registered for the folder the file is in).

-RegisterPending and Register are linked... two parts of the same whole both needed for a shell window. The way it wprks, your app can register multiple locations with RegisterPending, but each one must have a unique hWnd associated with it... this is because when Register is called to finalize it, it looks up the thread with GetWindowThreadProcessId to complete the information.

-If you do register multiple windows, you must complete them one at a time (RegisterPending, load, Register)... because each Register call will take the most recent matching thread ID because it steps backwards through the structures that have been added.

-Whenever you're closing out a folder, call IShellWindows.Revoke with the cookie (keep track of them per-window). Register will return the same cookie RegisterPending did; if these get mismatched, it would be because you called RegisterPending multiple times before Register, and represent a problem.


Ps- if you're going to implement IFolderView and IFolderView2 for compatibility with the enumerator in this thread, the versions in oleexp can't be used. If you downloaded the oleexp 4.8 zip in the first hour or so after I posted it, it might have been before my stealth update to oleexpimp.tlb v2.1, so check the version on that. Or just re-dl now.

Here's a test version of that demo that's compatible with the enumator in this thread. It's just passing nonsense hardcoded values for the most part. Make sure mFile is set if you change the selected item count above 1.

The only thing not working is GetSortColumns. I can't figure out how to pass an array of a user defined type in a way compatible with the IFolderView2 in oleexp. I might have to edit that and this project. But in the mean time, everything else works.

This adds mPKEY.bas from the oleexp download too. And as mentioned, needs oleexpimp.tlb v2.1, which was stealth uploaded a few hours after the original 4.8 release.

Still working on my full blown Explorer window with ucShellBrowse, that will take a while.

Edit: Official demos updated.

Thanks a much for delicious examples!

Just a little remark, please, do sText = "" somewhere to prevent recurse fill column #4:

Faf, this is very good. Very impressed. Forgive me drawing attention to this new thread but the question might be one that you have come across and may have an answer. I'm looking to obtain similar information as above but from the MMC console.

https://www.vbforums.com/showthread....56#post5601556

This sample Fafalone posted seems abit "overkill" and to advanced as it doesn't have to be.
And for this sample to work at least ONE instance of Explorer.exe need to be active!!
This did Fafalone left out!!
Or else it just return with no info!

Code:

---

Public Function ShGetIShellWindows(pISW As IShellWindows) As Long
  Static CLSID_ShellWindows As GUID
 
  Dim hr As Long
 
  hr = GuidFromStringW(StrPtr(sCLSID_ShellWindows), CLSID_ShellWindows)
  hr = CoCreateInstance(CLSID_ShellWindows, 0, CLSCTX_ALL, IID_IShellWindows, pISW)
 
  If hr = S_OK Then
    ShGetIShellWindows = S_OK
  Else
    ShGetIShellWindows = hr
  End If
End Function

Public Function ShGetIShellBrowser(ByVal bUseItem As Boolean, pISB_Out As IShellBrowser) As Long
  Dim pUnk As oleexp.IUnknown
  Dim pUnkEnum As oleexp.IUnknown
  Dim hr As Long
  Dim pISW As IShellWindows
  Dim pIEV As oleexp.IEnumVARIANT
 
  hr = ShGetIShellWindows(pISW)
 
  If bUseItem = True Then
    Set pUnk = pISW.item(pISW.Count - 1)
  Else
  'This is inteneded for the Count Method but still not inplemented
  End If
 
  If hr = S_OK Then
    If Not pUnk Is Nothing Then
      hr = IUnknown_QueryService(ObjPtr(pUnk), SID_STopLevelBrowser, IID_IShellBrowser, pISB_Out)
    End If
    ShGetIShellBrowser = hr
  End If
  ShGetIShellBrowser = hr
End Function

Private Sub Command6_Click()
  Dim pISB As IShellBrowser
  Dim pIFV As IFolderView2
  Dim pISI As IShellItem
  Dim pUnk As oleexp.IUnknown
  Dim lpName As Long

  ShGetIShellBrowser True, pISB
 
  If Not pISB Is Nothing Then
    pISB.QueryActiveShellView pISV
    Set pUnk = pISV
    pUnk.QueryInterface IID_IFolderView2, pIFV
    If Not pIFV Is Nothing Then
      pIFV.GetFolder IID__IShellItem, pISI
      pISI.GetDisplayName SIGDN_NORMALDISPLAY, lpName
      MsgBox "Name Found: " & GetStrAFromStrPtrW(lpName), vbInformation
    End If
  Else
    MsgBox "IShellBrowser Interface was never set! Or an instance of Explorer.exe was never active!", vbExclamation
  End If

End Sub

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Count seems ALWAYS be 1!!

I really needed to spell out that in order to get information about windows, at least one needs to be open??

Also it doesn't have to be Explorer.exe... it can be anything that registers with IShellWindows. I provided a demo of how to do that. The newer twinBASIC versions of ucShellBrowse have an option to do that, so they'll show up in this list, and respond to your web browser or other program using SHOpenFolderAndSelectItems.

Whether it's overkill or not; it depends on what information you want. Sure, you can write simpler things to get less info. I wrote something similar to this to just close a window by path:

Code:

---

Private Sub CloseExplorerWindowByPath(sPath As String)
    On Error GoTo e0
    Dim pWindows As ShellWindows
    Set pWindows = New ShellWindows
    Dim pWB2 As IWebBrowser2
    #If TWINBASIC Then
    Dim pDisp As IDispatch
    #Else
    Dim pDisp As oleexp.IDispatch
    #End If
    Dim pSP As IServiceProvider
    Dim pSB As IShellBrowser
    Dim pSView As IShellView
    Dim pFView As IFolderView2
    Dim pFolder As IShellItem
    Dim lpPath As LongPtr, sCurPath As String
    Dim nCount As Long
    Dim i As Long
    Dim hr As Long
    nCount = pWindows.Count
    If nCount < 1 Then
            Debug.Print "No open Explorer windows found."
        Exit Sub
    End If
    For i = 0 To nCount - 1
        Set pDisp = pWindows.Item(i)
        If (pDisp Is Nothing) = False Then
            Set pSP = pDisp
            If (pSP Is Nothing) = False Then
                pSP.QueryService SID_STopLevelBrowser, IID_IShellBrowser, pSB
                If (pSB Is Nothing) = False Then
                    pSB.QueryActiveShellView pSView
                    If (pSView Is Nothing) = False Then
                        Set pFView = pSView
                        If (pFView Is Nothing) = False Then
                            pFView.GetFolder IID_IShellItem, pFolder
                            pFolder.GetDisplayName SIGDN_FILESYSPATH, lpPath
                            sCurPath = LPWSTRtoStr(lpPath)
                            Debug.Print "CompPath " & sCurPath & "||" & sPath
                            If LCase$(sCurPath) = LCase$(sPath) Then
                                Set pWB2 = pDisp
                                If (pWB2 Is Nothing) = False Then
                                    pWB2.Quit
                                    Exit Sub
                                Else
                                    Debug.Print "Couldn't get IWebWebrowser2"
                                End If
                            End If
                        Else
                            Debug.Print "Couldn't get IFolderView"
                        End If
                    Else
                            Debug.Print "Couldn't get IShellView"
                    End If
                Else
                    Debug.Print "Couldn't get IShellBrowser"
                End If
            Else
                    Debug.Print "Couldn't get IServiceProvider"
            End If
        Else
            Debug.Print "Couldn't get IDispatch"
        End If
    Next
    Debug.Print "Couldn't find path."
Exit Sub
e0:
    Debug.Print "CloseExplorerPathByWindow.Error->0x" & Hex$(Err.Number) & ", " & Err.Description
End Sub

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