Can someone help translate or modify this?

[.paul.]

I found this code on SO. It apparently saves the filenames from multiple selected files from explorer, then when all are saved, launches a second program (or should), passing an array of filenames as commandline arguments. I need this program to run invisibly in the background, then launch C:\\Program Files\\WarpDrive\\copyfile.exe when it has acquired all of the filenames. Is this something that could be translated to VB?

Command-Queuer.cmd
------------------

@ECHO OFF
SETLOCAL

:: SETUP PARAMETERS: Control temp file location and delay before running
SET QueueFile="%TEMP%\Multi-Item-Queue.txt"
SET /A Secs=5

:: MAIN PROGRAM: If the first instance create the queue and wait, otherwise transfer to queue and exit
IF EXIST %QueueFile% ( ECHO %* >> %QueueFile% ) ELSE (
    ECHO %* > %QueueFile%
    ECHO Waiting %Secs% seconds for other files to finish queuing then will activate...
    TIMEOUT /T %Secs% /NOBREAK >nul
    
    REM - ADD YOUR CODE HERE TO PROCESS THE QUEUE FILE AS A WHOLE
    REM - Example: Display popup of all file paths selected: Msg %username% <%QueueFile%
    
    REM - ALTERNATIVELY, ITERATE THROUGH EACH LINE OF THE FILE
    REM - Example: FOR /F "tokens=*" %%Z in (%QueueFile%) DO ( COPY %%Z "C:\Backup" )
    
    :: Delete the queue file when finished
    DEL %QueueFile%
)
GOTO:EOF

I then have a registry association and a command. In place of C:\\Program Files\\WarpDrive\\copyfile.exe, i want to run Command-Queuer.cmd. Is this possible, and where should i put this file?

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\*\shell\myactiontoplevel\Shell\myaction_a\Shell\myaction_a1\Comm and]
@="C:\\Program Files\\WarpDrive\\copyfile.exe %1"

[fafalone]

I don't really understand what's going on here but you know you can write a dll to add right click options and do whatever you want with the selection. VB.NET can do this; for VB6 language you'd probably want twinBASIC... easier than either vb.net or vb6 and x64 supported (I made a couple of these recently; here and here). Context menu handlers. Much more control than simply shelling a command file. Add an enqueue and enqueue+finish option?

Or you could use IShellWindows to sit in the background and monitor Explorer windows and record selections.. not sure if that's more what you're looking for.

[.paul.]

I don't really understand what's going on here…

The problem with the right click menu is that it runs a program once for every selected file.
I want it to amalgamate all of the selected file names, then… run a program once for the group of selected files, instead of individually one by one.

[Shaggy Hiker]

The problem with the right click menu is that it runs a program once for every selected file.

It looks to me like the code you posted would do that, as well. That looks like it just adds things to a text file, or suggests that you might either iterate through a queue by some means not well described.

[.paul.]

It looks to me like the code you posted would do that, as well. That looks like it just adds things to a text file, or suggests that you might either iterate through a queue by some means not well described.

It will run once for every file, but it just saves the filenames, THEN, on the last run, passes all of the filenames to an executable (i need to modify that part so it runs my app)...

[cornholio]

Yes, it is possible to translate this batch script into a VBScript that runs invisibly in the background and launches `C:\\Program Files\\WarpDrive\\copyfile.exe` when it has acquired all the filenames. Below is an example of how you can achieve this:

### VBScript (Command-Queuer.vbs)
```vbscript

Option Explicit

Dim objFSO, objShell, objFile, objTextFile, strQueueFile, strArgs, strLine, arrArgs, i
Dim intSecs

' Setup parameters
strQueueFile = CreateObject("WScript.Shell").ExpandEnvironmentStrings("%TEMP%\Multi-Item-Queue.txt")
intSecs = 5

Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set objShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")

' Main program
If objFSO.FileExists(strQueueFile) Then
    ' Append arguments to the queue file
    Set objTextFile = objFSO.OpenTextFile(strQueueFile, 8, True)
    For i = 0 To WScript.Arguments.Count - 1
        objTextFile.WriteLine WScript.Arguments(i)
    Next
    objTextFile.Close
Else
    ' Create the queue file and wait
    Set objTextFile = objFSO.CreateTextFile(strQueueFile, True)
    For i = 0 To WScript.Arguments.Count - 1
        objTextFile.WriteLine WScript.Arguments(i)
    Next
    objTextFile.Close

    ' Wait for other files to finish queuing
    WScript.Sleep intSecs * 1000

    ' Process the queue file
    Set objTextFile = objFSO.OpenTextFile(strQueueFile, 1)
    strArgs = ""
    Do Until objTextFile.AtEndOfStream
        strLine = objTextFile.ReadLine
        strArgs = strArgs & " """ & strLine & """"
    Loop
    objTextFile.Close

    ' Launch the external program with the collected arguments
    objShell.Run """C:\Program Files\WarpDrive\copyfile.exe""" & strArgs, 0, False

    ' Delete the queue file
    objFSO.DeleteFile strQueueFile
End If
```

### Registry Association
You can update your registry association to run the VBScript instead of the batch file. Here is how you can do it:

```reg
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\*\shell\myactiontoplevel\Shell\myaction_a\Shell\myaction_a1\Comm and]
@="wscript.exe "C:\\Path\\To\\Command-Queuer.vbs" "%1""
```

### Explanation
1. **VBScript**: The script creates or appends to a queue file in the `%TEMP%` directory. It waits for a specified number of seconds to allow other files to be queued. After the wait, it reads the queue file, collects all filenames, and launches `copyfile.exe` with the collected filenames as command-line arguments. The script runs invisibly in the background.

2. **Registry Association**: The registry entry is updated to run the VBScript using `wscript.exe`, which ensures the script runs invisibly.

Make sure to replace `"C:\\Path\\To\\Command-Queuer.vbs"` with the actual path to your VBScript file. This setup should achieve the desired functionality.

[wqweto]

Btw, in Chrome address bar you can type @, select Gemini and enter "translate code" or similar. Then literally copy/paste OP to get content similar to the post above my post.

cheers,
</wqw>

[grindmore]

The code you found on Stack Overflow seems to be a good starting point, and converting it to VB shouldn't be too difficult. You'll need to create a Windows Forms app to handle the file selection and saving of the filenames, and then use the Process.Start() method to launch the copyfile.exe program in the background when you have acquired all the filenames.

[fafalone]

The problem with the right click menu is that it runs a program once for every selected file.
I want it to amalgamate all of the selected file names, then… run a program once for the group of selected files, instead of individually one by one.

This isn't true. A shell extension receives every selected file at once. Your DLL is called once per right click with all selected files; it's not like adding an association in the registry.