VB.NET (1.1) : Show Copy Progress Dialog while copying Files

[Shuja Ali]

We have always wanted to have those progress bars that Windows Comes up with while copying/moving/deleting Files. In VB.NET we usually tend to use File.Copy function but this does not show us the progress of the File Copying. IN order to add this type of functionality to VB.NET application we can use SHFileOperation API. Here is a class that uses the SHFileOPeration API to copy files from one location to another

Public Class FileCopy
 
#Region "API Declaration"
    'Enum for holding Constants 
    Private Enum FO_Func As Short
        FO_COPY = &H2
        FO_DELETE = &H3
        FO_MOVE = &H1
        FO_RENAME = &H4
        FOF_ALLOWUNDO = &H40
        FOF_NOCONFIRMATION = &H10
    End Enum
    'Structure that will be used to pass values to the SHFileOPeration API
    Private Structure SHFILEOPSTRUCT
        Dim hwnd As Integer
        Dim wFunc As Integer
        Dim pFrom As String
        Dim pTo As String
        Dim fFlags As Short
        Dim fAnyOperationsAborted As Boolean
        Dim hNameMappings As Integer
        Dim lpszProgressTitle As String
    End Structure
    'Declaration of the API
    Private Declare Function SHFileOperation Lib "shell32.dll" Alias _
         "SHFileOperationA" (ByRef lpFileOp As SHFILEOPSTRUCT) As Integer
#End Region
 
 
    'Copy Files function used to copy files from Source to Target
    'Param1 : sSource --> The source file or Folder
    'Param2 : sSource --> The target file or Folder
    Public Shared Function CopyFiles(ByVal sSource As String, ByVal sTarget As String) As Boolean
        Dim _ShFile As SHFILEOPSTRUCT
        Try
            _ShFile.wFunc = FO_Func.FO_COPY
            _ShFile.fFlags = FO_Func.FOF_ALLOWUNDO
            _ShFile.pFrom = sSource
            _ShFile.pTo = sTarget
            SHFileOperation(_ShFile)
        Catch ex As Exception
            MessageBox.Show(ex.Message)
            Return False
        End Try
        Return True
    End Function
End Class

In our code we can use it like this

FileCopy.CopyFiles("C:\*.*", "C:\NewFolder")

In VB 2005 Express, almost all the Shell32 function have been included in MY object.

Edit--
The above solution is for 2003 version. If you are using VB 2005 then you don't have to call this API. Almost all the FileSystem operations cane be performed by My.Computer.FileSystem Object.