OpenFolder - An explorer shell extension

• Download Source Files - 19.56 KB
• Download Setup Kit - 88.08 KB
• Download Setup Kit x64 - 99.99 KB

Introduction

I know this is a tiny little article and will probably get flamed, but it only a small utility and I have had several requests for its source code.

Some of you may find it useful anyway; I use it all the time.

OpenFolder is a shell extension which I wrote quite a while ago. It provides a new menu item on the Context Menu under Explorer.

The new menu item "Open Command Prompt Here" ... will open a Command Prompt box at the location of the file/folder that was selected when the menu was clicked.

OpenFolder runs as an explorer context menu shell extension and is written in C++ using ATL.

Installation

Simply download the setup kit, run it and click on 'Next', 'Install' and 'Finish'.

Once installed, right-click on a file or folder in explorer (or most other applications), then click on the 'Open Command Prompt Here...' menu item.

A new Command Prompt will be opened in the selected folder.

Windows Vista

OpenFolder now supports Elevated Command Prompts if it detects that it is running on Vista, see the screen shot above for the new "Open an Elevated Command Prompt Here..." menu item.

64-bit OpenFolder

I received an email from a user of OpenFolder saying that it did not work on XP x64. This is normal as 32-bit shell extensions cannot be loaded into a 64-bit Windows Explorer. I wanted to create a 64-bit version for them so I recompiled OpenFolder as a 64-bit appilcation and created a new setup kit to support the 64-bit install.

The 64-bit installation has been tested on 64-bit versions of XP and Vista.

License

This software is provided 'as-is', without any express or implied warranty. In no event will the authors be held liable for any damages arising from the use of this software.

Permission is granted to anyone to use this software for any purpose, including commercial applications, and to alter it and redistribute it freely, subject to the following restrictions:

• The origin of this software must not be misrepresented; you must not claim that you wrote the original software.
  If you use this software in a product, an acknowledgement in the product documentation would be appreciated but is not required.
• Altered source versions must be plainly marked as such, and must not be misrepresented as being the original software.
• This notice may not be removed or altered from any source distribution.

History

• 3.20 (Jun 17, 2008) - Updated the project to Visual Studio 2008 and created the 64-bit version and a new x64 setup kit.
• 3.12 (Jun 21, 2007) - Fix on non-vista PC's where by version 3.11 broke the context menu.
• 3.11 (June 10, 2007) - Fixed some bugs in the command processing code which was using the wrong command id's to determine what to process.
• 3.10 (May 31, 2007) - Updated to support Windows Vista, including a new menu item for opening Elevated Command Prompts.
• 3.01 (Mar 8, 2006) - Now compiled under Visual Studio .NET 2005, also the setup kit now created with NSIS.
• 3.00 (Oct 22, 2005) - Rewrite to compile under Visual Studio.NET 2003. A few minor bug fixes too.
• 2.00 (Apr 29, 2003) - Complete rewrite using ATL.
• 1.00 (Apr 11, 1998) - Initial Public Release.

Bugs

The shield icon does not display correctly in the context menu, the fix is to make the menu item owner draw. I intend to fix this when I have time.