A simple method to create a shortcut to an executable file

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Introduction

It is not easy to create a shortcut for an executable file in program. William Rayer has a good article to introduce a method about it; you could see that here. But, that solution may be complex to some people. There is a simple method which can do the same thing.

Background

As we all know, a shortcut is a *.lnk file which has a complex content. *.URL has the same function as *.lnk, but its content is very simple. For example:

======================================== 
[InternetShortcut] 
URL=C:\MyFolder\Test.exe 
IconIndex=0 
IconFile=C:\MyFolder\Test.exe 
========================================

Save the the file, and we can get a shortcut to Test.exe.

Sample program

We will see how to create a shortcut using code. We can use 'WritePrivateProfileString' to create a *.URL easily.

#include <windows.h>
#include <stdio.h>

BOOL CreateShortcut(char *ptchExecutableFileName, char *ptchShortcutName)
{
    BOOL Res = TRUE;
    FILE *fp;
    
    if(NULL == (fp = fopen(ptchExecutableFileName, "r")))
    {
        printf("\nCan`t find executable file!\n");
        return FALSE;
    }
    fclose(fp);
    
    Res &= WritePrivateProfileString("InternetShortcut", 
               "URL", ptchExecutableFileName, ptchShortcutName);
    Res &= WritePrivateProfileString("InternetShortcut", 
               "IconIndex", "0", ptchShortcutName);
    Res &= WritePrivateProfileString("InternetShortcut", 
               "IconFile", ptchExecutableFileName, ptchShortcutName);
    
    return Res;
}


/* 
    For example: create a shortcut on desktop for e:\Test.exe 
    CreateShortcut("E:\\Test.exe", 
      "C:\\Documents and Settings\\Administrator\\Desktop\\Test.url");
//*/

Existing issue

The method can create a shortcut to an executable file normally. But I don't know how to create a shortcut to a folder. If there is a folder c:\MyFolder, we make the following file:

======================================== 
[InternetShortcut] 
URL=C:\MyFolder
IconIndex=0 
IconFile=C:\MyFolder 
========================================

Save it. When you click the icon of the file, you can open the folder, but the display of the icon is abnormal!

If you known a solution to this, please share it.