Copy Location Shell Extension

Download source files - 38 Kb

Download the shell extension - 28 Kb

Introduction

This shell extension adds the ability to copy file and folder names from the Windows Explorer window to the clipboard. Simply select the file(s) whose name you want to copy, right-click and select "Copy File Path" or "Copy File Name" from the context menu. Then paste to any editor.

Copy File Path - copies the entire path to the file.
Copy File Name - copies only the file name without the folder.

This utility is inspired by Michael Dunn's article The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing Shell Extensions. Thanks Michael!

Setup

1. Unzip CopyLocation.zip to the folder where you want to install the utility (e.g., C:\Winnt).
2. Go to the installation folder and double-click on Install.bat.
3. If you wish, you can delete Install.bat.

Install.bat registers CopyLocation.dll in the system.

Alternatively you can:

1. Copy CopyLocation.dll to the installation folder (e.g., C:\Winnt).
2. From the Start Menu select Run...
3. Type "regsvr32.exe C:\Winnt\CopyLocation.dll" and press OK (specify the exact installation folder)

To uninstall the shell extension:

1. From the Start Menu select Run...
2. Type "regsvr32.exe /u C:\Winnt\CopyLocation.dll" and press OK (specify the exact installation folder)
3. Delete CopyLocation.dll from the installation folder.

Possible problems

This shell extension has been tested on Windows 98 and on NT 4.0 with Internet Explorer 5.0. I don't know how it will function under other operating systems. Please write to me if you encounter any problems.

Contacting me

Bug reports, requests, features? Write to me at etay@writeme.com.
Go to my website for latest updates about this utility and other tools I made.

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Thanks! jpascuet 6:32 4 Apr '08   Mucho tiempo intenté programar esta utilidad porque siempre la necesité y Microsoft nunca la incluyó. Muchas gracias por hacerlo bien y hacerlo facil!!!! Juan Pascuet Argentina Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Re: Thanks! IicFox 22:54 18 Oct '09   thsk 2... Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Can you paste multiple attributes into a spreadsheet? DataSpa 13:39 21 Aug '07   Hi. First of all GREAT SCRIPT! Thanks for posting it. I was wondering if this shell extension can be modified to copy multiple attributes in explorer like, file location, name, file type, date modified at once, then I can paste all the info into a spreadsheet into cells. So I could get a result in my spreadsheet like this (examaple): Filename | File Type | Date Modified | File Path BigBox.dwg AutoCAD 12/12/2009 c:\drawings\files\boxes SmallBox.dwg AutoCAD 10/12/2009 c:\drawings\files\boxes BlueBoxes.dwg AutoCAD 10/12/2009 c:\drawings\files\boxes (Sorry this text sample doesn't illustrate the output very well but each attribute for an item would have to paste into the next cell.) I have directories I have to put an archive list together for and I am looking for a solution. Your script has helped me already but I was wondering if it can do multiple items at once. Thanks VERY MUCH! Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Registration in Vista Ultimate cmlang42 17:59 3 Jul '07   I recently bought a new windows system and unfortunately I was stuck with Windows Vista. So I attempt to register this DLL utility via a command line and no luck. A bit of research and find that I must use an 'elevated command prompt'. This can be done via a right-mouse-click on the 'Command Prompt' menu entry and selecting 'Run as administrator'. This is not a reflection of the usefulness of this app, in fact it is great. I just thought I'd share this tip with those that might want to run this app on Windows Vista. Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Re: Registration in Vista Ultimate Itay Szekely 22:24 3 Jul '07   In previous versions of Windows you also need administrator permissions to register COM objects. The thing is that in Vista you don't get these by default. Itay Szekely http://grebulon.com For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Re: Registration in Vista Ultimate TedToal 10:29 20 Oct '08   I can't get this to work on a Vista 64 machine, even though I registered it with elevated privilege. Does it work under Vista 64? I sure hope so; this is my pet shell extension, a MUST HAVE! Ted Toal Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Re: Registration in Vista Ultimate Itay Szekely 14:51 20 Oct '08   It's compiled as 32-bit dll, so it won't work with 64-bit explorer. I really need to take some time and build it newly for vista sometime. Itay Szekely http://grebulon.com For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Copy Location Shell Extension functionality [modified] hackeronte de bugger 7:18 4 May '07   I'd like to pass the string of names/paths as input (multiple params) to CMDline apps or scripts, that aren't able to receive arguments from the shell, as static items in right-click context menu. But unfortunately my skill as coder is unsufficient to resolve this challenging task... any precious hints? Thank in advance, hackeronte de bugger, from old Italy -- modified at 12:23 Friday 4th May, 2007 Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Combine filename and location j0ha|\| 23:00 30 Aug '06   Hello, this nice extension would help me even better if it would be possible to combine both the file name and the location in to one string. So, the option Copy location and file would return for instance C:\testflr\test.txt as one string on the clipboard. Any ideas how to achieve this? Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Re: Combine filename and location Itay Szekely 23:09 30 Aug '06   That's exactly what it does! Itay Szekely http://grebulon.com For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Excellent Stober 10:07 23 Aug '05   Best thing since Mom's Apple Pie! And it works great on XP Pro with SP 2. I don't see any of the problems reported earlier (truncated text) so you must have fixed it in the current release. Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Urgent. Anonymous 12:12 9 Feb '05   Can any one to help me to know How to paste/write into Temporary Internet Folder. PLease. I appreciate of your help. Thank you. Armadi. Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Need Help. Anonymous 12:48 29 Jan '05   How to paste/write file into temporary internet folder? Please Help. Thank you. Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Get *.lnk File Path Miss Fress 19:02 5 Apr '04   Hi, Great sample code. Unfortunately, how to get *.lnk (shortcut) file path. Everytime I tried to copy shortcut file path, what i get is the target path and not the shortcut file itself. Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 4.40/5 (2 votes) Re: Get *.lnk File Path Hardwired 3:04 4 Dec '05   Yeap, got the same problem. Thank you, Andrei CIUBOTARU [Hardwired] "Prisma Firewall" Lead Developer "Prisma Firewall" Project Manager ICode&Ideas SRL hardwired@prismafirewall.com http://www.prismafirewall.com/ President of Inocentric SRL, Romania office@inocentric.com http://www.inocentric.com/ Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Doesn't copy whole text Bard 6:31 25 Feb '03   Hi, your program is a very cool sample for shell extensions. Sadly does it not work for me. When I run the debugger and use explorer.exe as the attached application I can trace the code and the whole path is copied into the clipboard. When I simply right-click in the explorer on a file and select "Copy File Path" or "Copy File Name" in the pop-up menu, only the first character of the intended result-string is copied into the clipboard. Has you or someone else experienced this? Bernhard Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Re: Doesn't copy whole text Mandar D. Sahasrabuddhe 3:22 15 Mar '03   Hi Bernhard, I am also facing the same problem. Somehow only first character is copied to the clipboard. I am using W2K professional edition as OS. Does it have to do anything with the OS? Can you please tell how to debug the dll? I attached explorer.exe but am not able to debug it, it simply does not go into the debug mode! Your help would be appricated. Thanks and regards, Mandar Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Re: Doesn't copy whole text Bard 22:47 16 Mar '03   Hi Mandar, I set the project up to a debug configuration, set a breakpiont and press F10. In the upcoming dialog asking for the program to attach the DLL to, I search for Explorer.exe in C:\winnt and press OK. Now I press F5 and VS begins to start the Explorer and runs it. When I rightclick a file and I set my breakpoint right VS reaches the breakpoint and I can step through the code. To the problem with the one character...I don't pass the result of GlobalLock(...) to the function working with the string but the original pointer. I don't know what it's good or bad for, but it works. Best, Bernhard Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Solution to "Doesn't copy whole text Mandar D. Sahasrabuddhe 21:44 15 Mar '03   Hi, Yesterday I had posted a query on how to debug the dll ... but got the solution by following links in this article itself ... key to it is "DesktopProcess" DWORD in appropriate registry key with value 1. Now regarding the main problem of whole text not getting copied. On debugging the application I realized that the clipboard indeed has the whole string copied onto it. The problem is not with the application but the build of the application. Build the dll as non-unicode and it just works out fine. One can trace this behaviour by checking the memory contents at address contained in pCom variable. Use the "Memory" window in VC for the same. Take example of "D:\". In non-Unicode it stored in memory as, "44 3A 5C" But in unicode it is stored as "44 00 3A 00 5C 00" ... notice the doubling of length and the "00" that appear due to Unicode string. The OS however treats this as a non-Unicode string and interprets it as D \0 : \0 \ \0 ... 6 characters in place of 3. Notice how 00 in Unicode is being mis-interpreted as \0. Hence though clipboard contains the correct unicode data, it is being wrongly interpreted during paste operation. If the clipboard uses strcpy to do pasting operation, it will stop at first '\0' it encounters. Hence only first character 'D' will be pasted, although the whole path is present on clipboard in memory! Solution: Build the dll in non-Unicode version and see it working just as expected! Regards, Mandar Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink How to Copy/Move Temporary Internet File? Stuard 10:33 20 Sep '02   Hi, I was trying to copy/move some file from Temporary Internet Files to some other directory. In my application I used function MoveFile("....\\Temporary Internet Files\\Banner.gif","....Cat.gif") but it doesn't work. With some other directories it works fine. Why is Temporary Internet Files dir so special, and what function will nicely move file from Temp... to some other dir??? Please, help!!! thanks. Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Re: No Tim Smith 10:41 20 Sep '02   No Tim Smith "Programmers are always surrounded by complexity; we can not avoid it... If our basic tool, the language in which we design and code our programs, is also complicated, the language itself becomes part of the problem rather that part of the solution." Hoare - 1980 ACM Turing Award Lecture Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 1.00/5 (1 vote) Nice idea! Alvaro Mendez 7:16 16 Aug '01   This is a nice idea! It will definitely come in handy. Thanks, Alvaro Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Tiny Update (compilation problem) Itay Szekely 23:56 8 Apr '00   I got a note from someone who had a compilation error. If you encounter this, change line 178 in CopyLocationShl.cpp from: clipBuffer += "\r\n"; to: clipBuffer += _T("\r\n"); Another thing. You have to have administrative rights to run regsvr32.exe on Windows NT. I don't know how to work around this, if you have a clue, drop me a line Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 2.50/5 (4 votes)

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