How Do I Open A Specific Subfolder With Explorer

Question

1.00/5 (1 vote)

See more:

Hello,
I have a little difficulty in completing this simple program:

C#

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.IO;

namespace Find_directories
{
    public partial class Form1 : Form
    {
        public Form1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }

        private void txtbox_find_TextChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {

        }

        private void button_browse_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {

            String v = txtbox_find.Text;
            System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(new System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo()
            {
                FileName = @"c:\" + v,
                UseShellExecute = true,
                Verb = "open"
            });
        }
       
    }
}

Currently the application is only opening the directories that are contained in c: root, but what i want is to look in the directory c: and open with the explorer the directory / subdirectory inserted into the textbox (txtbox_find).

Example: I put in the textbox "drivers" click on the browse button and the application searchs and opens with explorer that folder.

Thanks in advanced,

Posted 27-Apr-15 4:44am

Member 11401516

Add a Solution

Comments

Andy Lanng 27-Apr-15 10:59am

What if there is more than one folder called "drivers"?
Do you want to perform a full explorer search to find them all?
Please explain what this is for so that we may have some context of what you are trying to do. There may be much better ways of achieving the same goal.

Thanks ^_^

Member 11401516 27-Apr-15 11:19am

Yes i whant to perform a full explorer search to find them all

2 solutions

Solution 1

In your text box txtbox_find, all you need to do is include the sub-directory.
Example:
Windows
Windows\System32
Program Files\Microsoft

I would also change your code to this:

C#

String pathToOpen = System.IO.Path.Combine(@"C:\", txtbox_find.Text);
System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(new System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo()
{
    FileName = pathToOpen,
    UseShellExecute = true,
    Verb = "open",
});

Posted 27-Apr-15 5:09am

virusstorm

Comments

Member 11401516 27-Apr-15 11:22am

Ok but but if I do not know the path to this subdirectory. I want to search it with explorer.

virusstorm 27-Apr-15 11:34am

Are you trying to write a search tool?

Dave Kreskowiak 27-Apr-15 11:42am

Explorer doesn't have a command line option to start a search. You'll have to search the drives yourself to come up with paths that have the search term.

Member 11401516 27-Apr-15 11:50am

Yes i'm trying to make a search tool

virusstorm 27-Apr-15 12:06pm

The solution Richard posted will work, but I would strong suggest a more robust option with is to use the Windows Search SDK.
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=7388

Add a Solution

Add your solution here

Treat my content as plain text, not as HTML

Preview 0

…

Existing Members

Sign in to your account

...or Join us

Download, Vote, Comment, Publish.

Your Email
Password
Forgot your password?

Your Email
This email is in use. Do you need your password?
Optional Password

I have read and agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
Please subscribe me to the CodeProject newsletters

When answering a question please:

Read the question carefully.
Understand that English isn't everyone's first language so be lenient of bad spelling and grammar.
If a question is poorly phrased then either ask for clarification, ignore it, or edit the question and fix the problem. Insults are not welcome.
Don't tell someone to read the manual. Chances are they have and don't get it. Provide an answer or move on to the next question.

Let's work to help developers, not make them feel stupid.

This content, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)

Richard Deeming · Accepted Answer · 2015-04-27T05:45:00

This is something which should be simple - just pass SearchOption.AllDirectories to the EnumerateDirectories method[^].

Unfortunately, it's not that simple. When your code encounters a directory to which it doesn't have access, the EnumerateDirectories method will throw an UnauthorizedAccessException and quit. There's no way to skip that directory and continue with the next one.

As a result, you'll need to write your own method to enumerate the directories. Something like this should work:

C#

public static IEnumerable<DirectoryInfo> SafeEnumerateDirectories(DirectoryInfo root)
{
    if (root == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("root");
    if (!root.Exists) return Enumerable.Empty<DirectoryInfo>();
    return SafeEnumerateDirectoriesCore(root);
}

private static IEnumerable<DirectoryInfo> SafeEnumerateDirectoriesCore(DirectoryInfo root)
{
    var searchPaths = new Stack<DirectoryInfo>();
    searchPaths.Push(root);

    while (searchPaths.Count != 0)
    {
        DirectoryInfo currentPath = searchPaths.Pop();
        yield return currentPath;
        
        DirectoryInfo[] subFolders = null;
        try
        {
            foreach (var subDirectory in currentPath.EnumerateDirectories())
            {
                searchPaths.Push(subDirectory);
            }
        }
        catch (UnauthorizedAccessException)
        {
        }
    }
}

You can then use LINQ to find the matching directories and open them:

C#

string toFind = txtbox_find.Text;
var root = new DirectoryInfo(@"C:\");

var matchingDirectories = SafeEnumerateDirectories(root)
    .Where(d => string.Equals(d.Name, toFind, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
;

foreach (DirectoryInfo directory in matchingDirectories)
{
    Process.Start(new ProcessStartInfo
    {
        FileName = directory.FullName,
        UseShellExecute = true,
        Verb = "open"
    });
}