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'Copy To' & 'Move To' in Shell Context Menu.

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7 Jan 2001 138K   1.8K   32   23
This article is all about how to create a context menu shell extension. 'Copy To' & 'Move To' will be added to the files/folder context menu.

Sample Image - ContMenuExt.gif

Introduction

In Win2K you can see two new tool bar buttons in Windows Explorer: Copy To & Move To. Yet Microsoft hasn't realized to include these two entries in files/folders context menu. I wish for these entries in context menu because every time for copying or moving files/folders, I have to change the folders or have to push those new tool bar buttons in Win2K.

Following example will create those two entries in context menu.

I assume that you are familiar of creating shell extensions, COM, clipboard operation and Shell APIs. (Esposito Dino's book is very handy for any beginner shell programmer).

Follow all steps that are required to create a shell extension.

Following keys in registry will tell shell that, you are extending the files/folders context menu. Those are:

#define SZ_DIRCONTEXTMENUEXT  
  _T("Directory\\shellex\\ContextMenuHandlers\\Mumtaz")
#define SZ_FILECONTEXTMENUEXT  
  _T("*\\shellex\\ContextMenuHandlers\\Mumtaz")
#define SZ_FOLDERCONTEXTMENUEXT  
  _T("Folder\\shellex\\ContextMenuHandlers\\Mumtaz")

Don't be confused with text Mumtaz; that's my Name.

When user views the context menu of file/folders, shell starts the game of looking for any one who is extending the shell. That will include the difficult words like DllGetClassObject, IClassFactory, DllMain...

My concern is to tell you about IContextMenu, not all of it but Intialize and InvokeCommand.

First Initialize, it has the following prototype:

IContextMenu::Initialize (LPCITEMIDLIST pidlFolder, 
        LPDATAOBJECT lpdobj, HKEY hKeyProgID);

Our concern is the LPDATAOBJECT. We can retrieve the list of files/folders being selected through this data object pointer. This includes FORMATETC for clipboard format and STGMEDIUM for storage medium. You can study these two structures in detail on MSDN. We put the files/folders being selected, in a class member m_pszSource.

In Invoke command, we do the rest of the operation, yes, copying or moving. SHBrowseForFolder() help us for selecting destination, that will be a PIDL. We must convert it to a string for passing it to SHFileOperation as a destination path.

That's all.

I haven't included any details for creating shell extension, because you can read much about it on MSDN. For clipboard format and data object search try "Handling Shell Data Transfer Scenarios" on MSDN.

License

This article has no explicit license attached to it but may contain usage terms in the article text or the download files themselves. If in doubt please contact the author via the discussion board below.

A list of licenses authors might use can be found here


Written By
Web Developer
Pakistan Pakistan
Mumtaz Zaheer is working as Senior System Analyst with Information Architects, Pakistan (http://www.info-architects.com/).

Comments and Discussions

 
QuestionHow to creat menu on the basis of file extensions. Pin
studentkth20-Oct-09 0:55
studentkth20-Oct-09 0:55 
AnswerRe: How to creat menu on the basis of file extensions. Pin
Mumtaz Zaheer20-Oct-09 1:13
Mumtaz Zaheer20-Oct-09 1:13 
Generaladd menu for image files only Pin
kiranin1-Nov-06 19:02
kiranin1-Nov-06 19:02 
QuestionRemoving "Select" menu item from right click context menu on files and folders Pin
Reji_Kumar14-Dec-05 23:20
Reji_Kumar14-Dec-05 23:20 
I have a my own implementation of IShellView and IContextMenu. In IContextMenu::QueryContextMenu I add 2 menu items of my own("Open" and "Explore"). But when the menu the Shell automatically appends the "Select" menu at the top. How can I remove this "select" menu option? This happens when I right click on a file or folder.

Anyone can help me out?

Thanks in advance..

Reji Kumar,
Software Engineer,
India.
GeneralGreat Article Madame Pin
ThatsAlok27-Oct-04 20:02
ThatsAlok27-Oct-04 20:02 
GeneralGet *.lnk File Path Pin
Miss Fress5-Apr-04 18:37
Miss Fress5-Apr-04 18:37 
QuestionHow can i recover it Pin
sophialili24-Mar-04 18:54
sophialili24-Mar-04 18:54 
AnswerRe: How can i recover it Pin
Mumtaz Zaheer24-Mar-04 20:59
Mumtaz Zaheer24-Mar-04 20:59 
GeneralRe: How can i recover it Pin
zhgfhz5-Jun-06 11:56
zhgfhz5-Jun-06 11:56 
Generalthank's Pin
icrmio13-Mar-03 21:57
icrmio13-Mar-03 21:57 
Generalfile copying Pin
wolfs-bane6-Nov-02 23:18
susswolfs-bane6-Nov-02 23:18 
Questionwhat is the difference Pin
20-Jul-01 2:22
suss20-Jul-01 2:22 
AnswerRe: what is the difference Pin
Anonymous28-Aug-02 2:21
Anonymous28-Aug-02 2:21 
GeneralRe: error on IID_IShellExtInit and IID_IContextMenu Pin
Mumtaz Zaheer22-Jan-01 18:29
Mumtaz Zaheer22-Jan-01 18:29 
GeneralCreating popup (sub menu)for Copy to Pin
18-Jan-01 14:13
suss18-Jan-01 14:13 
GeneralRe: Creating popup (sub menu)for Copy to Pin
Mumtaz Zaheer22-Jan-01 17:45
Mumtaz Zaheer22-Jan-01 17:45 
GeneralRe: Creating popup (sub menu)for Copy to Pin
Mumtaz Zaheer12-Feb-01 22:52
Mumtaz Zaheer12-Feb-01 22:52 
GeneralWin2k already supports this Pin
Mr Matt Ellis, Esq8-Jan-01 3:11
Mr Matt Ellis, Esq8-Jan-01 3:11 
GeneralRe: Win2k already supports this Pin
Steven J. Ackerman8-Jan-01 3:29
Steven J. Ackerman8-Jan-01 3:29 
GeneralRe: Win2k already supports this Pin
Mumtaz Zaheer8-Jan-01 23:58
Mumtaz Zaheer8-Jan-01 23:58 
GeneralRe: Win2k already supports this Pin
22-Jan-01 20:00
suss22-Jan-01 20:00 
GeneralRe: Win2k already supports this Pin
12-Oct-01 23:30
suss12-Oct-01 23:30 
GeneralRe: Win2k already supports this Pin
17-Feb-02 18:48
suss17-Feb-02 18:48 

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