How to grab a hi-lighted file in file explorer when starting program written in C#?

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I want to open a picture that I have highlighted when I open a C# program that will show that picture.

The best example would be RARzip. You can highlight the files you want to add to an archive then start Rarzip and it will grab those files for when you tell it to archive them.

What I have tried:

My mind is blank just how to even attempt a search for this. Every query I have done doesn't give anything close to the answer.

Posted 11-Sep-23 11:45am

David Edwards 2022

Updated 12-Sep-23 8:21am

Deeksha Shenoy

v6

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PIEBALDconsult 11-Sep-23 19:08pm

Other than associating the file extension with your app? So your app runs when the file is opened via Explorer?

David Edwards 2022 11-Sep-23 19:22pm

No, I want to highlight/select one or more files from file explorer. Then run a program I have written. The program pulls in the selected files and processes them as the program dictates.

PIEBALDconsult 12-Sep-23 11:31am

How will it know which Explorer window to look at? Or all of them?

2 solutions

Solution 2

You're switching between a "picture" and "files".

In the case of a "picture": right click the image and copy it to the clipboard. Retrieve the image from the clipboard with your program.

Clipboard.GetImage Method (System.Windows.Forms) | Microsoft Learn[^]

Posted 11-Sep-23 20:07pm

Gerry Schmitz

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OriginalGriff · Accepted Answer · 2023-09-11T18:43:00

Solution 1

WinRAR and WinZip don't do that: You highlight the files in Explorer and then tell explorer to open WinZip or WinRAR - Explorer then adds the files to the "command line arguments" part of the application startup, and you can pick them up in your app in one of two ways.
1) If you have a Console app, then they are passed as an array of strings to to the main method:

static void Main(string[] args)
    {
    foreach (string file in args)
        {
        DoSomethignWithAFile(file);
        }
    Console.ReadLine();
    }

For a windows GUI app, it's different:

private void FrmMain_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
    foreach (string file in Environment.GetCommandLineArgs())
        {
        DoSomethignWithAFile(file);
        }
    }

Posted 11-Sep-23 18:43pm

OriginalGriff

Comments

PIEBALDconsult 12-Sep-23 11:17am

You mean right-click and select something like "Open with MyApp" ?
Doesn't that still require setting the app up as a file association with the Open or Edit or whatever verb ?

OriginalGriff 12-Sep-23 12:08pm

No, you can use "open with" with unregistered extensions, and even register the extension by selecting "Always" instead of "Just once".

David Edwards 2022 12-Sep-23 12:02pm

Oh, thank you OriginalGriff! Please, I need to get multiple files.

OriginalGriff 12-Sep-23 12:10pm

And? What's the problem?

David Edwards 2022 12-Sep-23 12:16pm

Ok, I seem to get an error when I try to load more than one file to an array or equivalent.

All I get it the .exe file when going to a listbox for testing. I can see why, the executable becomes the highlighted file, all other files turn off.

OriginalGriff 13-Sep-23 1:08am

Do you want to try explaining that in rather more detail? Remember that we can't see your screen, access your HDD, or read your mind - we only get exactly what you type to work with - we get no other context for your project.

David Edwards 2022 14-Sep-23 16:49pm

Sorry, was feeling rather frustrated when I reopened the question.
OK, I highlighted the files I want to open. When I click on the program it becomes the highlighted file and is all that loads into the program. This makes sense to me. Observation of other programs I realized that the program is in the windows menu, not called locally. SO, now I need to know how to call my program from a windows menu. The only alternate is a toolbar I believe.