I am creating a file-sharing application I want to integrate into a windows shell. I am writing the core in portable C but the windows GUI in C#.
What I want to achieve is to for example add custom selection/option when you right-click a file (like, WinRAR adds custom option when you right-click a file, it allows you to rar the file and whatnot). I am not sure what the term is called though.
How do you do this in C#?
Thanks!
You're talking about something called a "shell extension". There are degrees of complexity associated with doing this sort of thing, as with everything. This is a good starting point and example; searching Google for "C# shell extension" returns lots of useful links.
Related
I need to create a custom installer to deploy a specific program. But there are a few checks and balances that needs take place during intallation, and even though I have an Advanced Installer license, it just struggles to do everything I need.
I'm looking for a way to create my own msi file using c#. Running the msi file it will then start a win forms wizard, which in turn will do a number of items, including copying files to the host PC.
I'm not sure how I can "include" my set of files into a single msi file. How to you "copy" files into an msi and how can you read again from it?
I can't even give a proper sample code of what I've tried as I don't know where to start.
This just feels like it should be a duplicate question, but I can't find it.
I work at Advanced Installer, since you said you already have a license let's help you get a return of investment on that ;)
First of all, I seriously doubt you need to reinvent the wheel and write your own code that installs/copies files on the machine. This is a basic action performed by all installer authoring tools, and even though it seems simple when you first think about it, it is not. You don't want to write code that handles rollbacks (if your install fails), reference counts (if a file is shared somehow), repair/self-healing operations (if somehow a DLL gets corrupted or missing post-install), or cover other standard Windows Installer scenarios.
Since you didn't explain with full details what you are trying to do I will give you some short example on how to do each of the steps you mentioned:
Adding files in a setup package - this is a link to a tutorial created with a free edition, but the same steps apply for Professional and Enterprise editions.
Searching files on a disk and retrieving values from them. - for this, you need to use the built-in support from Search page. There you can either simply search for a file and return its path or search for an element inside an INI or XML file and return its value inside a property.
Windows Installer properties are the equivalent of variables in your code. You can use them all over the installer project to pass/get/validate values.
Designing custom dialogs. Most professional installer authoring tools have support to build custom dialogs. The previous link is for a tutorial on how you can do that with Advanced Installer.
During the UI stages, you can include and custom C# code to perform additional validations or data retrieval operations and pass that to or from the installer using properties. if you need it.
The custom installer dialogs support is available starting with the Enterprise edition. The Professional and Free editions include the standard dialogs, but with no options to customize them.
Another way to interact with users is to design an UI experience inside your application that is visible only when the users launch the application for the first time. So, this is not a part of your installer. It will be code that you write inside your application and you can provide a first-launch experience similar to what you see when you install Office for example. If you can give me more details on what you want to do/capture in those custom dialogs, I will try to recommend you the best approach.
We use Windows Search in our application and need a way to detect is folder indexed.
I know 2 ways to do it:
1. Using Microsoft.Search.Interop.dll library.
2. Using Windows Search Sample Code (maybe a bit changed) as an .exe file called from C# application.
These two solutions need using an external file (.dll or .exe) but I need a simpler solution because it will be simple new optional SEARCH feature to a WebDAV server generated by wizard for our clients. Besides Microsoft.Search.Interop.dll is for .NET 2.0 and there can be a problem using it from IIS under .NET 4.0 pool (depending on pool settings).
Is there any way to use ISearchCrawlScopeManager interface without linking to any .dll (just to COM) like it was made in Crawl Scope Command Line C++ example?
UPDATE1: Looks like ISearchCrawlScopeManager interface is located in Search Interface Type Library. It isn't done yet, but I'm close. Thanks to Hans Passant.
I am working on a windows application that will need to be branded. The client will be selling this to other businesses, and needs a customized logo and name for each sale.
The client does not know how to use visual studio!
I think I need to write a packager app to inject custom logo and string resources into the executable. I am planning on using WPF. But since this is a critical requirement, I'd be willing to do it in winforms if that is easier.
What is the best way to do this? Any and all suggestions welcome.
It sounds like what you are after is application skinning. This doesn't mean you have to unpack the exe and inject resources. You just need to consider skinning from the start of the project and build the application to support your skinning requirements.
WPF will make skinning your app much easier. There will be several different ways to accomplish what you want.
Simplest is to leave the logo image loose and reference it with a relative path from the XAML file(s) that need to show this image.
You should look into Resource Dictionaries in WPF and how they help you group resources and support skinning. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms750613.aspx
The text will be a little different but I am not sure what you need as far as a text goes. Do you mean you need to localize the strings or do you simply need different text (all the same locale) to show for different clients?
One possible solution (perhaps not the simplest one) is to use a parent application which compiles source code for generating child application. You can do it with CSharpCodeProvider and CompilerParameters classes. Add the image as an embedded resource and retrieve it in the child application. A working demo with a source code is available at Slide Show Builder.
My best suggestion for the exact question you asked (although I suspect there is another way by reconsidering the exact requirements) would be to write a utility which uses ildasm to disassemble the assembly, then use ilasm to reassemble it and include your new resource file.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/496e4ekx%28VS.71%29.aspx
The trivial solution is to provide the bitmap along with the EXE as a separate file. Actually replacing an embedded resource in the EXE requires decompiling it with ildasm.exe and putting it back together with ilasm.exe. Ildasm.exe is only available in the Windows SDK, it can be downloaded separately. Error prone and small odds that your customer can get that right, you'll need to provide them with, say, a .bat file that does this.
Of course, whomever is interested in replacing the logo, for whatever reason, would not be slowed down by replacing either the separate image file or using the Ildasm.exe trick. There is therefore very little point in making it any more complicated then it needs to be.
Hi does anyone know how to get windows explorer to pass multiple files / folders through to an external app (c#) referenced in the registry?
I am current able to act upon a single file / folder using the %1 syntax but not sure how to get explorer to pass through multiple items.
Does anyone know how to do this?
When you select multiple files in Explorer, your shell context menu extension's IShellExtInit::Initialize method will be called and pdtobj contains the selection.
Note writing managed shell extension is not supported.
I don't think this is possible.
When you open multiple files using Explorer, it will launch a separate copy of your program for file. I don't think it's possible to override this behavior.
EDIT: I forgot about shell extensions. This is possible.
To work around this, you could make the subsequent copies communicate with the first one, then exit. Detailed instructions for this are beyond the scope of this answer.
In order to do this reliably you would need to write a shell extension, most likely a sendto implementation.
I haven't written one since vb6 but you can find what looks to be a good managed example here
Or you could use a freeware utility
Alright, so I'm working on programming my own installer in C#, and what I'd like to do is something along the lines of put the files in the .exe, so I can do
File.Copy(file, filedir);
Or, if this isn't possible, is there another way of doing what I am attempting to do?
I wouldn't code my own installer, but if you truely want to embed files into your assembly you could use strongly typed resources. In the properties dialog of your project open up the "Resources" tab and then add your file. You'll then be able to get the file using:
ProjectNamespace.Properties.Resources.MyFile
Then you'll be able to write the embedded resource to disk using:
System.IO.File.WriteAllBytes(#"C:\MyFile.bin", ProjectNamespace.Properties.Resources.MyFile);
Honestly, I would suggest you NOT create your own installer. There are many many issues with creating installers. Even the big installer makers don't make their own actual installers anymore, they just create custom MSI packages.
Use Mirosoft Installer (MSI). It's the right thing to do. Make your own custom front-end for it, but don't recreate the already very complex wheel that exists.
UPDATE: If you're just doing this for learning, then I would shy away from thinking of it as "an installer". You might be tempted to take your "research" and use it someday, and frankly, that's how we end up with so many problems when new versions of Windows come out. People create their own wheels with assumptions that aren't valid.
What you're really trying to do is called "packaging", and you really have to become intimately familiar with the Executable PE format, because you're talking about changing the structure of the PE image on disk.
You can simulate it, to a point, with putting files in resources, but that's not really what installers, or self-extractors do.
Here's a link to Self-Extractor tutorial, but it's not in C#.
I don't know enough about the .NET PE requirements to know if you can do this in with a managed code executable or not.
UPDATE2: This is probably more of what you're looking for, it embeds files in the resource, but as I said, it's not really the way professional installers or self-extractors do it. I think there are various limitations on what you can embed as resources. But here's the like to a Self-Extractor Demo written in C#.
I'm guessing here, but if you are trying to store resources in your application before compilation, you can in the Project Explorer, right click a file you would like to add, chose properties and change the type to Embedded Resource.
You can then access the embedded resources later by using the instructions from this KB:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/319292
in case you simply want to store multiple files in a single file storage (and extract files from there, interact etc.) you might also want to check out NFileStorage, a .net file storage. written in 100% .NET C# with all sources included. It also comes with a command line interpreter that allows interaction from the command line.