One thing I have been looking at recently is how to access the Users Internet Explorer Favorites.
I managed to find two resources somewhere, one was c# to find the favorites and the other was VB.Net code which parse the *.Url file.
I have the code below (tv is a Tree view on a form):
...DirectoryInfo di = new DirectoryInfo( System.Environment.GetFolderPath( Environment.SpecialFolder.Favorites ));EnumerateFavorites(di);...
The above code will get the directory information about a users Favorites. The Static vairable "Environment.SpecialFolder" contains some other very usefull locations. My Computer, My Network etc.... I think :)
private void EnumerateFavorites(DirectoryInfo dii){ tv.Nodes.Add(dii.FullName); int i = tv.Nodes.Count-1; foreach(DirectoryInfo dI in dii.GetDirectories()) { EnumerateFavorites(dI); } foreach(FileInfo fi in dii.GetFiles()) { string URL = GetUrlFromLinkFile(fi.FullName); tv.Nodes[i].Nodes.Add(URL); }}private string GetUrlFromLinkFile(string file){ StreamReader sr = null; string content; if(!file.EndsWith(".url")) return ""; try { sr = new StreamReader(file); content = sr.ReadToEnd(); } finally { if(sr != null) sr.Close(); } if(content.Length == 0) return ""; int startI = content.IndexOf("URL="); if(startI == -1) return ""; startI += 4; int endI = content.IndexOf( Environment.NewLine, startI + 1); return content.Substring(startI, endI -startI);}
What appears above is code that will Recursivly iterate into any Folders that the user has defined for their Favorites. Some futher code will also parse the .URL.
The *.URL file is a basic text file (much like the AutoRun.inf file). One line starts URL=kinlan.co.uk etc. The function
GetUrlFromLinkFile, parse this information and returns it as a string.If I find the resources where I got this from I will give the credit where it is due.
One thing that is not available in the *.URL is the text that appears in the Internet Explorer Favorites menu. For example
www.microsoft.com might appear as "Microsoft" in the Favorite menu. If anyone knows how to do this in c# let me know (I would be greatful). I have a feeling that it might be something to do with IShellLink, but I am not too sure, nor am I any good with Interop [at the moment, I will have to learn]
