How to get and set Windows Explorer view settings - windows-7

Question

I'm trying to make a script cycle views in Windows Explorer (Windows 7 libraries don't allow remembering view settings per folder).
I found postMessage with the WM_COMMAND message (code 0x111), but can't seem to use it to affect the Explorer view. Nothing happens when I send:
PostMessage,0x111,0x702c,0,,ahk_id %parent%
where %parent% is the handle of the window. Examples on the forums are for Windows XP, which seems to work differently. How to get and set the view setting?

Answer 1

You can try the following. It starts a persistent script that runs a timer subroutine looking for Save-As type windows, and when it encounters one, it sends that found window certain key strokes. Note, the keys to send WILL DEFINITELY DEPEND on which Win version you use -- and I had trouble with the standard Win 7 shortcuts and hence used a kludgey work-around. It should be clear from the comments in the code what I am doing, and this should get you on your way to doing what you need.
#Persistent
SetTitleMatchMode, 2 ; Matches all titles with the designated words in it (picks the top most)
SetTimer, MaxAll, 150 ; time in ms
return
MaxAll:
IfWinActive, Save MoviePlus File As ; runs only on "Save MoviePlus File As"
DoIt("Movie")
IfWinActive, Save ; runs on "Save" "Save As" "Save File" etc.
DoIt("Save")
IfWinExist, Open ; runs on "Open" "Open File" "File Open" etc.
DoIt("Open")
IfWinExist, Import ; runs on "Import" "File Import" "Import Commands" etc.
DoIt("Import")
return
DoIt(Type)
{
SetTimer, MaxAll, Off ; turn of timer
sleep, 250
WinMaximize ; maximize the window (or comment out)
sleep, 250
Send, !n ; start at the Filename textbox
sleep, 250
Send, +{tab} ; SHIFT+TAB to move to files pane
sleep, 250
; Send, ^+5 ; CTRL+SHIFT+5: Win8.1 to go to "List View"
; Send, ^!5 ; CTRL+ALT+5: Win8 to go to "List View"
; Send, {LAlt}vl ; LEFTALT+V+L: Win7 to go to "List View" - but doesn't work consistently
SendEvent, {F3}{tab}{right 2}{down}{end}{up 3}{enter} ; Navigate to "View" drop-down-list starting from from search bar
sleep, 250
IfEqual, Type, Open ; If the dialog was a File Open
{
Send, !p ; ALT+P: Toggles preview pane
sleep, 250
}
IfEqual, Type, Movie ; If the dialog was for MoviePlus
{
Send, ^!p ; Ctrl+ALT+P: Toggles preview pane? Google the keyboard shortcuts (I didn't check)
sleep, 250
}
Send, !n ; back to Filename textbox
WinWaitClose ; wait to close the dialog
SetTimer, MaxAll, On ; turn timer back on
return
}
+esc::ExitApp ; Shift+Esc ends script
HTH,

Answer 2

Found a UDF for AutoIt that works for me. It's called automating windows explorer. The code below I wrote based on the forum example, it shows a working example of getting the view and changing it by incrementing the existing state.
Since it is for Windows 7 I skip the thumbnail and thumbstrip views--I think those are for Vista. The content view is not supported by Vista either.
I googled the Windows Constants names and values. I found the correct view sizes by experimenting/looking at my own results.
#include "Includes\AutomatingWindowsExplorer.au3"
;Icon sizes are standard: 16, 48, 96, 196
;Details & list: 16
;Tiles: 48
;Content: 32 (!)
;~ FVM_ICON = 1, (48, 96, 196)
;~ FVM_SMALLICON = 2, (16)
;~ FVM_LIST = 3,
;~ FVM_DETAILS = 4,
;~ FVM_THUMBNAIL = 5, (seems to be same as ICON in win7)
;~ FVM_TILE = 6,
;~ FVM_THUMBSTRIP = 7, (seems to be same as ICON in win7)
;~ FVM_CONTENT = 8,
Opt( "MustDeclareVars", 1 )
Example()
Func Example()
; Windows Explorer on Vista, 7, 8
Local $hExplorer = WinGetHandle( "[REGEXPCLASS:^(Cabinet|Explore)WClass$]" )
If Not $hExplorer Then
MsgBox( 0, "Automating Windows Explorer", "Could not find Windows Explorer. Terminating." )
Return
EndIf
; Get an IShellBrowser interface
GetIShellBrowser( $hExplorer )
If Not IsObj( $oIShellBrowser ) Then
MsgBox( 0, "Automating Windows Explorer", "Could not get an IShellBrowser interface. Terminating." )
Return
EndIf
; Get other interfaces
GetShellInterfaces()
; Get current icon view
Local $view = GetIconView() ;returns array [view,size]
; Determine the new view
Local $iView, $iSize, $iNewView, $iNewSize
$iView = $view[0] ; Icon view
$iSize = $view[1] ; Icon size
If $iView = 8 Then
$iNewView = 1
$iNewSize = 48
Else
$iNewView = $iView + 1
If $iNewView = 5 Or 7 Then
$iNewView += 1 ;skip from 5 to 6, or from 7 to 8
EndIf
EndIf
Switch $iNewView
Case 2 To 4
$iNewSize = 16
Case 6
$iNewSize = 48
Case 8
$iNewSize = 32
EndSwitch
;MsgBox( 0, "NewView", $iNewView )
SetIconView( $iNewView, $iNewSize ) ; Set details view
Sleep( 1000 ) ; Wait
SetIconView( $iView, $iSize ) ; Restore old view
EndFunc