I would like to be able to add a custom field to folders in windows 7, and then be able to show that column(field) when viewing the folder in explorer (sort and group etc).
Question:
How can I achieve this? (is there a program I can buy / use or is there a way of doing this in windows 7?)
Example use case: I have folders for each job that I do - I'd like to mark the folder as "pending", "done" etc. I'm using custom folder markers at the moment - but that's limited. Having a number of these fields would be really powerful.
Basically, you need to create a new Windows Property. See Windows Property System at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff728898(VS.85).aspx. I do not know of any program that allows you to create properties.
Moreover, see Creating Custom Properties at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc144135(VS.85).aspx.
Here is an MSDN search for "Windows Property System" to get you started (http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Search/en-US?query=%22Windows%20Property%20System%22)
Note, that Windows Runtime (WinRT) will make handling this properties fairly easy.
See: http://blog.rodhowarth.com/2008/06/how-to-set-custom-attributes-file.html
It appears using the DSOFile DLL from Microsoft you can add custom attributes to a file as long as it is on a NTFS.
However re-saving some file types depending on how their applications handle it - may strip the previously added custom property.
I think, you are just being silly, this will quickly overwhelm you with information overload,
you should simply instead of adding columns, just create folders and dump every folder you need inside it like so,,,
> - Pending
> - client 1
> - client 2
> - Done
> - client 3
lets, say you have finished with client 2 you just drag and drop it on the Done folder, or cut, and paste it on done,
easier to manage,
here is a something, I stumbled across, I think its alot more difficult to manage eitherway, your better off using excel, or simply the structure I mentioned above.
http://rkeithhill.wordpress.com/2005/12/10/msh-get-extended-properties-of-a-file/
hope this helps somehow.
Related
I have folders full of log files, and I'd like to display their final status in a column in the folder they are in. That is, in Details view I want to make a new column that shows a piece of text which is extracted from each file. I don't expect to find such a thing out there, and the searches I've tried haven't even yielded a hint about how I would go about writing a plugin to do any such thing. Is it possible?
This sort of thing used to be possible with custom column handler shell extensions but Microsoft removed support for those in Vista (3rd-party Explorer replacements might still support them).
Microsofts inadequate replacement are property handlers. You cannot do this for .log files, you would have to invent a .myapp-log file extension.
Some people abuse the Windows 10 cloud API to create columns but that only works in specific folders.
If you are looking for a specific string in the last line, you could perhaps use a custom icon handler for .log files.
I have the following need to implement on Windows: file with files.
Originally I was thinking to use directory with extension. Something like "folderA.myappext", so when user clicks on it in Explorer, my app is launched instead of folder being opened. Unfortunately, I was unable to find a way to do that. Then I tried to use Alternate Data Streams. This works just fine, but several problems with it:
It works only in NTFS, so no way to send it via email or FTP as is;
Only WinRAR can properly archive it, and you still have to do extra clicks in the UI for that;
The real file size (with all streams in it) is not shown in Explorer and does not participate in showing free/used space, which can very quickly lead to big problems for the user.
No, I can't use zip or any other way to combine files into one - this is high-performance app that also requires write streaming (i.e. it changes data all the time).
Any idea how else to achieve my need on Windows? I know on MacOS you can use 'package', but there is nothing like that on Windows. Any idea?
Something like "folderA.myappext", so when user clicks on it in Explorer, my app is launched instead of folder being opened.
You can't do it based on the extension because folders don't have extensions but you can do it with desktop.ini. Windows 7 and later supports custom verbs on folders.
A working example can be found here.
I am trying to create custom document windows in VS isolated shell. What I hope to have is something similar to a ToolWindowPane where I can extend it for my custom tool windows and set the content to my custom user control. However, I am not sure if this is possible for VS document windows. I could not find any examples on how to extend the superclass WindowPane in order to create custom document windows that can be repeatedly created dynamically.
Any pointers or suggestions are greatly appreciated!
Edit: Or is there a way to prevent tool windows from restoring to its previous state on VS start? I basically want all of the tool windows to act like document windows and reset/delete themselves on close.
Edit2: Solved previous edit. Set transient flag to true, which prevents tool window from opening on IDE start.
Found work around here:
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/forums/en/vsx/thread/d60f8cef-2523-4b53-8f24-92eb90912e7c/
However, if anyone has solution on how to create a custom document pane, that'd be great. ToolWindowPane has several drawbacks that I would rather avoid.
Does anyone know (Because on microsoft forums nobody answered me), how can I find what app has which automaticDestinations-ms file in %appdata%\microsoft\windows\recent\automaticdestinations ?
That's the folder where Windows 7 stores its jump lists, and I want to know how to automatically/programmatic find the relation between each file and an application.
At least, even manual I didn't found any pattern, just to look after file extensions in the files, because some programs open files with the same extension (like images), so this method it's not OK for all programs.
Do you have any other idea? Maybe knowing the format of those files?
Thanks.
the GUIDs appear to persist.
I was trying to edit my control panel jumplist - I found where the "Realtek HD audio manager" control-panel-applet-title-string is (using resource hacker on "C:\Windows\System32\RTSnMg64.cpl"), and restored it's original title ("Dell Audio" - 'cause I'm OCD:) but the original pinned Realtek entry is stuck.
A quick filesearch for pinned took me to
C:\Users\Jonny\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned
but I really needed to be # C:\Users\Jonny\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\AutomaticDestinations
If you use something like Nirsoft's Jumplist View you can see the entries etc. Sort by "application ID" column to see jumplists by application. You can even change the monitored folder (advanced options).
I'm going to have to delete and recreate my control panel jumplist (7e4dca80246863e3.automaticDestinations-ms).
TIP: If you're not sure which is which, try pinning a new jumplist-entry to an application. This will appear at the top (if sorted by "record time")
The best way to find out is to sort the files by date modified, then interact with your machine, eg open a file with Powerpoint, look and see what file moved to the top. That is probably the file for Powerpoint, which you can confirm by opening it and looking in it.
Then you could build a table of magic guids, and search for those in the registry to see if there is an obvious key connecting the guid to an application id.
Here is a list of 620 applications here with the corresponding App ID byEricZimmerman
https://github.com/EricZimmerman/JumpList/blob/master/JumpList/Resources/AppIDs.txt
eg 0a1d19afe5a80f80|FileZilla 2.2.32
last update 12 days ago
In Vista, I have been using an IFileSaveDialog to let users pick a "save-as" folder. Users export a folder of images, say, and need to choose a new or existing target folder.
Briefly, the code goes like this:
IFileSaveDialog* dialog; // created
dialog->SetOptions(FOS_PICKFOLDERS);
dialog->Show(NULL);
dialog->GetResult(&shellItem)
In Windows 7, the FOS_PICKFOLDERS option appears to have been disallowed (and is marked as such in the API). The return value on the SetOptions call is E_INVALIDARG. If I use a IFileOpenDialog, I'm allowed to set the folders option, but the user is prompted with an error when choosing a nonexistent folder (despite my setting flags suggesting not to do this).
Is there an alternate way to get the new IFileDialog to act as a "save folder" dialog?
[To head off some comments, the SHBrowseForFolder API still exists, but is still not an acceptable solution for our UI deciders.]
The reason for this can be found in the documentation:
FOS_PICKFOLDERS: Present the Open dialog offering a choice of folders rather than files.
Using FOS_PICKFOLDERS for "save" was never supposed to be supported - but Vista didn't enforce it. Use IFileOpenDialog instead and you're good to go.
You are picking an existing folder (not specifying a folder to create), so open was always the correct choice.
I haven't played around with the Windows 7 dialogs yet, but downloaded the Windows® API Code Pack just this morning as I am implementing the Thumbnail Toolbar and Icon Overlay in the application I am working on. It'll probably point you in the right direction.