Shell Folders Unit

Contents

• Description
• Compatibility
• Installation
• Known Bugs and Fixes
• Update History
• License and Disclaimer
• About the Author

Description

This unit provides various components, classes and routines for handling Windows shell folders. It contains:

• A component that provides information about a specified special shell folder.
• A class that enumerates all the special shell folders.
• Routines to manipulate special shell folder information.
• A component that encapsulates the Windows Browse for Folder dialog box.
• A property editor for special shell folder identifiers.

Compatibility

The unit is compatible with Delphi 3 to 7. It has been tested in Delphi 4, 6 and 7.

Installation

In these instructions $(DELPHI) is to be taken to represent the path where the appropriate version of Delphi is installed.

1. Unzip the downloaded zip file into a folder of your choice, preserving the directory structure. The following files will be extracted:
   • PJShellFolders.pas – component source code.
   • PJShellFoldersDsgn.pas – design unit containing property editor and component registration.
   • PJShellFolders.dcr – contains component palette bitmap.
   • PJShellFolders.hlp – help file for integration with Delphi IDE.
   • PJShellFolders.als – "A" keyword file for integration with Delphi 6 or 7 OpenHelp system.
   • SpecialFolderDescs.html – describes each of the supported shell folders.
   • pjshfldr.htm – information about the download.
   • Demo\ShellFolderDemo.dpr – demo program Delphi project file.
   • Demo\ShellFolderDemo.cfg – config file for demo program.
   • Demo\ShellFolderDemo.res – icon for demo program.
   • Demo\ShellFolderDemoForm.pas – demo source code.
   • Demo\ShellFolderDemoForm.dfm – demo form file.
   • Demo\DemoReadMe.html – describes use and design of demo program.
2. Copy PJShellFolders.pas, PJShellFolders.dcr and PJShellFoldersDsgn.pas to where you wish to install into Delphi. This will probably be a sub-folder of $(DELPHI)\lib.
3. Install the components and property editor by chosing the Component | Install Component menu option to display the Install Component dialog box. Then:
   • Select the Into existing package tab.
   • Click the Browse button next to the Unit file name edit box to display the Unit file name dialog box.
   • Select PJShellFolders.pas and PJShellFoldersDsgn.pas from the file dialog and click OK to return to the Install Component dialog box.
   • Choose the design package into you wish to install from the Package file name drop down list.
   • Click OK.
   • A confirmation dialog box may be displayed, querying whether it is OK to rebuild and reinstall the package. Click Yes to proceed.
   • The package will now be built and a dialog box should be displayed that states that the TPJBrowseDialog and TPJSpecialFolderInfo components have been installed. Click OK to dismiss the dialog box.
   • The components will appear on the "DelphiDabbler" palette.
4. If you wish you can delete PJShellFolders.pas and PJShellFoldersDsgn.pas from the place where you copied them (but ensure that the .dcu files are not deleted).
5. The simplest way to install the help file (PJShellFolders.hlp) is to use my Component Help Installer Expert. If you prefer to install manually, this article explains the process. When using Delphi 6 or 7 PJShellFolders.als should also be copied to the $(DELPHI)\Help folder.
6. The supplied demo program can be loaded into Delphi and compiled and run as required.

Known Bugs and Fixes

The following is a list of known bugs along with notes of the releases where they were fixed:

• Special folder ID property editor was read-only and not permitting special folder IDs to be edited at design time.
  Fixed in release 2.2.1
• HelpContext property did not have default specifier.
  Fixed in release 2.2
• Compiler warnings were being displayed when compiled with Delphi 6 or 7.
  Fixed in release 2.1
• Display names not being shown correctly on Windows NT OSs.
  Fixed in release 2.0

If you wish to report a bug please use my website contact page and describe the bug clearly, specifying "PJShellFolders" and the version of the component you are using.

Update History

Release 2.2.1 of 09 January 2005
PJShellFolders v2.2.1 of 09 January 2005

• Fixed bug in shell folder ID property editor that was preventing user from changing the value of properties at design time.

Release 2.2 of 22 August 2004
PJShellFolders v2.2 of 22 August 2004

• Added support for new dialog style - selected using a new option in the Options property.
• Provided default specifier of 0 for HelpContext property.
• Added support for more new special folder indentifiers.
• Updated help file re new TPJBrowseFolder option and added additional "A" keywords to improve Delphi help integration. Help about box text updated.
• Provided new .als file for integration with Delphi 6 or 7 OpenHelp system.
• Changed to Mozilla public license.

Release 2.1 of 29 Jul 2003
PJShellFolders v2.1 of 29 Jul 2003

• Prevented compiler warnings being issued when compiling under Delphi 6 and 7.
• Added support for additional special shell folders.

Release 2.0 of 15 Jun 2003
PJShellFolders v2.0 of 15 Jun 2003

• Fixed bug that meant that display name wasn't being shown correctly in Win NT OSs.
• Added new OnSelChangeEx event to TPJBrowseDialog component that exposes selected folder's PIDL.
• Enabled TPJBrowseDialog to display and accept virtual as well as file system folders.
• TPJBrowseDialog now displays disabled help button when HelpContext is 0.
• Additional shell folder identifiers missing from Delphi 3 are now conditionally placed in interface of unit in Delphi 3.
• Added new public functions to get folder path and display name from PIDLs.
• All errors in components and routines now raise EPJShellFolder exceptions.
• Property editor and component registration moved to separate design time unit.
• Help file corrected and updated.

Release 1.0 of 06 Apr 2001
PJShellFolders v1.0 of 01 Apr 2001

• Original version with help file and HTML documentation.

License & Disclaimer

This source code is subject to the Mozilla Public License Version 1.1 (the "License"); you may not use this program except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at http://www.mozilla.org/MPL/.

Software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" basis, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing rights and limitations under the License.

The Original Code is Shell Folders Unit.

The Initial Developer of the Original Code is Peter Johnson (http://www.delphidabbler.com/).

Portions created by the Initial Developer are Copyright © 2001-2005 Peter Johnson. All Rights Reserved.

Contributor(s):

Philippe Lucarz
Ryan Fischbach

About the Author

I'm Peter Johnson - a hobbyist programmer living in Ceredigion in West Wales, UK. I write mainly in Delphi. My programs are available for download on my web-site: http://www.delphidabbler.com/.

I can be contacted via the contact page of my website.