How to open properties dialog for non-lnk files?

Question

I have a WPF app with .NETFramework.

In the following way it is possible to open the properties dialog of an lnk file:

ProcessStartInfo psi = new ProcessStartInfo(@"C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Acrobat Reader.lnk");

psi.Verb = "properties";
psi.UseShellExecute = true;
Process.Start(psi);

However, when I try to call this for another file type, e.g. "D:\Test.txt", I get the following exception:

Win32Exception: No application is associated with the specified file. 0x80004005

How to call the properties dialog for such files?

Answer 1

A way is with ShellExecuteEx :

            SHELLEXECUTEINFO sei = new SHELLEXECUTEINFO();
            sei.cbSize = (uint)Marshal.SizeOf(sei);
            sei.lpVerb = "properties";
            sei.lpFile = @"e:\Test.txt";
            sei.fMask = SEE_MASK_INVOKEIDLIST;
            if (!ShellExecuteEx(ref sei))
            {
                int nErr = Marshal.GetLastWin32Error();
            }

with

    [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, CharSet = CharSet.Unicode)]
    public struct SHELLEXECUTEINFO
    {
        public uint cbSize;
        public uint fMask;
        public IntPtr hwnd;
        [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)]
        public string lpVerb;
        [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)]
        public string lpFile;
        [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)]
        public string lpParameters;
        [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)]
        public string lpDirectory;
        public int nShow;
        public IntPtr hInstApp;
        public IntPtr lpIDList;
        [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)]
        public string lpClass;
        public IntPtr hkeyClass;
        public uint dwHotKey;
        public IntPtr hIcon;
        public IntPtr hProcess;
    }

    [DllImport("Shell32.dll", SetLastError = true, CharSet = CharSet.Unicode)]
    public static extern bool ShellExecuteEx(ref SHELLEXECUTEINFO lpExecInfo);

    public const int SEE_MASK_INVOKEIDLIST = 0x0000000C;

Answer 2

As Castorix31 said. You could call Process.Start, passing ProcessStartInfo containing the filename, and setting ProcessStartInfo.Verb as properties. (For details, see the description of the unmanaged SHELLEXECUTEINFO structure, which is what ProcessStartInfo wraps, especially the lpVerb member.)

You can use Castorix31's first part of code like this.

 public static bool ShowFileProperties(string Filename)
        {
            SHELLEXECUTEINFO sei = new SHELLEXECUTEINFO();
            sei.cbSize = (uint)Marshal.SizeOf(sei);
            sei.lpVerb = "properties";
            sei.lpFile = Filename;
            sei.fMask = SEE_MASK_INVOKEIDLIST;
            if (!ShellExecuteEx(ref sei))
            {
                int nErr = Marshal.GetLastWin32Error();
            }
            return ShellExecuteEx(ref sei);
        }

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