Get selected files from the desktop

Question

Hello Programmers ...

Is there a way to get the dynamically selected file or folder paths from the windows 7 desktop?

And the result, I would like to show them in a ListBox1 control.

Yes, it's an example, it would be great.

I await your prompt reply.

Thanks a lot.

Answer 1

On Windows 7 -

Code behind Windows Form application -

Public Class Form1  
    Private DesktopFolderView As Shell32.ShellFolderView  
  
    Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click  
        ListBox1.Items.Clear()  
        Dim selItems As Shell32.FolderItems = DesktopFolderView.SelectedItems()  
        For Each fitem As Shell32.FolderItem In selItems  
            ListBox1.Items.Add(fitem.Name)  
        Next  
    End Sub  
  
    Private Sub Button2_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button2.Click  
        ListBox1.Items.Clear()  
        Dim selItems As Shell32.FolderItems = DesktopFolderView.Folder.Items  
        For Each fitem As Shell32.FolderItem In selItems  
            ListBox1.Items.Add(fitem.Name)  
        Next  
  
    End Sub  
  
    Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load  
        Dim oShell As Shell32.Shell  
        Dim oWindows As SHDocVw.ShellWindows  
        Dim hwnd As IntPtr  
        Dim ieDesktop As SHDocVw.InternetExplorer  
        oShell = New Shell32.Shell  
        oWindows = oShell.Windows()  
        ieDesktop = oWindows.FindWindowSW(0, vbNull, 8, hwnd, 1)  
        DesktopFolderView = DirectCast(ieDesktop.Document, Shell32.ShellFolderView)  
    End Sub  
End Class  
  

Answer 2

Hi
Try this:

ListBox1.Items.AddRange(IO.Directory.GetFiles(Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.Desktop)))

Answer 3

Hello @jenCarlos ,

I would think a ListView would be a better option as shown here which even has cancellation option. To try this out see OtherExamplesForm.vb in my GitHub repository.

Note the first column is wide because on my computer there are many folders that are deeply nested. Also if needed will not crash if an access denied is thrown.

Full source

Imports System.IO  
Imports System.Threading  
Imports RecurseFolders.Extensions  
  
Public Class OtherExamplesForm  
    ''' <summary>  
    ''' Provides an opportunity to cancel traversal of folders  
    ''' </summary>  
    Private _cts As New CancellationTokenSource()  
    Private _exceptionList As List(Of String)  
  
    ''' <summary>  
    ''' Traverse folders searching for any .dll files  
    ''' </summary>  
    ''' <param name="sender"></param>  
    ''' <param name="e"></param>  
    Private Async Sub DeniedAccessCoveredButton_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles DeniedAccessCoveredButton.Click  
  
        If _cts.IsCancellationRequested = True Then  
            _cts.Dispose()  
            _cts = New CancellationTokenSource()  
        End If  
  
        _exceptionList = New List(Of String)  
        ExceptionsListBox.DataSource = Nothing  
  
        Dim stack As New Stack(Of String)  
  
        stack.Push(Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.Desktop))  
  
        Try  
  
            Await Task.Run(Async Function()  
  
                               Do While (stack.Count > 0)  
                                   Dim directory As String = stack.Pop  
                                   Dim lvItem As New ListViewItem(directory)  
                                   ListView1.InvokeIfRequired(Sub(lv) lv.Items.Add(lvItem))  
  
                                   Await Task.Delay(1)  
  
                                   If _cts.IsCancellationRequested Then  
                                       _cts.Token.ThrowIfCancellationRequested()  
                                   End If  
  
                                   Try  
  
                                       Dim files = IO.Directory.GetFiles(directory, "*.*")  
  
                                       If files.Length > 0 Then  
  
                                           For Each file As String In files  
                                               Dim item = New ListViewItem(New String() {"", Path.GetFileName(file)})  
                                               ListView1.InvokeIfRequired(Sub(lv) lv.Items.Add(item))  
                                           Next  
  
                                       End If  
  
                                       Dim strDirectoryName As String  
                                       For Each strDirectoryName In IO.Directory.GetDirectories(directory)  
                                           stack.Push(strDirectoryName)  
  
                                       Next  
  
                                   Catch ex As UnauthorizedAccessException  
                                       _exceptionList.Add(ex.Message)  
                                   End Try  
                               Loop  
  
                           End Function)  
  
            ExceptionsListBox.DataSource = _exceptionList  
  
            ListView1.AutoResizeColumns(ColumnHeaderAutoResizeStyle.HeaderSize)  
            ListView1.FocusedItem = ListView1.Items(0)  
            ListView1.Items(0).Selected = True  
            ActiveControl = ListView1  
  
        Catch ex As OperationCanceledException  
            MessageBox.Show($"Cancelled")  
        End Try  
  
    End Sub  
  
    Private Sub CancelButton_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles CancelButton.Click  
        _cts.Cancel()  
    End Sub  
End Class  

Answer 4

Hi
Here is an alternative. Use a OpenFileDialog and let User select files then add those to the ListBox.
Not quite what you want, but maybe worth a try.

        Using ofd As New OpenFileDialog
            With ofd
                .Multiselect = True
                .InitialDirectory = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.Desktop)
                If .ShowDialog = DialogResult.OK Then
                    ListBox1.Items.AddRange(.FileNames)
                End If
            End With
        End Using