SHBrowseForFolder

Andrew Lee-Thorp

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Aug 30, 1999, 3:00:00 AM8/30/99

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SHBrowseForFolder returns an PITEMIDLIST.

The documentation says:"The calling application is responsible for freeing
the returned item identifier list by using the shell's task allocator".

Any ideas on how to free the ITEMIDLIST.

Andrew

Chris Marriott

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Aug 30, 1999, 3:00:00 AM8/30/99

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Andrew Lee-Thorp wrote in message <7qdvui$23h5$1...@nnrp01.ops.uunet.co.za>...

1. Call "SHGetMalloc" to get a pointer to the shell's "IMalloc" memory
allocator interface.
2. Call the allocator's "Free" function to free the memory.
3. Call the allocator's "Release" function to unload it.

Regards,

Chris
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Todd Osborne

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Aug 30, 1999, 3:00:00 AM8/30/99

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Can't you also just use CoTaskMemFree() to wrap all that up into a single
function?

Todd

Chris Marriott <ch...@NOSPAM.skymap.com> wrote in message
news:936027321.16147.1...@news.demon.co.uk...
>

Chris Marriott

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Aug 30, 1999, 3:00:00 AM8/30/99

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Todd Osborne wrote in message ...

>Can't you also just use CoTaskMemFree() to wrap all that up into a single
>function?

Probably, yes :-). I just described the way that I do it, but there may well
be better ways!

Alex Blekhman

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Aug 31, 1999, 3:00:00 AM8/31/99

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It's taken from MSDN article: Shell Namespace

Browsing for Folders
The following example uses the SHBrowseForFolder function to prompt the user
for a program group. The Programs directory is specified as the root.

// Main_OnBrowse - browses for a program folder.
// hwnd - handle to the application's main window.
//
// Uses the global variable g_pMalloc, which is assumed to point
// to the shell's IMalloc interface.
void Main_OnBrowse(HWND hwnd)
{
BROWSEINFO bi;
LPSTR lpBuffer;
LPITEMIDLIST pidlPrograms; // PIDL for Programs folder
LPITEMIDLIST pidlBrowse; // PIDL selected by user

// Allocate a buffer to receive browse information.
if ((lpBuffer = (LPSTR) g_pMalloc->lpVtbl->Alloc(
g_pMalloc, MAX_PATH)) == NULL)
return;

// Get the PIDL for the Programs folder.
if (!SUCCEEDED(SHGetSpecialFolderLocation(
hwnd, CSIDL_PROGRAMS, &pidlPrograms))) {
g_pMalloc->lpVtbl->Free(g_pMalloc, lpBuffer);
return;
}

// Fill in the BROWSEINFO structure.
bi.hwndOwner = hwnd;
bi.pidlRoot = pidlPrograms;
bi.pszDisplayName = lpBuffer;
bi.lpszTitle = "Choose a Program Group";
bi.ulFlags = 0;
bi.lpfn = NULL;
bi.lParam = 0;

// Browse for a folder and return its PIDL.
pidlBrowse = SHBrowseForFolder(&bi);
if (pidlBrowse != NULL) {

// Show the display name, title, and file system path.
MessageBox(hwnd, lpBuffer, "Display name", MB_OK);
if (SHGetPathFromIDList(pidlBrowse, lpBuffer))
SetWindowText(hwnd, lpBuffer);

// Free the PIDL returned by SHBrowseForFolder.
g_pMalloc->lpVtbl->Free(g_pMalloc, pidlBrowse);
}

// Clean up.
g_pMalloc->lpVtbl->Free(g_pMalloc, pidlPrograms);
g_pMalloc->lpVtbl->Free(g_pMalloc, lpBuffer);
}

How to get g_pMalloc:
Call the SHGetMalloc() function to get the IMalloc interface pointer to the
shell's task allocator. Once you have that pointer call IMalloc::Free()
passing the LPITEMIDLIST pointer returned from SHBrowseForFolder().

Andrew Lee-Thorp wrote:
>
> SHBrowseForFolder returns an PITEMIDLIST.
>
> The documentation says:"The calling application is responsible for freeing
> the returned item identifier list by using the shell's task allocator".
>
> Any ideas on how to free the ITEMIDLIST.
>

> Andrew