Visual Basic's outstanding set of resources for rapidly developing stand-alone applications doesn't include shell extensions for integrating those applications or their data files with the Windows shell. Typically, such extensions as customized context menu handlers, per instance icons (such as a data file icon that's based on the contents of the file), and customized property sheets are written in C++, and all of the available documentation focuses on using C++ for shell extensions. But even C++ programmers find the task rough going, given the woefully inadequate state of the documentation. Very few programmers know that writing shell extensions is not tied to a single language or development environment, and that Visual Basic is an excellent tool for creating shell extensions that more closely tie an application to the Windows shell. That, however, is precisely the focus of Visual Basic Shell Programming. It shows how to take advantage of shell services to develop shell extensions and it provides the basic documentation needed for accomplishing this. Each major type of shell extension gets attention, including:

• Context menu handlers that can add items to the popup menu that appears when the user right clicks a file.
• con handlers for displaying per instance icons that, like the standard Recycle Bin icon, vary depending on some condition
• Property sheet pages, which appear when the user selects the Properties option from a file's context menu.
• InfoTip handlers, which display tooltips, or "info" tips for a file object on a per instance basis.

In showing how to integrate applications with the Windows shell by building shell extensions, author J.P. Hamilton provides a concrete tutorial on COM programming with Visual Basic. And while developing their own shell extensions, readers get to learn advanced VB concepts and techniques such as:

• Pointers. Since VB tends to hide pointers from the programmer, Hamilton shows how to take advantage of the undocumented VarPtr, StrPtr, and ObjPtr functions, as well as the Win32
• RtlMoveMemory function.
• Using class identifiers (CLSIDs) from Visual Basic.
• VTable modification, which allows control of the HRESULT (or status code) returned by a call to a COM method.

Visual Basic Shell Programming ventures where none have gone before by giving readers both the know-how to develop shell extensions and an advanced treatment of COM programming with Visual Basic.

Visual Basic Shell Programming Review,  June 29 2001
Submitted by Rodrigo Vieira   [Respond | View]

This book is very good.

I was looking for a way to build those fancy IE toolbands and was really disappointed with the Microsoft site, since all the reference about this subject there is on C++. Since those bands are COM objects, I was wondering whether someone had implemented it on VB already. Tried all the search engines and got nothing. Well this book is the only place (by now) where you'll find this information!

Programming the windows shell is a HUGE topic and certainly would require one of those "brick-sized" books to cover it properly. But J.P. Hamilton made a great effort on abridging the most "juicy" stuff, and then it's up to the programmer to develop on top of that information.

Some examples don't work on Windows 2000, but that's something I can understand since I guess most of the techniques shown on this book were developed before the Win2k release. Anyway, as the author states on the preface, this book is not intended for beginners or people who need to be guided on baby steps, but for programmers with some intermediate VB skills at least. This book is all about COM programming, so if you nothing about COM, this book may still be useful (there's a decent COM introduction on chapter 2), but I'd suggest you to play with COM first.

All in all, this is a "cover to cover" interesting book and that kind of book we should keep nearby for reference. Shell programming is a brave new world for VB programmers. I think there are lots of subjects which could be explored on a volume II.

Great job Mr. Hamilton.




Visual Basic Shell Programming Review,  February 24 2001
Submitted by Dombeu Mozert   [Respond | View]

hmm...

a good work, mr. Halminton.

The book is excelent, I didn't have enough experience in COM programming, but I fully understood the book !!

For everyone reading me at the moment, don't losts the occasion to become one of the first vb-programmer using this book.

But I have a question:

Microsoft develop Visual Basic, ok. but why doesn't Microsoft include in VB all the interfaces, APIs, documentations for accessing fully Windows ???

I will never understand Microsoft !!!

Please if someone have an answer to that question, mail me at camernet@ifrance.com.

Tank you.


Visual Basic Shell Programming Review,  August 24 2000
Submitted by R Pingleton   [Respond | View]

The O'Reilly staff has promptly corrected the source code that I questioned in my former review.

I have to say this book really is a definitive guide to shell programming and really does clarify the murky waters of the MS documentation.


Visual Basic Shell Programming Review,  August 14 2000
Submitted by R. Pingleton   [Respond | View]

I was excited to see a book detailing practical COM applications using Visual Basic. The core material is solid, though the book could stand to go into a little more detail (373 pages is not quite enough, I feel.)

I think more explanation could have been given to the basics of COM, though the author himself admits this is not a book for beginners.

A major complaint is that certain important details (such as using regsvr32 to register the DLLs) aren't repeated more often. The reader shouldn't have to read the book cover to cover, just to be able to get an example to work.

Another big complaint I have is that the FileSpider program simply does not work the way it is. The code to traverse the DOM is there, but the code to actually download the files is simply not there. It simply displays message boxes telling you what you selected. This was a huge disappointment and seems to be indicative of a product rushed too quickly to market without adequate review.

Take note O'Reilly. Your books have no compare on the market in terms of depth, but that doesn't mean you can let your quality control slip. Simply providing examples that work the way the book says they do would have changed this review from a 3 to a 5.


Visual Basic Shell Programming Review,  August 14 2000
Submitted by Matthew Leverton   [Respond | View]

In a nutshell, this book was exactly what I was looking for. Hamilton does a great job with this ever-so difficult topic. He starts out with a simple example based upon his imaginary file type, and builds upon it every chapter. In the end, you can easily see how the different aspects of the shell can work together.

Although I was well versed in VB before reading this book, I had virtually no experience with COM. This posed no problem, since Hamilton does an excellent job quickly covering the basics. That said, shell programming is still no walk in the park. But with a bit of determination, it is well within grasp - even for the VB programmer.

The book does suffer minorly from "first edition" bugs. The downloadable examples that go with the book did not work fully on my Windows 2000 machine. The drop handler crashed Explorer every time the ".RAD" file was right-clicked on. Also there were a few mistakes in the source code in the book, but nothing that couldn't be figured out. Also, a couple of the examples could have been a little more detailed, such as the Property Sheet section.

All in all, this is a great book that you will not regret reading.