VB Shell Programming

Organization of This Book

This book is loosely divided into four parts. Even though each chapter contains a distinct project, many chapters build on knowledge gained from previous chapters. So, really, the book is best read in the order in which the chapters were written. But don’t worry. If you just have to skip ahead to Chapter 10, to find out how to write an InfoTip handler, you can do that, too. Any information you might need from previous chapters is referenced. Here’s how the book breaks down:

Part I

Part I includes Chapter 1, Chapter 2, and Chapter 3. These chapters are designed to introduce you to the basics of the Windows shell and to provide a jumpstart on the Component Object Model and how it relates to writing in-process components for Visual Basic.

Why an Imaginary File Type?

You may wonder why I’ve chosen to invent an imaginary file type, rather than showing you how to develop shell extensions that work with an existing file type. The answer is really quite simple: shell extensions change the way a particular feature of Windows works, and I don’t feel presumptuous enough to change the way that Windows handles the files you work with day in and day out. However, although the file type is imaginary, the examples are immediately useful. The context menu handler and icon handler examples, for instance, show how to create customized pop-up menu items or to display custom icons based on the contents of the file.

Part II

Part II includes Chapter 4 through Chapter 10. In these ...