Shell Folders Unit

Contents

• Description
• Compatibility
• Installation
• Known Issues
• Update History
• License and Disclaimer
• About the Author

Description

This unit provides various components, classes and routines for handling Windows shell folders. It contains:

• A component that provides information about a specified special shell folder.
• A class that enumerates all the special shell folders.
• Routines to manipulate special shell folder information.
• A component that encapsulates the Windows Browse for Folder dialog box.
• A property editor for special shell folder identifiers.

Compatibility

The unit is compatible with Delphi 3 and 4. It may work correctly in Delphi 5 but this has not been tested.

Installation

In these instructions $(DELPHI) is to be taken to represent the path where the appropriate version of Delphi was installed. For example, if you have Delphi 4 installed on the default installation path then $(DELPHI) is equivalent to C:\Program Files\Borland\Delphi4.

Installation with Delphi 3 & Delphi 4

1. Unzip the file pjshfldr.zip into a folder.
2. Copy the files PJShellFolders.pas and PJShellFolders.dcr to where you wish to install into Delphi. This will probably be a sub-folder of the $(DELPHI)\lib folder.
3. Install the unit's components and property editor into the palette by chosing the Component | Install Component menu option. The following instructions assume you are installing into the default "users components" package:
   • Select the "Into exisiting package" page of the Install Components dialogue box.
   • Browse to the folder where you saved PJShellFolders.pas and select the file.
   • Ensure that the "Package file name" edit box contains $(DELPHI)\lib\dclusrXX.dpk (where XX=30 for Delphi 3 and XX=40 for Delphi 4).
   • Accept that the package will be rebuilt.
   • A dialogue box should be displayed saying that TPJSpecialFolderInfo and TPJBrowseDialog have been added to the component palette.
4. You can now delete PJShellFolders.pas from the place where you copied it if you wish. The components will appear on a palette called PJ Stuff. The other code in the unit can be made available simply by use-ing it. You can move the components to a different palette as required, or alter the source code (before installing the program) by finding the Register procedure at the end of the code and changing the string 'PJ stuff' to the name of the required palette.
5. The simplest way to install the help file is to use the PJSoft Component Help Installer Expert, available from my website. To install manually, proceed as follows (where X=3 or 4 depending on the version of Delphi):
   • Copy PJShellFolders.hlp to whichever folder you wish to install it to.
   • Edit DelphiX.cfg (in $(DELPHI)\Help), adding the line :Link PJShellFolders.hlp to the end of the section labelled "Third party help".
   • Edit DelphiX.cnt (in $(DELPHI)\Help), adding the line :Index PJSoft Shell Folders=PJShellFolders.hlp towards the end of the index section.
   • Using RegEdit open the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Help and add a new string value named PJShellFolders.hlp whose value is the path where you copied the help file (probably ($DELPHI)\Help).

Known Issues

No bugs reported to date.

Update History

Release 1.0 of 06/04/2001
PJShellFolders v1.0 of 01/04/2001

• Original version with help file and HTML documentation.

License & Disclaimer

This unit and help file are copyright © P.D.Johnson, 2001.

The source code and help files can be freely distributed on a not-for-profit basis providing that:

1. the source code is not altered.
2. this file is distributed with it unchanged

By not-for-profit I mean that you may recover out of pocket expenses incurred in distributing the code, but should not make a profit from this.

If you discover any bugs in this implementation, or if you have any update suggestions, please contact me on peter.johnson@openlink.org.

Please do modify the code for you own use. I'd like to see any changes you make - I could incorporate them into future versions. Please notify me of changes on at the above e-mail address.

This software is provided as is - no warranty is given as to its suitability for any purposes to which you may wish to put it.

About the Author

I'm Peter Johnson - a hobbyist programmer living in Ceredigion in West Wales, UK. I write mainly in Delphi, but occasionally dabble in C, C++ and Java. My programs are available for download on my web-site: http://www.pjsoft.contactbox.co.uk/.

I can be contacted by e-mail on peter.johnson@openlink.org.