Creating a Shell-Link with hotkey property

[PeterPanettone 158]

"A Shell link is a data object that contains information used to access another object in the Shell's namespace": Read the whole definition here:

 

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/shell/links

 

I was searching for a Delphi VCL library allowing me to easily create a Shell-Link with all properties described in the Microsoft documentation:

 

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/shobjidl_core/nn-shobjidl_core-ishelllinkw

 

I found a lot of libraries for this purpose, but most of them were outdated or had some flaws or bugs. Most of the libraries lacked the feature to create a Shell-Link with a Hotkey.

 

The ShellBrowser Delphi VCL Library from JamSoftware contains a method to easily create a Shell-Link:

 

https://www.jam-software.com/shellbrowser_delphi/index.shtml

 

Unfortunately, it has no easy method to configure the properties (especially the hotkey property) of the newly created Shell-Link.

 

Fortunately, the above mentioned Microsoft documentation provides all the information to succeed in the task:

 

 

I use a standard THotKey control in the UI to allow the user to configure a hotkey for the newly created Shell-Link:

 

 

The THotKey control has these main properties - HotKey and Modifiers:

 

     

 

 

So the whole process of creating the Shell-Link with the Hotkey properties can be achieved with these steps:

 

1. Get the ItemIdList of the created Link:

 

 

2. Provide the IShellLink Interface of the ItemIdList:

 

 

3. Declare the IPersistFile interface for the Shell-Link file:

 

 

4. Now we need (as mentioned in the Microsoft documentation) to store the virtual key code in the low-order byte and the modifier flags in the high-order byte of the Shell-Link Hotkey property. For this purpose we declare a record containing two byte-fields:

 

 

Then we get the Hotkey from the THotKey control, assign it to the record and typecast the record to a Word:

 

 

But the Modifiers value is still missing from the record. So next, we get the Modifier-keys from the THotKey control and assign them to the Modifier Byte of the record:

 

 

Now we can assign the record (again typecasted to a Word) to the Shell-Link interface:

 

 

5. The other Shell-Link properties are easy to set and are explained in the Microsoft documentation.

 

6. In the last step we can now save the configured Shell-Link:

 

 

You can download the source code and learn from its implementation:

 

ShellLinkShortcutTest.zip

 

 

Here is a compiled exe demo of the program:

 

ShellLinkShortcutTest_CompiledExeDemo.zip

 

To compile the source code yourself you need the ShellBrowser library. You can download a free trial version here:

 

https://customers.jam-software.de/shellbrowser_delphi/download.shtml?language=EN

 

The many other features of the ShellBrowser library are explained here:

 

https://www.jam-software.com/shellbrowser_delphi/features.shtml

 

I am not affiliated with JamSoftware, but I recommend the ShellBrowser library as an excellent product.

 

I wish you a lot of fun with this demo!

[Attila Kovacs 629]

https://www.tek-tips.com/faqs.cfm?fid=7526 ?

[PeterPanettone 158]

2 minutes ago, Attila Kovacs said:

https://www.tek-tips.com/faqs.cfm?fid=7526 ?

When trying to open this link I got this error message:

 

[Attila Kovacs 629]

They killed Kenny! Strange, I just opened it 5 minutes ago 😄

Try it later again, its a thin unit to do the same. (As I understand your needs)

[Attila Kovacs 629]

https://web.archive.org/web/20171110112441/https://www.tek-tips.com/faqs.cfm?fid=7526

[PeterPanettone 158]

48 minutes ago, Attila Kovacs said:

https://web.archive.org/web/20171110112441/https://www.tek-tips.com/faqs.cfm?fid=7526

Compiler (Delphi 10.3.1 Rio) unfortunately found these errors in the code:

 

[dcc32 Error] ShellLink.pas(93): E2188 Published property 'ItemIDList' cannot be of type POINTER
[dcc32 Error] ShellLink.pas(274): E2033 Types of actual and formal var parameters must be identical
[dcc32 Error] ShellLink.pas(337): E2033 Types of actual and formal var parameters must be identical
[dcc32 Error] ShellLink.pas(338): E2033 Types of actual and formal var parameters must be identical

Edited November 3, 2019 by PeterPanettone

[Attila Kovacs 629]

And?

Change Published to Public and TWin32FindDataA to TWin32FindDataW or TWin32FindData, Dummy: Longint to Dummy: Cardinal

Edited November 3, 2019 by Attila Kovacs

[PeterPanettone 158]

44 minutes ago, Attila Kovacs said:

And?

Unfortunately it does not work:

 

[Attila Kovacs 629]

This is how I'm using it.

    SCut := TWin32ShortCut.Create;
    try
      SCut.Location := ciDesktop;
      SCut.FileName := sp[0];
      SCut.AppPath := ResolvePath(sp[1]);
      SCut.WorkDir := ResolvePath(sp[2]);
      SCut.IconPath := ResolvePath(sp[3]);
      if l > 4 then
        if TryStrToInt(sp[4], i) then
          SCut.IconIndex := i;
      SCut.SaveShortCut;
    finally
      SCut.Free;
    end;

function ResolvePath(const Path: string): string;
var
  sp: TArray<string>;
  i: Integer;
begin
  sp := Path.Split(['%']);
  Result := '';
  for i := 0 to High(sp) do
    case i mod 2 of
      0:
        Result := Result + sp[i];
      1:
        Result := Result + GetEnvironmentVariable(sp[i]);
    end;
end;

 

[PeterPanettone 158]

4 minutes ago, Attila Kovacs said:

This is how I'm using it.

Loading a Shell-Link and reading its properties does not work with the above code:

 

[PeterPanettone 158]

2 hours ago, PeterPanettone said:

I found a lot of libraries for this purpose, but most of them were outdated or had some flaws or bugs.

Confirmed.

[Attila Kovacs 629]

I'm not sure if you missed the second line in the code "shortcut creation object".

I did not know that you want to edit existing shortcuts, sorry.

 

2 hours ago, PeterPanettone said:

I was searching for a Delphi VCL library allowing me to easily create a Shell-Link with all properties described in the Microsoft documentation:

 

 

I'm wasting here my time.

Confirmed.

 

[PeterPanettone 158]

2 minutes ago, Attila Kovacs said:

I did not know that you want to edit existing shortcuts

I just tried to use the linked unit. This has nothing to do with what I want. Sorry about that.