Question

How do I get the general File type description based on extension like Explorer does it? So not MIME but the information that the end-user sees, like.

.doc = Microsoft Office Word 97 – 2003 Document .zip = ZIP File .avi = Video File.

And how can I get the ‘secondary’ information that seems to be available, which I guess it not extension based. Like on ‘Video Files’ it can give you the ‘Length’ of the movie or on doc files how many pages it has.. etc etc..

Answer 1

Thanks Dan, Alright.. This answers the first question I had. Sadly not the second. Note: Not everything prints.. Credits to PInvoke.net

using System; using System.Runtime.InteropServices; using System.Text; using System.Diagnostics;   namespace WindowsFormsApplication1 {     static class Program     {         [DllImport('Shlwapi.dll', SetLastError = true, CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]         static extern uint AssocQueryString(AssocF flags, AssocStr str, string pszAssoc, string pszExtra, [Out] StringBuilder pszOut, [In][Out] ref uint pcchOut);          /// <summary>         /// The main entry point for the application.         /// </summary>         [STAThread]         static void Main()         {             Debug.WriteLine(FileExtentionInfo(AssocStr.Command, '.doc'), 'Command');             Debug.WriteLine(FileExtentionInfo(AssocStr.DDEApplication, '.doc'), 'DDEApplication');             Debug.WriteLine(FileExtentionInfo(AssocStr.DDEIfExec, '.doc'), 'DDEIfExec');             Debug.WriteLine(FileExtentionInfo(AssocStr.DDETopic, '.doc'), 'DDETopic');             Debug.WriteLine(FileExtentionInfo(AssocStr.Executable, '.doc'), 'Executable');             Debug.WriteLine(FileExtentionInfo(AssocStr.FriendlyAppName, '.doc'), 'FriendlyAppName');             Debug.WriteLine(FileExtentionInfo(AssocStr.FriendlyDocName, '.doc'), 'FriendlyDocName');             Debug.WriteLine(FileExtentionInfo(AssocStr.NoOpen, '.doc'), 'NoOpen');             Debug.WriteLine(FileExtentionInfo(AssocStr.ShellNewValue, '.doc'), 'ShellNewValue');              //  DDEApplication: WinWord             //DDEIfExec: Ñﻴ߾             //  DDETopic: System             //  Executable: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office12\WINWORD.EXE             //  FriendlyAppName: Microsoft Office Word             //  FriendlyDocName: Microsoft Office Word 97 - 2003 Document           }          public static string FileExtentionInfo(AssocStr assocStr, string doctype)         {             uint pcchOut = 0;             AssocQueryString(AssocF.Verify, assocStr, doctype, null, null, ref pcchOut);              StringBuilder pszOut = new StringBuilder((int)pcchOut);             AssocQueryString(AssocF.Verify, assocStr, doctype, null, pszOut, ref pcchOut);             return pszOut.ToString();         }          [Flags]         public enum AssocF         {             Init_NoRemapCLSID = 0x1,             Init_ByExeName = 0x2,             Open_ByExeName = 0x2,             Init_DefaultToStar = 0x4,             Init_DefaultToFolder = 0x8,             NoUserSettings = 0x10,             NoTruncate = 0x20,             Verify = 0x40,             RemapRunDll = 0x80,             NoFixUps = 0x100,             IgnoreBaseClass = 0x200         }          public enum AssocStr         {             Command = 1,             Executable,             FriendlyDocName,             FriendlyAppName,             NoOpen,             ShellNewValue,             DDECommand,             DDEIfExec,             DDEApplication,             DDETopic         }      } }