Question

I have an application auto updater which checks for new updates, moves the existing files including the app.exe into a new folder and copies the new version .exe + .dll’s into the app folder

everything has been working perfectly without issues but there’s one small glitch – the shortcuts created at the time of the original install become invalid

Is there a way to programmatically fix those shortcuts ?

Answer 1

You can update a shortcut using WshShell object (to identify folders and locations), and the Scripting.FilesystemObject to make the changes.

Here is an article on MSDN about the WshShell Object:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aew9yb99(VS.85).aspx

This is an example of replacing a shortcut link in VB Script:

Sub ReplaceShortcut (folder, target, targetTarget)
  set oFso = CreateObject("Scripting.FilesystemObject")
  Set oFolder = oFso.GetFolder(folder)
  Set oFiles = oFolder.Files

  For Each oFile In oFiles

    If LCase(oFso.GetExtensionName(oFile.name)) = "lnk" Then
        Set oLnk = oShell.CreateShortcut(oFile.path)
        If instr(1, oLnk.TargetPath, target, 1)<>0 Then
            oLnk.TargetPath = replace(oLnk.TargetPath, target, targetTarget)
            oLnk.Save
        End If
    End If
  Next
End Sub