Question

I need to test if a file is a shortcut. I’m still trying to figure out how stuff will be set up, but I might only have it’s path, I might only have the actual contents of the file (as a byte[]) or I might have both.

A few complications include that I it could be in a zip file (in this cases the path will be an internal path)

Answer 1

Shortcuts can be manipulated using the COM objects in SHELL32.DLL.

In your Visual Studio project, add a reference to the COM library ‘Microsoft Shell Controls And Automation’ and then use the following:

/// <summary> /// Returns whether the given path/file is a link /// </summary> /// <param name='shortcutFilename'></param> /// <returns></returns> public static bool IsLink(string shortcutFilename) {     string pathOnly = System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(shortcutFilename);     string filenameOnly = System.IO.Path.GetFileName(shortcutFilename);      Shell32.Shell shell = new Shell32.ShellClass();     Shell32.Folder folder = shell.NameSpace(pathOnly);     Shell32.FolderItem folderItem = folder.ParseName(filenameOnly);     if (folderItem != null)     {         return folderItem.IsLink;     }     return false; // not found } 

You can get the actual target of the link as follows:

    /// <summary>     /// If path/file is a link returns the full pathname of the target,     /// Else return the original pathnameo '' if the file/path can't be found     /// </summary>     /// <param name='shortcutFilename'></param>     /// <returns></returns>     public static string GetShortcutTarget(string shortcutFilename)     {         string pathOnly = System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(shortcutFilename);         string filenameOnly = System.IO.Path.GetFileName(shortcutFilename);          Shell32.Shell shell = new Shell32.ShellClass();         Shell32.Folder folder = shell.NameSpace(pathOnly);         Shell32.FolderItem folderItem = folder.ParseName(filenameOnly);         if (folderItem != null)         {             if (folderItem.IsLink)             {                 Shell32.ShellLinkObject link = (Shell32.ShellLinkObject)folderItem.GetLink;                 return link.Path;             }             return shortcutFilename;         }         return '';  // not found     }