Question

I use GetOpenFilename() to let the user select a file. Here is the code:

  wchar_t buffer[MAX_PATH] = { 0 };

  OPENFILENAMEW open_filename = { sizeof (OPENFILENAMEW) };

  open_filename.hwndOwner   = handle_;
  open_filename.lpstrFilter = L"Video Files\0*.avi;*.mpg;*.wmv;*.asf\0"
                              L"All Files\0*.*\0";
  open_filename.lpstrFile   = buffer;
  open_filename.nMaxFile    = MAX_PATH; 
  open_filename.lpstrTitle  = L"Open media file...";
  open_filename.Flags       = OFN_FILEMUSTEXIST | OFN_HIDEREADONLY;

  ::GetOpenFileNameW(&open_filename);

The file dialog shows up, but when I

• change the Filter or
• click on “My Computer“

the file list turns empty. Pressing [F5] does not help, but if I switch to the parent folder and return to the original folder (in the case of the Filter change) the filtering works fine and files show up in the list.

EDIT: My system is Windows XP (SP3) 32-bit – nothing special. It happens on other machines – with the same config – as well.

Answer 1

Okay, I have figured out the problem, or at least, I have a solution that is working for me.

Earlier in the code, I had the following call to initialize COM…

::CoInitializeEx(NULL, COINIT_MULTITHREADED);

Well, changing this to…

::CoInitializeEx(NULL, COINIT_APARTMENTTHREADED);

…solves the problem for me! Now the file dialog is filtering again.

I searched the web for this and it seems that a very few people faces the same problem, but no one published the aforementioned solution. Can anyone verify my findings?