Special folders
From HashVB
| This article is based on Visual Basic 6. Find other Visual Basic 6 articles. |
There are numerous ways to get "special" paths in windows. You can read them directly from the registry, but this is not recommended. You can also get a few select ones by reading the environment variables, but again, these are not guaranteed. The proper way is to use the SHGetSpecialFolderLocation() function.
Private Declare Function SHGetSpecialFolderLocation Lib "shell32" _
(ByVal hwndOwner As Long, ByVal nFolder As Long, pidl As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function SHGetPathFromIDList Lib "shell32" Alias "SHGetPathFromIDListA" _
(ByVal pidl As Long, ByVal pszPath As String) As Long
Private Const ERROR_SUCCESS = 0
Private Const MAX_LENGTH = 260
Public Function GetSpecialFolder(ByVal CSIDL As Long) As String
Dim sPath As String
Dim pidl As Long
'Get the ID list form the Path ID
If SHGetSpecialFolderLocation(0, CSIDL, pidl) = ERROR_SUCCESS Then
'Allocate the space for the path
sPath = Space$(MAX_LENGTH)
'Get the real path form the ID list
If SHGetPathFromIDList(ByVal pidl, ByVal sPath) Then
'Strip off the trailing null characters
GetSpecialFolder = Left$(sPath, InStr(sPath, Chr$(0)) - 1)
If Right(GetSpecialFolder, 1) <> "\" Then GetSpecialFolder = GetSpecialFolder & "\"
End If
End If
End Function
CSIDL folder values
The values for various folders are as follows:
| Folder | Constant | Value | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Documents | |||
| My Documents | CSIDL_PERSONAL | &H05 | (user)\My Documents |
| My Pictures | CSIDL_MYPICTURES | &H27 | (user)\My Documents\My Pictures |
| My Music | &H0D | (user)\My Documents\My Music | |
| Common documents | CSIDL_COMMON_DOCUMENTS | &H2E | (all users)\Documents |
| Common Pictures | &H36 | (all users)\Documents\My Pictures | |
| Common Music | &H35 | (all users)\Documents\My Music | |
| Common Videos | &H37 | (all users)\Documents\My Videos | |
| Start menu | |||
| Start menu | CSIDL_STARTMENU | &H0B | (user)\Start Menu |
| Programs | CSIDL_PROGRAMS | &H02 | (user)\Start Menu\Programs |
| Startup | CSIDL_STARTUP | &H07 | (user)\Start Menu\Programs\Startup |
| Common start menu | CSIDL_COMMON_STARTMENU | &H16 | (all users)\Start Menu |
| Common programs | CSIDL_COMMON_PROGRAMS | &H17 | (all users)\Start Menu\Programs |
| Common Startup | CSIDL_COMMON_STARTUP | &H18 | (all users)\Start Menu\Programs\Startup |
| Shell folders | |||
| Desktop | CSIDL_DESKTOPDIRECTORY | &H10 | (user)\Desktop |
| Favourites | CSIDL_FAVORITES | &H06 | (user)\Favorites |
| Recent documents | CSIDL_RECENT | &H08 | (user)\Recent |
| Send to... | CSIDL_SENDTO | &H09 | (user)\SendTo |
| Templates | CSIDL_TEMPLATES | &H15 | (user)\Templates |
| Common desktop | CSIDL_COMMON_DESKTOPDIRECTORY | &H19 | (all users)\Desktop |
| Common favourites | CSIDL_COMMON_FAVORITES | &H1F | (all users)\Favourites |
| Common templates | CSIDL_COMMON_TEMPLATES | &H2D | (all users)\Templates |
| "Data" folders | |||
| Application data | CSIDL_APPDATA | &H1A | (user)\Application Data |
| Local application data | CSIDL_LOCAL_APPDATA | &H1C | (user)\Local Settings\Application Data |
| Common application data | CSIDL_COMMON_APPDATA | &H23 | (all users)\Application Data |
| IE folders | |||
| Temporary internet files | CSIDL_INTERNET_CACHE | &H20 | |
| IE Cookies | CSIDL_COOKIES | &H21 | |
| IE History | CSIDL_HISTORY | &H22 | |
| System folders | |||
| Windows directory | CSIDL_WINDOWS | &H24 | C:\Windows |
| System directory | CSIDL_SYSTEM | &H25 | C:\Windows\System32 |
| Fonts | CSIDL_FONTS | &H14 | C:\Windows\Fonts |
| Program files | CSIDL_PROGRAM_FILES | &H26 | C:\Program Files |
| Common files | CSIDL_PROGRAM_FILES_COMMON | &H2B | C:\Program Files\Common Files |
| User profile | CSIDL_PROFILE | &H28 | (user) |
| Admin tools | |||
| Common admin tools | CSIDL_COMMON_ADMINTOOLS | &H2F | (all users)\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools |
| Admin tools | CSIDL_ADMINTOOLS | &H30 | {user}\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools |
