Programmatically changing the location of the desktop shell folder

[Diamonddrake]

I am working on a combination productivity and source/version control app. One of the features i would like to add might sound crazy, but I would like to substitute the User's windows Desktop folder with the project files "Working Directory" That way, until the the software is exited, or the project is closed. The windows desktop, the easiest location to find regardless of what you are doing, will be your project folder (If only I had a magic desk that only showed me stuff I needed when I needed it :)

In windows vista and 7 its easy to accomplish this in explorer, in the properties for special folders like the desktop there is a location tab that allows you to change the folder, it works immediately and very well. With the exception of renaming the folder you set to Desktop, it works exactly how I would like it too.

But I can't seem to find out how to accomplish this programmatically. I have tried changing the "shell folder" HKCU registry entry, and although this works for everything but the literal desktop. I can't seem to get the actual desktop desktop to display the changes.

Anyone have any ideas?

[Diamonddrake]

I seemed to have found my answer :) But I can only test on Windows 7 and vista because I don't have an XP Machine. Can someone with an XP machine test this snippet for me and tell me if it works.

class Program

    {

        public static class KnownFolder

        {

            public static Guid Desktop = new Guid("B4BFCC3A-DB2C-424C-B029-7FE99A87C641");

        }

 

        [DllImport("shell32.dll")]

        private extern static int SHSetKnownFolderPath(ref Guid folderId, uint flags, IntPtr token, [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] string path);

        [DllImport("Shell32.dll")]

        public static extern int SHChangeNotify(int eventId, int flags, IntPtr item1, IntPtr item2);

 

        static void Main(string[] args)

        {

            string newPath = @"path to new desktop folder";

            int flags = 0;

            SHSetKnownFolderPath(ref KnownFolder.Desktop, (uint)flags, IntPtr.Zero, newPath);

            SHChangeNotify(0x8000000, 0x1000, IntPtr.Zero, IntPtr.Zero);

        }

    }

[Diamonddrake]

Ok, it works in VISTA and SEVEN only. XP needs a different api, i found some code that seems to work

Resolved. SHChangeNotify with SHCNE_RENAMEFOLDER doing this. Thanks to all. Here is a source.
1) Define Pinvoke functions:

[DllImport("shell32.dll")]
public static extern Int32 SHParseDisplayName( [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] String pszName, 
IntPtr pbc, out IntPtr ppidl, UInt32 sfgaoIn,  out UInt32 psfgaoOut);

[DllImport("Shell32.dll")]
public static extern int SHChangeNotify(int eventId, int flags, IntPtr item1, IntPtr item2);

2) Method to notify system about new desktop folder path:

public static void ApplyNewDesktopPath(string OldDesktop, string NewDesktop)
{
     uint iAttribute;
     IntPtr oldPidl;
     IntPtr newPidl;
     SHParseDisplayName(OldDesktop, IntPtr.Zero, out oldPidl, 0, out iAttribute);
     SHParseDisplayName(NewDesktop, IntPtr.Zero, out newPidl, 0, out iAttribute);
     SHChangeNotify(0x00020000, 0x1000, oldPidl, newPidl);
}

3) Refresh desktop to show new content:

public static void RefreshDesktop()
{
    SHChangeNotify(0x8000000, 0x1000, IntPtr.Zero, IntPtr.Zero);
}

it will let me change the desktop folder, but won't let me change it back to the regular desktop. I have to kill explorer to get the refresh.

i think it might have to do with not releasing the pidls properly. i'm tring to figure it out, any ideas would be appreciated.

[Diamonddrake]

OK, turns out that the problem is more to do with the desktop being the root of the namespace yadda yadda relative to the current desktop. It involves a bunch of relative paths, But I found another way.

I still have much testing to do to get the XP compatibility reliable enough to use, once I get it settled. I will post some snippets or a CodeProject article.

If anyone has any further information on this subject. Please do post it.

[Kelly_5]

Did your solution work for this? If so, do you have some code you can post? Thanks very much in advance.

[Kelly_5]

Did your solution work for this? If so, do you have some code you can post? Thanks very much in advance.