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ShellExecute (shell32)
 
.
Summary

C# Signature:

[DllImport("shell32.dll")]
static extern IntPtr ShellExecute(
    IntPtr hwnd,
    string lpOperation,
    string lpFile,
    string lpParameters,
    string lpDirectory,
    int nShowCmd);

User-Defined Types:

None.

Return Values:

If the return value is greater than 32, the ShellExecute call was successfully executed. Otherwise, check for one of these constants:

ERROR_SUCCESS The operating system is out of memory or resources.
ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND The specified file was not found.
ERROR_PATH_NOT_FOUND The specified path was not found.
ERROR_BAD_FORMAT The .exe file is invalid (non-Microsoft Win32 .exe or error in .exe image).
SE_ERR_ACCESSDENIED The operating system denied access to the specified file.
SE_ERR_ASSOCINCOMPLETE The file name association is incomplete or invalid.
SE_ERR_DDEBUSY The Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) transaction could not be completed because other DDE transactions were being processed.
SE_ERR_DDEFAIL The DDE transaction failed.
SE_ERR_DDETIMEOUT The DDE transaction could not be completed because the request timed out.
SE_ERR_DLLNOTFOUND The specified dynamic-link library (DLL) was not found.
SE_ERR_FNF The specified file was not found.
SE_ERR_NOASSOC There is no application associated with the given file name extension. This error will also be returned if you attempt to print a file that is not printable.
SE_ERR_OOM There was not enough memory to complete the operation.
SE_ERR_PNF The specified path was not found.
SE_ERR_SHARE A sharing violation occurred.

Notes:

None.

Tips & Tricks:

Possible values for lpOperation

edit

explore

find

open

print

NULL - Performs the default action (prior to Win2k) normally open

Sample Code:

    // Asks default mail client to send an email to the specified address.
    ShellExecute( IntPtr.Zero, "open", "mailto:support@microsoft.com", "", "", 4 );

    // Asks default browser to visit the specified site.
    ShellExecute( IntPtr.Zero, "open", "http://channel9.msdn.com", "", "", 4 );

    // Opens default HTML editing app to allow for edit of specified file
    ShellExecute( IntPtr.Zero, "edit", @"c:\file.html", "", "", 4 );

//Modified by Aljaz: Replaced the last zero in these calls with 4 otherwise it wouldn't show anything

// 0 stands for SW_HIDE contant, which means execute but don't show the window which is probably not

// what we want.

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