Windows Shell Programming – MSDN Documentation

Welcome to Windows Shell Programming

The Windows Shell provides a rich set of APIs to integrate applications deeply with the Windows desktop experience. This documentation covers the core concepts, COM interfaces, extension points, and practical examples.

Key Topics

Shell Namespace – Understanding the virtual file system.
Shell Extensions – Adding custom UI and functionality.
COM Interfaces – Core interfaces like IShellFolder, IContextMenu.
Sample Code – Ready‑to‑run examples.

Quick Sample

Below is a minimal example of implementing a custom IContextMenu handler.

#include <windows.h>
#include <shlobj.h>

class MyContextMenu : public IContextMenu {
public:
    // IUnknown
    STDMETHODIMP QueryInterface(REFIID riid, void **ppv) { /* ... */ }
    STDMETHODIMP_(ULONG) AddRef() { /* ... */ }
    STDMETHODIMP_(ULONG) Release() { /* ... */ }

    // IContextMenu
    STDMETHODIMP GetCommandString(UINT_PTR idCmd, UINT uFlags, UINT *pwReserved,
                                  LPSTR pszName, UINT cchMax) { /* ... */ }
    STDMETHODIMP InvokeCommand(LPCMINVOKECOMMANDINFO pici) { /* ... */ }
    STDMETHODIMP QueryContextMenu(HMENU hMenu, UINT indexMenu,
                                  UINT idCmdFirst, UINT idCmdLast,
                                  UINT uFlags) { /* ... */ }
};