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I've succesfully obtained the handle to the current File Explorer window using

'Get handle to active window Dim hWnd As IntPtr = GetForegroundWindow()

I have not been succesful finding the object that contains the path the aforementioned window is displaying. This path is supposed to reside in the process of the window, obtained too by

Dim ProcessID As UInt32 = Nothing Dim ptr As UInt32 = GetWindowThreadProcessId(hWnd, ProcessID) Dim Proc As Process = Process.GetProcessById(ProcessID)

However Proc.MainModule.Filename will deliver the path to the process only when executed within the IDE (VS2013). It will suddenly stop when executed outside. Can anyone please explain to me what I am failing to understand? Thanks.

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You might be able to iterate child windows and get the filename text, but that seems to be the hard way. Assuming that Explorer is the ForeGroundWindow as a starting point also seems brittle. Here is how to get the Path/FocusedFile name using Shell32

First, open the References window (Project Properties -> References). From the COM tab, select/check Microsoft Internet Controls and Microsoft Shell Controls and Automation. Note: in Windows 8.1, the last one is now named Microsoft Shell Folder View Router

Imports Shell32 ' for ShellFolderView Imports SHDocVw ' for IShellWindows ... Private Function GetExplorerPath() As String Dim exShell As New Shell Dim SFV As ShellFolderView For Each w As ShellBrowserWindow In DirectCast(exShell.Windows, IShellWindows) ' try to cast to an explorer folder If TryCast(w.Document, IShellFolderViewDual) IsNot Nothing Then expPath = DirectCast(w.Document, IShellFolderViewDual).FocusedItem.Path ' remove the GetDirectoryName method when you ' want to return the selected file rather than folder Return Path.GetDirectoryName(expPath) ElseIf TryCast(w.Document, ShellFolderView) IsNot Nothing Then expPath = DirectCast(w.Document, ShellFolderView).FocusedItem.Path Return Path.GetDirectoryName(expPath) End If Next Return "" End Function

To use it:

Dim ExpPath = GetExplorerPath() Console.WriteLine(ExpPath )

Output:

C:\Temp

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4 Comments

Compiler says "IShellWindows not defined." And "For each was" throws a message too.
Ok never mind. It worked flawlessly. Just make sure to fix the typo "w As" and also import SHDocVw where the IShellWindows interface is defined.
Yes, I must have let VS add the Imports SHDocVw statement and forgot to add it here, the wAs was a paste error
Thanks! I translate it to C#

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