How to get Application name to be displayed in open-with list?

Question

This is a continuation of my question here. I am creating an open with list for the type *.bmp.As per the answers for that question,I have created a list of the applications in the open with list from the registry keys.

   public void RecommendedPrograms(string ext)
    {


        string baseKey = @"Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\." + ext;

        using (RegistryKey rk = Registry.CurrentUser.OpenSubKey(baseKey + @"\OpenWithList"))
        {
            if (rk != null)
            {
                string mruList = (string)rk.GetValue("MRUList");
                if (mruList != null)
                {
                    foreach (char c in mruList.ToString())
                    {
                        string str=rk.GetValue(c.ToString()).ToString();
                        if (!progs.Contains(str))
                        {
                            progs.Add(str);
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }

        using (RegistryKey rk = Registry.CurrentUser.OpenSubKey(baseKey + @"\OpenWithProgids"))
        {
            if (rk != null)
            {
                foreach (string item in rk.GetValueNames())
                    progs.Add(item);
            }
        }

        using (RegistryKey rk = Registry.ClassesRoot.OpenSubKey("." + ext + @"\OpenWithList"))
        {
            if (rk != null)
            {
                foreach (var item in rk.GetSubKeyNames())
                {
                    if (!progs.Contains(item))
                    {
                        progs.Add(item.ToString());
                    }
                }
            }
        }
        using (RegistryKey rk = Registry.ClassesRoot.OpenSubKey("." + ext + @"\OpenWithProgids"))
        {
            if (rk != null)
            {
                foreach (string item in rk.GetValueNames())
                {
                    if (!progs.Contains(item))
                    {
                        progs.Add(item);
                    }
                }
            }
        }

    }

This method will return a list of application names like,

• Paint.Picture
• ehshell.exe
• MSPaint.exe
• ois.exe
• VisualStudio.bmp.10.0
• QuickTime.bmp

These are PrgIds and I can get the command that needs to be executed to open the specific application from

      public string GetRegisteredApplication(string StrProgID)
    {
        // 
        //  Return registered application by file's extension
        // 
        RegistryKey oHKCR;
        RegistryKey oOpenCmd;
        string command;

        if (Environment.Is64BitOperatingSystem == true)
        {
            oHKCR = RegistryKey.OpenBaseKey(Microsoft.Win32.RegistryHive.ClassesRoot, RegistryView.Registry64);
        }
        else
        {
            oHKCR = RegistryKey.OpenBaseKey(Microsoft.Win32.RegistryHive.ClassesRoot, RegistryView.Registry32);
        }
        try
        {


            oOpenCmd = oHKCR.OpenSubKey(StrProgID + "\\shell\\open\\command");
            if (oOpenCmd == null)
            {
                oOpenCmd = oHKCR.OpenSubKey("\\Applications\\" + StrProgID + "\\shell\\open\\command");
            }
            if (oOpenCmd != null)
            {
                command = oOpenCmd.GetValue(null).ToString();
                oOpenCmd.Close();
            }
            else
            {
                return null;
            }
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            return null;
        }
        return command;
    }

Now How do I get the Application name that has to be displayed in the menu ? Each time that you start using a new application, Windows operating system automatically extract the application name from the version resource of the exe file, and stores it for using it later, in Registry key known as the 'MuiCache'. MUICache data is stored under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\MuiCache

but we cant guarentee that the application has been run at least once.Also we can directly get the desciption key from the version resources of the file but i have some trouble in splitting out the application path from commands like

%SystemRoot%\System32\rundll32.exe "%ProgramFiles%\Windows Photo Viewer\PhotoViewer.dll", ImageView_Fullscreen %1

How could i get the name information ?

Below the list of my commands

• "C:\Windows\System32\rundll32.exe \"C:\Program Files\Windows Photo Viewer\PhotoViewer.dll\", ImageView_Fullscreen %1"
• "\"C:\Windows\eHome\ehshell.exe\" \"%1\""
• "C:\PROGRA~1\MIF5BA~1\Office14\OIS.EXE /shellOpen \"%1\""
• "\"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe\" /dde"
• "C:\Program Files (x86)\QuickTime\PictureViewer.exe \"%1\""

Occidental

Answer 1

If you know the list of commands, then you can retrieve the description using the code given below

 FileVersionInfo.GetVersionInfo(Path.Combine(Environment.SystemDirectory, "Notepad.exe"));
 FileVersionInfo myFileVersionInfo = FileVersionInfo.GetVersionInfo(Environment.SystemDirectory + "\\Notepad.exe");


    // Print the file name and version number.
    Console.WriteLine("File: " + myFileVersionInfo.FileDescription + '\n' +
       "Version number: " + myFileVersionInfo.FileVersion);

Freshwater

yes buddy...but I'm not able to find a method to consistently split out the exe or dll path from the command eg:in the case of "%SystemRoot%\System32\rundll32.exe "%ProgramFiles%\Windows Photo Viewer\PhotoViewer.dll", ImageView_Fullscreen %1", I need to split out PhotoViewer.dll so that to get the description from FileVersionInfo in other cases such as "C:\\Windows\\system32\\NOTEPAD.EXE %1" this is straight forward – Occidental

Answer 2

Building on Amal's solution, you only have two scenarios you need to handle:

1) those that start "C:\Windows\System32\rundll32.exe" 2) everything else

If you want something rough you could substitute "C:\Windows\System32\rundll32.exe" will an empty string. Replace "s with empty strings, terminate your string a the first forward slash (/) or % and then trim the result.

You'd be left with the name of the .dll or .exe you want the name for (this could probably be done a little more gracefully with a RegEx and this solution will end up getting complex quickly if you need to handle more scenarios).

You then run that through the bit of code from Amal and you should have what you want.

Lousy

Answer 3

Update: sorry, I misread your post.

This helps only if you look for the default application name based on the extension. Not based on the progID.

public static class FileAssoc
{
    [DllImport("Shlwapi.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto, SetLastError = true)]
    static extern uint AssocQueryString(AssocF flags, AssocStr str, string pszAssoc, string pszExtra, [Out] StringBuilder sOut, [In][Out] ref uint nOut);

    [Flags]
    public enum AssocF
    {
        Init_NoRemapCLSID = 0x1,
        Init_ByExeName = 0x2,
        Open_ByExeName = 0x2,
        Init_DefaultToStar = 0x4,
        Init_DefaultToFolder = 0x8,
        NoUserSettings = 0x10,
        NoTruncate = 0x20,
        Verify = 0x40,
        RemapRunDll = 0x80,
        NoFixUps = 0x100,
        IgnoreBaseClass = 0x200
    }

    public enum AssocStr
    {
        Command = 1,
        Executable,
        FriendlyDocName,
        FriendlyAppName,
        NoOpen,
        ShellNewValue,
        DDECommand,
        DDEIfExec,
        DDEApplication,
        DDETopic
    }

    public static string GetApplicationName(string fileExtensionIncludingDot)
    {
        uint cOut = 0;
        if (AssocQueryString(AssocF.Verify, AssocStr.FriendlyAppName, fileExtensionIncludingDot, null, null, ref cOut) != 1)
            return null;
        StringBuilder pOut = new StringBuilder((int)cOut);
        if (AssocQueryString(AssocF.Verify, AssocStr.FriendlyAppName, fileExtensionIncludingDot, null, pOut, ref cOut) != 0)
            return null;
        return pOut.ToString();
    }
}

You can use it like this

string applicationName = FileAssoc.GetApplicationName(".docx");
// results in "Microsoft Office Word"

Deluxe

Answer 4

My code that include check to prevent from some common errors... Hope it helps :-)

using System;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.IO;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.Text;

namespace HQ.Util.Unmanaged
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Usage: string executablePath = FileAssociation.GetExecFileAssociatedToExtension(pathExtension, "open");
    /// Usage: string command FileAssociation.GetExecCommandAssociatedToExtension(pathExtension, "open");
    /// </summary>
    public static class FileAssociation
    {
        /// <summary>
        /// 
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="ext"></param>
        /// <param name="verb"></param>
        /// <returns>Return null if not found</returns>
        public static string GetExecCommandAssociatedToExtension(string ext, string verb = null)
        {
            if (ext[0] != '.')
            {
                ext = "." + ext;
            }

            string  executablePath = FileExtentionInfo(AssocStr.Command, ext, verb);

            // Ensure to not return the default OpenWith.exe associated executable in Windows 8 or higher
            if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(executablePath) && File.Exists(executablePath) &&
                !executablePath.ToLower().EndsWith(".dll"))
            {
                if (executablePath.ToLower().EndsWith("openwith.exe"))
                {
                    return null; // 'OpenWith.exe' is th windows 8 or higher default for unknown extensions. I don't want to have it as associted file
                }
                return executablePath;
            }
            return executablePath;
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// 
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="ext"></param>
        /// <param name="verb"></param>
        /// <returns>Return null if not found</returns>
        public static string GetExecFileAssociatedToExtension(string ext, string verb = null)
        {
            if (ext[0] != '.')
            {
                ext = "." + ext;
            }

            string executablePath = FileExtentionInfo(AssocStr.Executable, ext, verb); // Will only work for 'open' verb
            if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(executablePath))
            {
                executablePath = FileExtentionInfo(AssocStr.Command, ext, verb); // required to find command of any other verb than 'open'

                // Extract only the path
                if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(executablePath) && executablePath.Length > 1) 
                {
                    if (executablePath[0] == '"')
                    {
                        executablePath = executablePath.Split('\"')[1];
                    }
                    else if (executablePath[0] == '\'')
                    {
                        executablePath = executablePath.Split('\'')[1];
                    }
                }
            }

            // Ensure to not return the default OpenWith.exe associated executable in Windows 8 or higher
            if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(executablePath) && File.Exists(executablePath) &&
                !executablePath.ToLower().EndsWith(".dll"))
            {
                if (executablePath.ToLower().EndsWith("openwith.exe"))
                {
                    return null; // 'OpenWith.exe' is th windows 8 or higher default for unknown extensions. I don't want to have it as associted file
                }
                return executablePath;
            }
            return executablePath;
        }

        [DllImport("Shlwapi.dll", SetLastError = true, CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
        static extern uint AssocQueryString(AssocF flags, AssocStr str, string pszAssoc, string pszExtra, [Out] StringBuilder pszOut, [In][Out] ref uint pcchOut);

        private static string FileExtentionInfo(AssocStr assocStr, string doctype, string verb)
        {
            uint pcchOut = 0;
            AssocQueryString(AssocF.Verify, assocStr, doctype, verb, null, ref pcchOut);

            Debug.Assert(pcchOut != 0);
            if (pcchOut == 0)
            {
                return "";
            }

            StringBuilder pszOut = new StringBuilder((int)pcchOut);
            AssocQueryString(AssocF.Verify, assocStr, doctype, verb, pszOut, ref pcchOut);
            return pszOut.ToString();
        }

        [Flags]
        public enum AssocF
        {
            Init_NoRemapCLSID = 0x1,
            Init_ByExeName = 0x2,
            Open_ByExeName = 0x2,
            Init_DefaultToStar = 0x4,
            Init_DefaultToFolder = 0x8,
            NoUserSettings = 0x10,
            NoTruncate = 0x20,
            Verify = 0x40,
            RemapRunDll = 0x80,
            NoFixUps = 0x100,
            IgnoreBaseClass = 0x200
        }

        public enum AssocStr
        {
            Command = 1,
            Executable,
            FriendlyDocName,
            FriendlyAppName,
            NoOpen,
            ShellNewValue,
            DDECommand,
            DDEIfExec,
            DDEApplication,
            DDETopic
        }



    }
}

Sevenup

Answer 5

You can use SHAssocEnumHandlers as explained in "Enumerating all the programs that can open a particular file extension"

Iatrogenic