How to pass in multiple file/folder paths via a right-click event (verb) to an executable?

Question

Related:

How to add new items to right-click event on Folders and Files in Windows?

I added custom right-click verb to all files by adding registry keys to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*. End result looks like this

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT*\Shell\TestRightClick\Command

-------Default = c:\RightClickTest.exe "%1"

Problem: when selecting multiple files c:\RightClickTest.exe will be called several times(number of selected files)

What I need: pass-in multiple files paths to one executable

Lumpfish

Incorporate DDE into your executable. When the Shell needs to execute the verb for each selected item, it will automatically start your executable only if it is not already running, and then pass each item to your single instance using the DDE command that you specified. – Ewing

Answer 1

As I stated in the previous question, you're going to have to be intelligent about this inside your application. One instance of the program will be launched per file selected if you're not using a shell extension. Your general strategy could be this:

1. When the application is launched with a file parameter (%1), check if any instance of the application are already running.
2. If another instance is running, open some sort of Inter-Process Communication (IPC) channel to that application.
3. Communicate the file parameter of this instance to the main instance.
4. Write logic in the main program to address receiving this information as it's running.

Galyak

Any suggested approach between doing this versus implementing a shell extension? Is one less trivial than the other? – Sosthena

Answer 2

If you're looking for a quick and dirty workaround, you can create a shortcut to your executable in '%AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo' Now you can select a bunch of files, right click, select Send To, and your application.

This will pass all the selected files as individual command line options to one instance of your application... keep in mind there is a 32767 character command line limit which will limit the number of files you can pass to your application using this method, and make sure your program wont' try to open files it doesn't know how to deal with. In the long run, Factor Mystic's method is way better.

Auriga