Im trying to make (what I thought was a simple) extension for Game maker studio 2.
I am restricted to making a DLL app.
I am wondering is there any was to have a dll app open the file explorer have the user locate a file and then return said directory?
I fell like this is a sumb question but one I really need to know the answer too before slaving away coding for hours only to find its not possible.
You do not want to launch the explorer but to open a file dialog that allows the user to select a file.
Depending on the framework you use in your program the solutions may differ.
If you are using Qt framework you may use a QFileDialog for a platform independent mechanism.
If you are okay that it will only works on Windows then you may directly use the WinAPI functions GetOpenFileName or GetSaveFileName (that is a lot easier than the Common Item Dialog that is suggested as replacement on their documentation pages)
On GameMaker terms, you want to use get_open_filename or get_open_filename_ext.
See Dialog Module (marketplace, github) for C++ implementation reference.
Related
I've researched it all over StackOverflow and Google but only get results about C# and irrelevant topics, so now I have to ask. I want after 20 seconds of the application being open to close itself and open another application that is in the same folder. After I have debugged, I copy the application to the folder on my Desktop that I will eventually ZIP up. But I want the app to open another application in the folder. Say for instance ApplicationA.exe Opens and after 20 seconds it closes and ApplicationB.exe opens.
You can use the CreateProcess() winapi function which acts like fork()+exec() and then exit() the ApplicationA. Also you can use Sleep(miliseconds) for the delay.
Here is the information about CreateProcess():
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms682425(v=vs.85).aspx
You can open it with system("ApplicationB.exe"); and then exit. This will start ApplicationB.exe and exit ApplicationA.exe.
Check out: http://www.dreamincode.net/forums/topic/18057-run-external-executable/
I believe C++ is not really the best way to go for system calls like the ones you need to do here. Maybe shell scripting would be a better option.
Anyway, the easiest way is probably writing a third program that opens ApplicationA.exe, closes it and starts ApplicaionB.exe.
I believe in C++ you'd have to use system, which you find in <cstdlib>. Yes, it is a C feature, not a C++ one, and its use is not encouraged, to put it mildly.
I would recommend using the ShellExecute function. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/bb762153(v=vs.85).aspx
I was looking at a project that someone wanted done and in order to do it I need to edit Windows' Start Up Programs. I am unsure of where to begin looking. What I really need is just a reference to some Windows API functions that will let me do this.
Thanks
Startup programs is just a directory, I don't think there are any specific functions for it. You should be able to create shortcuts inside and that should be it.
c:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\
As Nikola Smiljanić says the Startup area is just a directory with file shortcuts in it. However it is dangerous to use a hardcoded path because this changes with different versions of Windows.
You can get the path to the startup folder with the SHGetFolderPath function and CSIDL_STARTUP as a parameter.
I want to create an editor in C++ using SDL & OpenGL and have decided to use the win32 api to access the window bar menus (for file, edit and so on) and it seems quite simple, but I don't know how to create a "file-> open" file browser/loader... I'm hoping it's quite simple but I'm finding it hard to look up any tutorials on google because of the phrasing...
I just want to have an "open" or "import" option in the file menu that will open a standard windows file browser... then grab the file location, place it into a string then pass it into a function that is activated by selection a file... (I hope that makes sense).
The method I'm using to create the win32 menus are from this post:
http://www.gamedev.net/topic/400677-sdl-with-a-win32-menu/
Half way down the page there is a comment by "caseyd"... that's how I learnt how to use it, so that is my current understanding of win32 menus in SDL... I wanted to post the code here, but I didn't know how to paste it here in codeblocks without reformatting every line.
I'm hoping this is quite simple... Thanks to anyone who can teach me how or just point me in the right direction.
Oh, and I'm not trying to convert this to other operating systems, I just like SDL.
Use GetOpenFileName(). Note that that function blocks until the user selects a file, so if you want to continue rendering etc. in the background, make sure to run it on a separate thread.
I can't be clearer than my title. :P
I want to run my program whenever a user renames a file in Windows Explorer (and only within the Explorer). Here's a simple mock up:
A simple link to a tutorial will be very helpful. I couldn't find anything. :/
Thank you in advance.
P.S. I'm new in C++
It looks like Windows API hooking may be your best bet. You'll want to intercept all calls related to Windows file renaming (i.e. MoveFile, MoveFileEx, SHFileOperation, possibly more). There are a few commercial and open source solutions; Microsoft Detours, Madshi's madCodeHook, and the free, open source EasyHook.
This approach, when done correctly, will allow you to capture all file renaming on a system.
I would avoid hooking APIs as much as possible. It gets really ugly really fast.
There are 2 ways I see that you can approach this.
Both ways have a few common factors:
The ReadDirectoryChangesW API. For a very good implementation of that API, see this
article
You will need to minimize your dependencies, so... Use a Microsoft compiler, link to the DLL runtime, stick to C as much as possible etc. This reduces problems. Loading things into the shell memory space is already problematic enough.
Method one is to use ReadDirectoryChangesW from an Explorer shell extension that does nothing else. Keep it minimal. I'm reasonably sure I saw a "do nothing" shell extension as an example in some of Microsoft's documentation.
Method two would be to package your code as a DLL and use a system hook to get your DLL loaded into Explorer only. The system hook should only load inside Explorer to prevent spurious notifications via ReadDirectoryChangesW.
Hope this helps and that you're not using it for something Evil.
I wrote an IE plugin using MFC activex. The plugin actually creates a file in CLSID_APPDATA folder and writes some data inside it. But the problem is that file which is created cannot be seen (i mean i cant see any file in CLSID_APPDATA folder on windows vista) whereas I am actually writing data inside it. The plugin is not signed.
I have the code from http://support.microsoft.com/kb/161873 to mark my activex component as safe.
Please let me know if I need to do something more to make it possible for file creation. I hope I was clear. Do let me know if I need to provide more details.
regards,
Pradip.B
It sounds like you're falling foul of IE's "Protected Mode" which redirects file writes made from IE from \Users\UserName\Local\ to \Users\Username\LocalLow (or something very similar to that).
Take a look at the following links as they should point you in the right direction:
More details on Protected Mode IE in Windows Vista
The difference between Local and LocalLow folders