DLL Registering/Unregistering using Shell Extensions

Why are we still using the command prompt to register and unregister a DLL? A much easier and more productive way is to use the Windows Explorer.

The key is shell extensions. If you're tired of having to open a command window each time you want to register or unregister a DLL, then this article not only gives you a much more efficient mechanism for doing that, but also teaches give you a very simply shell extension example in the process!

You will find several things that are not available on the MSDN or in other articles (that I've been able to locate).
1. GUID. You can obtain this sinister number running one of the uuidgen or guidgen tools. This is CLSID_DLLRegisterer.
2. The main file, where the DLL's entry point DllMain resides, is dllregshex.cpp. I prefer to load resources at start and free them at end, especially when are in little number. So, the routines _LoadResources and _UnloadResources do this. The other two interesting routines are DllRegisterServer and DllUnregisterServer. If you use one, be polite to the user and use the twin (I have seen may Reg, but few Unreg). That's when you did not choose another way (as a .reg file, for example, or separate install/uninstall programs).

So, what's happening registering a dll as shell context extension? You have to create the entry in CLSID key and to create under this the 'samename' key and the thread model key (I read somewhere that only 'Apartment' is accepted for context extensions - is really true?).

STDAPI 
DllRegisterServer(void)
{
	HINSTANCE hInst = g_hmodThisDll;

	int      i;
	HKEY     hKey;
	LRESULT  lResult;
	DWORD    dwDisp;
	TCHAR    szSubKey[MAX_PATH];
	TCHAR    szCLSID[MAX_PATH];
	TCHAR    szModule[MAX_PATH];
	LPWSTR   pwszShellExt;

	StringFromIID(CLSID_DLLRegisterer, &pwszShellExt);

	if (pwszShellExt) 
	{
		WideCharToLocal(szCLSID, pwszShellExt, ARRAYSIZE(szCLSID));

		LPMALLOC pMalloc;
		CoGetMalloc(1, &pMalloc);
		if(pMalloc)
		{
			pMalloc->Free(pwszShellExt);
			pMalloc->Release();
		}
	}															   

	GetModuleFileName(hInst, szModule, ARRAYSIZE(szModule));
	REGSTRUCT ShExClsidEntries[] = 
	{
		HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT,	TEXT("CLSID\\%s"),			NULL,                   TEXT(DLLREGUNREGNAME),
		HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT,	TEXT("CLSID\\%s\\InProcServer32"),	NULL,                   TEXT("%s"),
		HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT,	TEXT("CLSID\\%s\\InProcServer32"),	TEXT("ThreadingModel"), TEXT("Apartment"),
		NULL,                	NULL,					NULL,                   NULL
	};

	for(i = 0; ShExClsidEntries[i].hRootKey; i++) 
    	{
		wsprintf(szSubKey, ShExClsidEntries[i].lpszSubKey, szCLSID);
		lResult = RegCreateKeyEx(ShExClsidEntries[i].hRootKey, szSubKey, 0, NULL, REG_OPTION_NON_VOLATILE,
			KEY_WRITE, NULL, &hKey, &dwDisp);

		if(NOERROR == lResult) 
		{
			TCHAR szData[MAX_PATH];
			wsprintf(szData, ShExClsidEntries[i].lpszData, szModule);
			lResult = RegSetValueEx(hKey, ShExClsidEntries[i].lpszValueName, 0, REG_SZ, 
				(LPBYTE)szData, lstrlen(szData) + 1);
			RegCloseKey(hKey);
		} 
		else
			return SELFREG_E_CLASS;
   	}                                

	REGSTRUCT OtherShExEntries[] = 
	{
		HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE,	TEXT("software\\classes\\clsid\\"DLLREGUNREGNAME)	      , NULL,	TEXT("%s"),
		HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT,	TEXT("dllfile\\shellex\\ContextMenuHandlers\\"DLLREGUNREGNAME), NULL,	TEXT("%s"),
		NULL,			NULL,								NULL,	NULL
	};

	for (i = 0; OtherShExEntries[i].hRootKey; i++) 
    	{
		wsprintf(szSubKey, OtherShExEntries[i].lpszSubKey, szCLSID);
		lResult = RegCreateKeyEx(OtherShExEntries[i].hRootKey, szSubKey, 0, NULL, REG_OPTION_NON_VOLATILE,
			KEY_WRITE, NULL, &hKey, &dwDisp);

		if(NOERROR == lResult) 
		{
			TCHAR szData[MAX_PATH];
			wsprintf(szData, OtherShExEntries[i].lpszData, szCLSID);
			lResult = RegSetValueEx(hKey, OtherShExEntries[i].lpszValueName, 0, REG_SZ,
				(LPBYTE)szData, lstrlen(szData) + 1);
			RegCloseKey(hKey);
		} 
		else
			return SELFREG_E_CLASS;
	}

	OSVERSIONINFO  osvi;
	osvi.dwOSVersionInfoSize = sizeof(osvi);
	GetVersionEx(&osvi);
	if (VER_PLATFORM_WIN32_NT == osvi.dwPlatformId)  
	{
		lstrcpy( szSubKey, TEXT("Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Shell Extensions\\Approved"));
		lResult = RegCreateKeyEx(  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, szSubKey, 0, NULL, REG_OPTION_NON_VOLATILE, KEY_WRITE,
			NULL, &hKey, &dwDisp);
		if(NOERROR == lResult) 
		{
			TCHAR szData[MAX_PATH];
			lstrcpy(szData, DLLREGUNREGNAME);
			lResult = RegSetValueEx(hKey, szCLSID, 0, REG_SZ, (LPBYTE)szData, lstrlen(szData) + 1);
			RegCloseKey(hKey);
		} 
		else
			return SELFREG_E_CLASS;
	}

	return S_OK;
}

#include "dllreg_xhdr.h"
#include "dllregshex.h"
#include "dllreg_util.h"
#include "resource.h"

extern UINT		g_cRefThisDll;
extern HINSTANCE	g_hmodThisDll;

extern HBITMAP		hBmp_Install;
extern HBITMAP		hBmp_Uninstall;
extern HBITMAP		hBmp_About;
extern HMENU		hSubMenu;

//	IContextMenu
STDMETHODIMP 
CShellExt::QueryContextMenu(HMENU hMenu, UINT indexMenu, UINT idCmdFirst, UINT idCmdLast, UINT uFlags)
{
    _UNUSED_PARAMETER(idCmdLast);
    UINT idCmd = idCmdFirst;

    char *szMenuText_Popup	= "Shell e&xtension";
    char *szMenuText_Install	= "&Install";
    char *szMenuText_Uninstall	= "&Uninstall";
    char *szMenuText_About	= "&About...";

    BOOL bAppendItems = TRUE;

    if((uFlags & 0x000F) == CMF_NORMAL)
	bAppendItems = TRUE;
    else if (uFlags & CMF_VERBSONLY)
	bAppendItems = TRUE;
    else if (uFlags & CMF_EXPLORE)
	bAppendItems = TRUE;
    else
	bAppendItems = FALSE;

    if(bAppendItems)
    {
        InsertMenu(hMenu, indexMenu++, MF_SEPARATOR | MF_BYPOSITION, 0, NULL);  

	HMENU hSubMenu = CreateMenu();
	if(hSubMenu)
	{
		InsertMenu(hSubMenu, 0, MF_STRING	 | MF_BYPOSITION, idCmd++, szMenuText_Install);
		SetMenuItemBitmaps(hSubMenu, 0, MF_BYPOSITION, hBmp_Install, hBmp_Install);
    		InsertMenu(hSubMenu, 1, MF_STRING	 | MF_BYPOSITION, idCmd++, szMenuText_Uninstall);
		SetMenuItemBitmaps(hSubMenu, 1, MF_BYPOSITION, hBmp_Uninstall, hBmp_Uninstall);

		InsertMenu(hSubMenu, 2, MF_SEPARATOR | MF_BYPOSITION, 0, NULL);

		InsertMenu(hSubMenu, 3, MF_STRING	 | MF_BYPOSITION, idCmd++, szMenuText_About);
		SetMenuItemBitmaps(hSubMenu, 3, MF_BYPOSITION, hBmp_About, hBmp_About);
	}
		
    	InsertMenu(hMenu, indexMenu++, MF_STRING | MF_POPUP | MF_BYPOSITION, (UINT_PTR)hSubMenu, szMenuText_Popup);
    	InsertMenu(hMenu, indexMenu++, MF_SEPARATOR | MF_BYPOSITION, 0, NULL);

    	return ResultFromShort(idCmd - idCmdFirst);
   }
   return NOERROR;
}

STDMETHODIMP 
CShellExt::InvokeCommand(LPCMINVOKECOMMANDINFO lpcmi)
{
    HRESULT hr = E_INVALIDARG;
    if (!HIWORD(lpcmi->lpVerb))
    {
        UINT idCmd = LOWORD(lpcmi->lpVerb);
        switch (idCmd)
        {
            case 0:
                hr = DoInstall(lpcmi->hwnd, lpcmi->lpDirectory, lpcmi->lpVerb, lpcmi->lpParameters, lpcmi->nShow);
                break;
            case 1:
                hr = DoUninstall(lpcmi->hwnd, lpcmi->lpDirectory, lpcmi->lpVerb, lpcmi->lpParameters, lpcmi->nShow);
                break;
            case 2:
                hr = DoAbout(lpcmi->hwnd, lpcmi->lpDirectory, lpcmi->lpVerb, lpcmi->lpParameters, lpcmi->nShow);
                break;
	    default:
                break;
        }
    }
    return hr;
}

STDMETHODIMP 
CShellExt::GetCommandString(UINT idCmd, UINT uFlags, UINT FAR *reserved, LPSTR pszName, UINT cchMax)
{
    _UNUSED_PARAMETER(reserved);
    _UNUSED_PARAMETER(uFlags);

    *pszName = 0;
    cchMax   = 40;
    char psz[40];

    switch (idCmd)
    {
        case 0:
	    LoadString(g_hmodThisDll, IDCMD_INSTALL, psz, cchMax);
            break;
        case 1:
	    LoadString(g_hmodThisDll, IDCMD_UNINSTALL, psz, cchMax);
            break;
        case 2:
	    LoadString(g_hmodThisDll, IDCMD_ABOUT, psz, cchMax);
            break;
	default:
	    break;
    }
    wcscpy((unsigned short *)pszName, _WCSTR(psz));
    return NOERROR;
}

STDMETHODIMP 
CShellExt::_GetFullFileName()
{
    HRESULT hr = S_FALSE;

    //	IEnumFORMATETC. Needed for format enumeration.
    IEnumFORMATETC *pefEtc = 0;
    hr = m_pDataObj->EnumFormatEtc(DATADIR_GET, &pefEtc);
    if(SUCCEEDED(hr))
    {
	hr = pefEtc->Reset();	//	Reset enumeration.
	if(SUCCEEDED(hr))
	{
	    //	FORMATETC. Needed for get data about object.
	    FORMATETC fEtc;
	    ULONG ulFetched = 0L;
	    while(TRUE)
	    {
	        hr = pefEtc->Next(1, &fEtc, &ulFetched);
		if(FAILED(hr) || (ulFetched <= 0))
		    break;

		//	'Arm' format and 'launch' to obtain STGMEDIUM...
		fEtc.cfFormat	= CF_HDROP;
		fEtc.dwAspect	= DVASPECT_CONTENT;
		fEtc.lindex	= -1;
		fEtc.ptd	= NULL;
		fEtc.tymed	= TYMED_HGLOBAL;

		//	IDataObject : GetData. Returned as TYMED_HGLOBAL.
		STGMEDIUM stgM;
		hr = m_pDataObj->GetData(&fEtc, &stgM);
		if(SUCCEEDED(hr))
		{
			if(stgM.tymed == TYMED_HGLOBAL)
			{
			    m_szFileUserClickedOn[0] = '\0';
        
			    if(DragQueryFile((HDROP)stgM.hGlobal, (UINT)(-1), NULL, 0) == 1)	
			    {
				    //	one file only; eliminate this and improve code to allow multiple-DLL file (un)registering
				    DragQueryFile((HDROP)stgM.hGlobal, 0, m_szFileUserClickedOn, _MAX_PATH + 1);
			    }
			}
		}
	    }
        }
    }

    if(pefEtc)
	    pefEtc->Release();
    return hr;
}

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