Add A Favorites Function to Your Menu

Environment: VC6 SP5,Win98 & Win2k

Do you want your program to read the users’ Favorites/Bookmarks? Here is a simple and easy way to add a “Read my Favorites” function to your program based on CMenu class. After using CodeGuru.com almost everyday to help me learn C++ while designing JoeSwammi MLB (www.joeswammi.com), this is my small contibution.

1. Insert a new menu IDR_FAVORITES_POPUP and make first topic ID_BOGUS
2. Create your “Favorites” menu item in your IDR_MAINFRAME, in properties check mark it as a Pop-Up.
3. Add

   #include <wininet.h>
   #include <shellapi.h>
   

   
   to MAINFRM.CPP
4. Add
   

   CStringArray m_astrFavoriteURLs;
   

   
   as a public variable in MAINFM.H
5. Add this function to CMainFrame named:
   

   int CMainFrame::BuildFavoritesMenu(LPCTSTR pszPath,
                                      int nStartPos,
                                      CMenu *pMenu)
   {
     CString         strPath(pszPath);
     CString         strPath2;
     CString         str;
     WIN32_FIND_DATA wfd;
     HANDLE          h;
     int             nPos;
     int             nEndPos;
     int             nNewEndPos;
     int             nLastDir;
     TCHAR           buf[INTERNET_MAX_PATH_LENGTH];
     CStringArray    astrFavorites;
     CStringArray    astrDirs;
     CMenu*          pSubMenu;
     // make sure there’s a trailing backslash
     if(strPath[strPath.GetLength() – 1] != _T(‘\\’))
       strPath += _T(‘\\’);
     strPath2 = strPath;
     strPath += “*.*”;
     // now scan the directory, first for .URL
     // files and then for subdirectories
     // that may also contain .URL files
     h = FindFirstFile(strPath, &wfd);
     if(h != INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE)
     {
       nEndPos = nStartPos;
       do
       {
         if((wfd.dwFileAttributes & (FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY|
                 FILE_ATTRIBUTE_HIDDEN|FILE_ATTRIBUTE_SYSTEM))==0)
         {
           str = wfd.cFileName;
           if(str.Right(4) == _T(“.url”))
           {
             // an .URL file is formatted just like an .INI file,
             // so we can use GetPrivateProfileString() to get
             // the information we want
             ::GetPrivateProfileString(_T(“InternetShortcut”),
                                       _T(“URL”),
                                       _T(“”),
                                       buf,
                                       INTERNET_MAX_PATH_LENGTH,
                                       strPath2 + str);
             str = str.Left(str.GetLength() – 4);
             // scan through the array and perform an insertion
             // sort to make sure the menu ends up in alphabetic
             // order
             for(nPos = nStartPos ; nPos < nEndPos ; ++nPos)
             {
               if(str.CompareNoCase(astrFavorites[nPos]) < 0)
                 break;
             }
             astrFavorites.InsertAt(nPos, str);
             m_astrFavoriteURLs.InsertAt(nPos, buf);
             ++nEndPos;
           }
         }
       } while(FindNextFile(h, &wfd));
       FindClose(h);
       // Now add these items to the menu
       for(nPos = nStartPos ; nPos < nEndPos ; ++nPos)
       {
         pMenu->AppendMenu(MF_STRING | MF_ENABLED,
                           0xe00 + nPos,
                           astrFavorites[nPos]);
       }
       // now that we’ve got all the .URL files, check
       // the subdirectories for more
       nLastDir = 0;
       h = FindFirstFile(strPath, &wfd);
       ASSERT(h != INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE);
       do
       {
         if(wfd.dwFileAttributes & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY)
         {
           // ignore the current and parent directory entries
           if(lstrcmp(wfd.cFileName,
   _T(“.”)) == 0 || lstrcmp(wfd.cFileName, _T(“..”)) == 0)
             continue;
           for(nPos = 0 ; nPos < nLastDir ; ++nPos)
           {
             if(astrDirs[nPos].CompareNoCase(wfd.cFileName) > 0)
               break;
           }
           pSubMenu = new CMenu;
           pSubMenu->CreatePopupMenu();
           // call this function recursively.
           nNewEndPos = BuildFavoritesMenu(strPath2 + wfd.cFileName,
                                           nEndPos,
                                           pSubMenu);
           if(nNewEndPos != nEndPos)
           {
             // only intert a submenu if there are in
             // fact .URL files in the subdirectory
             nEndPos = nNewEndPos;
             pMenu->InsertMenu(nPos,
                        MF_BYPOSITION | MF_POPUP | MF_STRING,
                        (UINT)pSubMenu->m_hMenu,
                        wfd.cFileName);
             pSubMenu->Detach();
             astrDirs.InsertAt(nPos, wfd.cFileName);
             ++nLastDir;
           }
           delete pSubMenu;
         }
       } while(FindNextFile(h, &wfd));
       FindClose(h);
     }
     return nEndPos;
   }
   

6. Add this member function to CMainFrame named:
   

   void CMainFrame::OnFavorite(UINT nID)
   {
     ShellExecute(m_hWnd,
                  “open”,
                  m_astrFavoriteURLs[nID-0xe00],
                  NULL,
                  NULL,
                  SW_SHOWDEFAULT);
   }

7. In the ONCREATE function of CMainFrame, just before ending “return 0;”, Add:
   

   // set up Favorites menu
     TCHAR           sz[MAX_PATH];
     TCHAR           szPath[MAX_PATH];
     HKEY            hKey;
     DWORD           dwSize;
     CMenu*          pMenu;
     // first get rid of bogus submenu items.
     pMenu = GetMenu()->GetSubMenu(3); //change three to what
                       // ever position “Favorites” is from left – 1
     while(pMenu->DeleteMenu(0, MF_BYPOSITION));
     // find out from the registry where the favorites are located.
     if(RegOpenKey(HKEY_CURRENT_USER,
   _T(“Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Explorer\\User
   Shell Folders”),
        &hKey) != ERROR_SUCCESS)
     {
       TRACE0(“Favorites folder not found\n”);
       return 0;
     }
     dwSize = sizeof(sz);
     RegQueryValueEx(hKey, _T(“Favorites”), NULL, NULL, (LPBYTE)sz, &dwSize);
     ExpandEnvironmentStrings(sz, szPath, MAX_PATH);
     RegCloseKey(hKey);
     BuildFavoritesMenu(szPath, 0, pMenu);
   

8. lastly, in the “BEGIN_MESSAGE_MAP(CMainFrame, CFrameWnd)”add this line just above “END_MESSAGE_MAP()”:

   ON_COMMAND_RANGE(0xe00, 0xfff, OnFavorite)

9. Build and Run and should work.

NOTE: I am sure there are other features I am missing. For example, icons to go with the pop-ups next to the bookmarks, like folders and html icon, more like MS IE. If you develope this code, Please add your code to the comments for others to use also. Thanks.

Downloads

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