Add status icons over file icons in Explorer, like Dropbox or SVN in .NET

Question

I'm writing a Windows service application in C# with FileSystemWatcher.

How can I add status icons to files and folders in Windows Explorer similar to how Dropbox or SVN do it?

Marco · Accepted Answer · 2011-12-05T10:18:18.233

17

You should develop an overlay icon handler and register it into the system.
Here you can find a partially working example written in C#.
Some MSDN documentation here and here.

edited Dec 05 '11 at 10:18

answered Dec 05 '11 at 10:10

Marco

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I searched with Google all morning. It turned out that I just do not know how it correctly called. Thanks for the tip – spyke Dec 05 '11 at 10:20
3

I just found, that you must not write Shell Extension on .Net: [that's why](http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/netfxbcl/thread/1428326d-7950-42b4-ad94-8e962124043e/). But you can write it on C++ or something unmanaged and use it as a module in your .net program. – spyke Dec 05 '11 at 10:44

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 27 '18 at 11:58

For anyone still interessted in this question:

Here is a codeproject link which describes the process in great detail.

It uses the SharpShell library, which can also be found on nuget.

Code, from the codeproject, looks something like that:

[ComVisible(true)]
public class ReadOnlyFileIconOverlayHandler : SharpIconOverlayHandler
{
  protected override int GetPriority()
  {
    //  The read only icon overlay is very low priority.
    return 90;
  }

  protected override bool CanShowOverlay(string path, FILE_ATTRIBUTE attributes)
  {
    try
    {
      //  Get the file attributes.
      var fileAttributes = new FileInfo(path);

      //  Return true if the file is read only, meaning we'll show the overlay.
      return fileAttributes.IsReadOnly;
    }
    catch (Exception) { return false; }
  }

  protected override System.Drawing.Icon GetOverlayIcon()
  {
    //  Return the read only icon.
    return Properties.Resources.ReadOnly;
  }
}

Yup - I maintain the SharpShell library and this is a perfectly valid way to create a Shell Icon Overlay Handler. — Dave Kerr, Oct 23 '18 at 14:33

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 05 '11 at 10:14

2

I've never play with this, but I think it's the right way.

Custom Folder

First make the folder a System Folder, then create a Desktop.ini file and apply the change inside.

[.ShellClassInfo]
InfoTip=@Shell32.dll,-12690
IconFile=%SystemRoot%\system32\SHELL32.dll
IconIndex=-238

answered Dec 05 '11 at 10:14

2GDev

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Thanks, but this is not exactly what I want. First Answer is the right one. – spyke Dec 05 '11 at 10:23

Add status icons over file icons in Explorer, like Dropbox or SVN in .NET

3 Answers3

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