CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c++winapi
arantius
arantius

Reputation: 1801

Windows: open a named document

I'm trying to extend an existing app called Drax which edits the metadata of MP4 movie files.. I want to be able to drag-n-drop files onto it, which it does not support. I've gotten far enough to be able to decode the "clipboard" data when it is dropped, and filter to accept only the file (extensions) that I can handle. (Like so but I know next to no winapi/C++ so it's all cargo-culted.)

But now I want to trigger opening the document, whose (file) name I have in a TCHAR. And I'm stuck. How do I trigger the same sort of action the File>Open dialog would, when I know the name of the file from a drag/drop operation?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 67

Answers (1)

Cody Gray
Cody Gray

Reputation: 244772

Normally, the File -> Open dialog does not do anything but allow the user to choose a file name. It then returns this file name to you, the programmer, to do something with.

But, in this case, you're modifying an existing application, so that code has already been written. To find it, you need to search for the method(s) that display the File -> Open dialog. See what they do with the file name(s) returned by the Open dialog.

All the logic for opening the file is very likely to be crammed into the same method as the one that displays the File -> Open dialog. If so, what I would do is refactor the code, so that you have a separate method like

void OpenFile(CString pszFileName, /* other important parameters */)
{
    // ...
}

that handles opening the file, specified by a string containing its full path. You will call this method once you get the file name from the File -> Open dialog, and also from elsewhere, like after you get the file name from a drag-drop operation.

Upvotes: 1

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