BROWSEINFOA structure (shlobj_core.h)

Article
07/27/2022

Contains parameters for the SHBrowseForFolder function and receives information about the folder selected by the user.

Syntax

typedef struct _browseinfoA {
  HWND              hwndOwner;
  PCIDLIST_ABSOLUTE pidlRoot;
  LPSTR             pszDisplayName;
  LPCSTR            lpszTitle;
  UINT              ulFlags;
  BFFCALLBACK       lpfn;
  LPARAM            lParam;
  int               iImage;
} BROWSEINFOA, *PBROWSEINFOA, *LPBROWSEINFOA;

Members

hwndOwner

Type: HWND

A handle to the owner window for the dialog box.

pidlRoot

Type: PCIDLIST_ABSOLUTE

A PIDL that specifies the location of the root folder from which to start browsing. Only the specified folder and its subfolders in the namespace hierarchy appear in the dialog box. This member can be NULL; in that case, a default location is used.

pszDisplayName

Type: LPTSTR

Pointer to a buffer to receive the display name of the folder selected by the user. The size of this buffer is assumed to be MAX_PATH characters.

lpszTitle

Type: LPCTSTR

Pointer to a null-terminated string that is displayed above the tree view control in the dialog box. This string can be used to specify instructions to the user.

ulFlags

Type: UINT

Flags that specify the options for the dialog box. This member can be 0 or a combination of the following values. Version numbers refer to the minimum version of Shell32.dll required for SHBrowseForFolder to recognize flags added in later releases. See Shell and Common Controls Versions for more information.

BIF_RETURNONLYFSDIRS (0x00000001)

0x00000001. Only return file system directories. If the user selects folders that are not part of the file system, the OK button is grayed.

Note The OK button remains enabled for "\\server" items, as well as "\\server\share" and directory items. However, if the user selects a "\\server" item, passing the PIDL returned by SHBrowseForFolder to SHGetPathFromIDList fails.

BIF_DONTGOBELOWDOMAIN (0x00000002)

0x00000002. Do not include network folders below the domain level in the dialog box's tree view control.

BIF_STATUSTEXT (0x00000004)

0x00000004. Include a status area in the dialog box. The callback function can set the status text by sending messages to the dialog box. This flag is not supported when BIF_NEWDIALOGSTYLE is specified.

BIF_RETURNFSANCESTORS (0x00000008)

0x00000008. Only return file system ancestors. An ancestor is a subfolder that is beneath the root folder in the namespace hierarchy. If the user selects an ancestor of the root folder that is not part of the file system, the OK button is grayed.

BIF_EDITBOX (0x00000010)

0x00000010. Version 4.71. Include an edit control in the browse dialog box that allows the user to type the name of an item.

BIF_VALIDATE (0x00000020)

0x00000020. Version 4.71. If the user types an invalid name into the edit box, the browse dialog box calls the application's BrowseCallbackProc with the BFFM_VALIDATEFAILED message. This flag is ignored if BIF_EDITBOX is not specified.

BIF_NEWDIALOGSTYLE (0x00000040)

0x00000040. Version 5.0. Use the new user interface. Setting this flag provides the user with a larger dialog box that can be resized. The dialog box has several new capabilities, including: drag-and-drop capability within the dialog box, reordering, shortcut menus, new folders, delete, and other shortcut menu commands.

Note If COM is initialized through CoInitializeEx with the COINIT_MULTITHREADED flag set, SHBrowseForFolder fails if BIF_NEWDIALOGSTYLE is passed.

BIF_BROWSEINCLUDEURLS (0x00000080)

0x00000080. Version 5.0. The browse dialog box can display URLs. The BIF_USENEWUI and BIF_BROWSEINCLUDEFILES flags must also be set. If any of these three flags are not set, the browser dialog box rejects URLs. Even when these flags are set, the browse dialog box displays URLs only if the folder that contains the selected item supports URLs. When the folder's IShellFolder::GetAttributesOf method is called to request the selected item's attributes, the folder must set the SFGAO_FOLDER attribute flag. Otherwise, the browse dialog box will not display the URL.

BIF_USENEWUI

Version 5.0. Use the new user interface, including an edit box. This flag is equivalent to BIF_EDITBOX | BIF_NEWDIALOGSTYLE.

Note If COM is initialized through CoInitializeEx with the COINIT_MULTITHREADED flag set, SHBrowseForFolder fails if BIF_USENEWUI is passed.

BIF_UAHINT (0x00000100)

0x00000100. Version 6.0. When combined with BIF_NEWDIALOGSTYLE, adds a usage hint to the dialog box, in place of the edit box. BIF_EDITBOX overrides this flag.

BIF_NONEWFOLDERBUTTON (0x00000200)

0x00000200. Version 6.0. Do not include the New Folder button in the browse dialog box.

BIF_NOTRANSLATETARGETS (0x00000400)

0x00000400. Version 6.0. When the selected item is a shortcut, return the PIDL of the shortcut itself rather than its target.

BIF_BROWSEFORCOMPUTER (0x00001000)

0x00001000. Only return computers. If the user selects anything other than a computer, the OK button is grayed.

BIF_BROWSEFORPRINTER (0x00002000)

0x00002000. Only allow the selection of printers. If the user selects anything other than a printer, the OK button is grayed.

In Windows XP and later systems, the best practice is to use a Windows XP-style dialog, setting the root of the dialog to the Printers and Faxes folder (CSIDL_PRINTERS).

BIF_BROWSEINCLUDEFILES (0x00004000)

0x00004000. Version 4.71. The browse dialog box displays files as well as folders.

BIF_SHAREABLE (0x00008000)

0x00008000. Version 5.0. The browse dialog box can display sharable resources on remote systems. This is intended for applications that want to expose remote shares on a local system. The BIF_NEWDIALOGSTYLE flag must also be set.

BIF_BROWSEFILEJUNCTIONS (0x00010000)

0x00010000. Windows 7 and later. Allow folder junctions such as a library or a compressed file with a .zip file name extension to be browsed.

lpfn

Type: BFFCALLBACK

Pointer to an application-defined function that the dialog box calls when an event occurs. For more information, see the BrowseCallbackProc function. This member can be NULL.

lParam

Type: LPARAM

An application-defined value that the dialog box passes to the callback function, if one is specified in lpfn.

iImage

Type: int

An integer value that receives the index of the image associated with the selected folder, stored in the system image list.

Remarks

Note

The shlobj_core.h header defines BROWSEINFO as an alias that automatically selects the ANSI or Unicode version of this function based on the definition of the UNICODE preprocessor constant. Mixing usage of the encoding-neutral alias with code that is not encoding-neutral can lead to mismatches that result in compilation or runtime errors. For more information, see Conventions for Function Prototypes.

Requirements

Requirement	Value
Minimum supported client	Windows XP, Windows 7 [desktop apps only]
Minimum supported server	Windows 2000 Server [desktop apps only]
Header	shlobj_core.h (include Shlobj.h, Shlobj_core.h)

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