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CreateShortcut() :: Generate Shortcuts using the COM IShellLink interface.

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License : LGPL

Description :

Since I could only find MFC, .NET, VB or C++ code samples to create shortcuts I decided to write a pure C version for Win32 API programmers.
To create a shortcut we need to go through 7 basic steps ...

Initialise COM via CoInitialize();
Create and IShellLink instance using CoCreateInstance();
Set the path of the file we're going to link to using SetPath();
Retrieves a pointer to the IPersistFile interface using QueryInterface();
Create the Shortcut using Save();
Release() the IShellLink interface.
Free up the COM session using CoUninitialize();

The demo application shows hoe to create a Shortcut from the commandline.

Prototype :

BOOL CreateShortcut( PCHAR pcDestPath, PCHAR pcStartInPath, PCHAR pcShortcutName )

Definitions :

PCHAR pcDestPath

Pointer to character array containing the path to create the shortcut in.
E.g. "C:\Windows\Desktop"

PCHAR pcStartInPath

Pointer to character array containing the path to start the Shortcut in.
E.g. "C:\Program Files\MyApp"

PCHAR cShortcutName

Pointer to character array containing the name of the shortcut to create ( without .lnk ).
E.g. "Shortcut To My App"

Source Code :

/**************************************************************************
 * createshortcut.c
 * ----------------
 * Author: Alan Doyle (alan.doyle@darkbyte.com)
 * Copyright: (c) 2005 Darkbyte Software
 * Release Version: 1.2
 * Date Started: 2005/03/04
 *
 * Create Shortcut ... Win32 API Version.
 *
 **************************************************************************
 *
 *   createshortcut.c is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
 *   it under the terms of the Lesser General Public License as published by
 *   the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
 *   (at your option) any later version.
 *
 *   createshortcut.c is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 *   but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 *   MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
 *   GNU General Public License for more details.
 *
 *   You should have received a copy of the Lesser General Public License
 *   along with createshortcut.c; if not, write to the Free Software
 *   Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307
 *   USA
 *
 *************************************************************************/
 
#include <stdio.h>
#include <shlobj.h>
 
/*  ---------------------------------------------------------------------[<]-
	Function: CreateShortcut
 
	Synopsis: Create 'pcShortcut' with start path 'pcDestFile' in folder
			  'pcDestDir'.
	Returns : TRUE if successful, otherwise FALSE.
	---------------------------------------------------------------------[>]-*/
 
BOOL CreateShortcut( PCHAR pcDestDir, PCHAR pcDestFile, PCHAR pcShortcut )
{
	IShellLink*   psl;
	HRESULT       hres;
	CHAR          cLinkFile[MAX_PATH];
	IPersistFile* ppf;
	BOOL          bRetVal = FALSE;
 
	hres = CoInitialize(NULL);
	if (!SUCCEEDED(hres))
	{
		/* Could not open the COM library */
		return bRetVal;
	}
	sprintf(cLinkFile,"%s\\%s.lnk", pcDestDir, pcShortcut);
 
	hres = CoCreateInstance(&CLSID_ShellLink, NULL, CLSCTX_INPROC_SERVER,
	                        &IID_IShellLink, (LPVOID *)&psl);
	if (SUCCEEDED(hres))
	{
		hres = psl->lpVtbl->SetPath(psl,pcDestFile);
		if (SUCCEEDED(hres))
		{
			hres = psl->lpVtbl->QueryInterface(psl, &IID_IPersistFile, &ppf);
			if (SUCCEEDED(hres))
			{
				WORD wsz[MAX_PATH];
 
				MultiByteToWideChar(CP_ACP, 0, cLinkFile, -1, wsz, MAX_PATH);
 
				hres = ppf->lpVtbl->Save(ppf, wsz, STGM_READ);
				if (SUCCEEDED(hres))
					bRetVal = TRUE;
				ppf->lpVtbl->Release(ppf);
			}
		}
		psl->lpVtbl->Release(psl);
	}
 
	CoUninitialize();
	return bRetVal;
}