Question Change the Windows Explorer View Mode to "Details" on an external Explorer task

[Remala]

Hi there,

My application gets the file list from the actual folder Windows Explorer is pointed to. It is working well.
I just need to programmatically change the Windows Explorer View Mode to "Details", on that external Windows Explorer task.
I have already searched VB forums and found nothing about. Thanks for any help.
This is my code:

Imports System.IO
Imports System.IO.FileAttributes
Imports System.IO.File
Imports System.IO.Directory
Imports Shell32               ' for ShellFolderView
Imports SHDocVw               ' for IShellWindows
Imports System.Text.RegularExpressions

Public Class frmViewMode

    Private Sub ViewMode_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        Dim strActiveExplorerFolder As String

        strActiveExplorerFolder = GetExplorerPath()              ' Actual folder Windows Explorer is pointed to
        If strActiveExplorerFolder <> "" Then LoadFiles(strActiveExplorerFolder)

        ' Here I need some code to change the Windows Explorer View Mode to "Details",
        ' no matters the actual view mode setting.

        End If

    End Sub

    Private Function GetExplorerPath() As String
        Dim exShell As New Shell
        Dim expPath As String
        For Each w As ShellBrowserWindow In DirectCast(exShell.Windows, IShellWindows)
            If TryCast(w.Document, IShellFolderViewDual) IsNot Nothing Then                     ' try to cast to an explorer folder
                expPath = DirectCast(w.Document, IShellFolderViewDual).FocusedItem.Path
                Return Path.GetDirectoryName(expPath)                                           ' remove GetDirectoryName method to return selected file rather than folder
            ElseIf TryCast(w.Document, ShellFolderView) IsNot Nothing Then
                expPath = DirectCast(w.Document, ShellFolderView).FocusedItem.Path
                Return Path.GetDirectoryName(expPath)
            End If
        Next
        Return ""
    End Function

    Private Sub LoadFiles(ByVal strFolder as string)

        ' my code here to get and work with the file list

    End Sub

End Class

 

[JohnH]

Not sure why you cast as IShellFolderViewDual, ShellFolderView already implements latest version IShellFolderViewDual3. Anyway, when you cast to the ShellFolderView you can set CurrentViewMode to a value in FolderViewMode enumeration, found it declared in a post here: How to access and direct the "shell" in Windows?