How to retrieve the file previews used by windows explorer in Windows vista and seven?

Question

I am developing a Delphi documents management application, so somehow I am giving the user some functionality similar to windows explorer.

I would like to know if there is a way to get the preview used by windows explorer. For example windows explorer creates a small thumbnail for a pdf document for example, and displays it when the user chooses to view "big icons". Is there a way to retrieve that preview?

MyTImage := GiveMePreviewForFile('C:\Test\File.pdf');

Possible dupe (first question): http://stackoverflow.com/questions/829843/how-to-get-icon-and-description-from-file-extension-using-delphi — Sertac Akyuz, May 26 '10 at 10:06

score 8 · Accepted Answer · edited Jul 27 '19 at 19:10

8

@user193655, using the IExtractImage interface is the way to go, this interface exposes methods that request a thumbnail image from a Shell folder

you can find a very complete sample in this site and the source code is here.

check this image

edited Jul 27 '19 at 19:10

Glorfindel

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answered May 26 '10 at 20:38

RRUZ

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At the moment, the source code can still be downloaded from archive.org: https://web.archive.org/web/20060115070800/http://www.delphi3000.com/article/3806/IExtractImageDemo.zip – Marcus Adams Dec 03 '13 at 13:53

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered May 26 '10 at 13:16

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Take a look at the docs for IExtractImage. Basically you use IShellFolder with IExtractImage to get the picture you are looking for.

answered May 26 '10 at 13:16

Keith Giddings

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How to retrieve the file previews used by windows explorer in Windows vista and seven?

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