We have our own file format, which is built into the product-code .
I am just starting to go down the path "allowing the end user to sort / filter using product-code when opening the file."
The simplest approach for us may be to simply add another drop-down list in our customizable Open File dialog box, where you can select the product-code to filter.
However, I think that the end user could be more useful if we could present this information as a column in the details view for this file type - just like name, date modified, type, size, etc. are also detailed file type properties (or perhaps common to all files).
My vague understanding is that XP and previous Windows OSs embedded some metadata like this into an alternate data stream in NTFS. However, starting with Vista, Microsoft stopped using alternative data streams because of their dependence on NTFS, and therefore fragility (i.e., it cannot send via file attachment, cannot be moved to a flash drive with FAT format, etc.) .d.)
Things I need to know but haven't figured out yet:
- Is it possible / practical / how to create our own extended file property for our file type, which expresses the
product-code the Windows shell so that it can be seen in Windows Explorer (and therefore in files)? - If this is feasible, then how to configure things so that the
product-code column is displayed by default for folders containing our file type.
Can someone point me to a good starting point above? Of course, we should not do this by publishing a custom extended file property, but this seems like a reasonable approach, in the absence of any way to measure the costs of this route.
If you have reasonable alternative approaches to the problem, I will also be interested in this!
Just Found: http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/830/The-Complete-Idiot-s-Guide-to-Writing-Shell-Extens
SHIT! I seem to be very late for the banquet, and MS has already removed this functionality from its shell: http://xpwasmyidea.blogspot.com/2009/10/evil-conspiracy-behind-customizable.html