How to write a custom search provider for the Windows Explorer search user interface

Question

I am working on a Windows Explorer namespace extension, which is a virtual file system. In this regard, I would like to support the search in the search dialog box available in Windows Explorer.

Currently, I can search by name in the folder I'm standing in, but I would like to be able to search in the full structure as well as in the contents of the virtual file system, and since Windows Explorer cannot do this, I need to connect to the user search provider.

Since this is a virtual file system, it would be useful if I could write a user interface to display the result, but this is not necessary.

The custom explorer namespace extension is written in C #, but the API does not need to be wrapped. Any pointers to API documentation, commercial products and / or samples will be appreciated.

Answer 1

If you use defview as a shell view, return FWF_USESEARCHFOLDER to IFolderViewSettings :: GetFolderFlags. An example implementation can be found at http://regnamespace.codeplex.com/ .

From http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb331575(v=vs.85).aspx : If your IShellFolder implementation does not use SHCreateShellFolderView to create a DefView, a Shell object may need an IFolderView.

There is also a confused user who needs to support searching the extension of the namespace extension folder in file dialogs .