Get the Windows Start Menu folder location and name

Problem/Question/Abstract:

How to get the Start Menu folder location in Windows regardless of the OS (WinNT Wks, WinNT Srv, Win95, Win98)?

Answer:

Solve 1:

procedure FreePidl(pidl: PItemIDList);
var
  allocator: IMalloc;
begin
  if Succeeded(SHGetMalloc(allocator)) then
  begin
    allocator.Free(pidl);
{$IFDEF VER90}
    allocator.Release;
{$ENDIF}
  end;
end;

procedure TForm1.Button2Click(Sender: TObject);
var
  pidl: PItemIDList;
  buf: array[0..MAX_PATH] of Char;
begin
  if Succeeded(ShGetSpecialFolderLocation(Handle, CSIDL_STARTMENU, pidl)) then
  begin
    if ShGetPathfromIDList(pidl, buf) then
      ShowMessage(buf);
    FreePIDL(pidl);
  end;
end;

Needs ShlObj in the Uses clause.


Solve 2:

To obtain the name of the Windows\Start Menu\Program directory on a system, use code like this:

function GetSpecialDir(Index: Integer): string;
var
  S: string;
  IDL: PItemIDList;
begin
  Result := '';
  if Succeeded(SHGetSpecialFolderLocation(0, Index, IDL)) then
  begin
    SetLength(S, MAX_PATH);
    if Succeeded(SHGetPathFromIDList(IDL, PChar(S))) then
      Result := PChar(S);
  end;
end;

You call it with code like:

ProgDir := GetSpecialDir(CSIDL_PROGRAMS);

The CSIDL_ identifiers are specified in ShlObj.pas, so are the SHGetSpecialFolderLocation and SHGetPathFromIDList functions.


Solve 3:

Here is an example to get the startup folder:

{ ... }
var
  idRoot: PItemIDList;
  Buf: array[1..MAX_PATH] of Char;
begin
  StartupFolder := '';
  try
    if SHGetSpecialFolderLocation(Handle, CSIDL_STARTUP, idRoot) = NOERROR then
    begin
      FillChar(Buf, SizeOf(Buf), #32);
      SHGetPathFromIDList(idRoot, PChar(@Buf));
      SetString(StartupFolder, PChar(@Buf), Length(Buf));
      StartupFolder := Trim(StartupFolder) + '\';
    end;
  except
  end;
end;
{ ... }