Overview

The Shell Object Framework provides a managed way to access a file system shell. A Windows shell service is included, and custom shell services can be written to access other file system shells.

Various shell user interface controls in the product like ShellTreeListBox use the Shell Object Framework to determine what to display and how to interact with shell objects/properties.

Shell Objects

Shell objects represent a folder, file, or link from a shell service. For instance, our Windows shell service implementation creates shell objects to represent the folders, files, and links found on your PC.

See the Shell Objects topic for more information.

Shell Services

A shell service creates and interacts with shell objects, and is the main customization point for interfacing with a file system such as the Windows shell.

See the Shell Services topic for more information.

Custom Shell Objects

The built-in Windows shell functionality can be customized/extended. Or in other cases, completely custom shell objects and services can be written to support non-Windows shells (i.e., a remote file system in a FTP client).

See the Custom Shell Objects topic for more information.