Browse Folder Dialog, Search Folder and All Sub Folders using C/C++

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Introduction

No screenshot is available, nor is a compiled product. The reason for this is due to the code below being a tool to compliment the existing code, and since it's as easy as pasting it into your product and calling the function name to use, I felt everyone would be able to figure it out. The only thing to make sure of is to edit the clearly marked section of SearchFolder to include what you want done when it finds a valid file. Some parts of the Browse Folder dialog code have been taken from here.

The best way to implement this is to include it in a Tools.cpp and call it as needed. Be sure to modify SearchFolder so that it sends the path file wherever you may need it.

Details

This is the first function you will need, BrowseFolder. This opens a Browse Folder dialog and then calls the search function once (or if, rather) a folder is chosen.

#include <windows.h>
#include <string.h>

//This is needed for virtually everything in BrowseFolder.
#include <shlobj.h>   

//BROWSE FOLDER - Opens a browse folder dialog.
void BrowseFolder( void )
{
    TCHAR path[MAX_PATH];
    BROWSEINFO bi = { 0 };
    bi.lpszTitle = ("All Folders Automatically Recursed.");
    LPITEMIDLIST pidl = SHBrowseForFolder ( &bi );

    if ( pidl != 0 )
    {
        // get the name of the folder and put it in path
        SHGetPathFromIDList ( pidl, path );

        //Set the current directory to path
        SetCurrentDirectory ( path );

        //Begin the search
        SearchFolder( path );

        // free memory used
        IMalloc * imalloc = 0;
        if ( SUCCEEDED( SHGetMalloc ( &imalloc )) )
        {
            imalloc->Free ( pidl );
            imalloc->Release ( );
        }
    }
}//BROWSE FOLDER

Okay. Now we know what folder the user wants to access, and need to search that folder and all of its sub-folders. This is the hard part of the code, and took a bit of time to figure out, but is quite fast and efficient.

//SEARCH FOLDER - Searches folder and all sub-folders, 
//reading every file it comes across.
void SearchFolder( TCHAR * path ) 
{     
    //Declare all needed handles     
    WIN32_FIND_DATA FindFileData;     
    HANDLE hFind;     
    TCHAR filename[ MAX_PATH + 256 ];     
    TCHAR pathbak[ MAX_PATH ];     

    //Make a backup of the directory the user chose         
    strcpy( pathbak, path );

    //Find the first file in the directory the user chose     
    hFind = FindFirstFile ( "*.*", &FindFileData );

    //Use a do/while so we process whatever FindFirstFile returned     
    do     
    {         
        //Is it valid?         
        if ( hFind != INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE )         
        {             
            //Is it a . or .. directory? If it is, skip, or we'll go forever.             
            if ( ! ( strcmp( FindFileData.cFileName, "." ) ) || 
                ! ( strcmp( FindFileData.cFileName, ".." ) ) )             
            {                 
                continue;             
            }             
            //Restore the original directory chosen by the user             
            strcpy( path, pathbak );

            //Append the file found on to the path of the 
            //directory the user chose             
            sprintf( path, "%s\\%s", path, FindFileData.cFileName );

            //If SetCurrentDirectory Succeeds ( returns 1 ), the 
            //current file is a directory. Pause this function,             
            //and have it call itself. This will begin the whole 
            //process over in a sub directory.             
            if ( ( SetCurrentDirectory( path ) ) )             
            {                 
                SearchFolder( path );             
            } 

            //Otherwise right here is where you need to insert what you want to do.             
            //As an example, let's add the filename to a list box.             
            //INSERT WHAT YOU WANT DONE BELOW!             
            SendMessage( m_listbox_hwnd, LB_ADDSTRING, 0, path );
        }     
    }    
    while ( FindNextFile ( hFind, &FindFileData ) 
        && hFind != INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE );     
    FindClose ( hFind );
}//SEARCH FOLDER

Basically what this does is takes the current folder, and goes through every file one at a time. First it checks - Is this a folder? If it is, start a new instance of this function searching that sub-folder. If not, then it's up to the programmer to decide what to do with the file, which is set in the variable path.

History

• 23^rd July, 2002 - Updated source

License

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