PRB: IShellFolder::GetDisplayNameOf Returns Names with GUIDs

ID: Q198871

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Win32 Software Development Kit (SDK)
on the following platforms: NT
Microsoft Windows 2000

SYMPTOMS

On Windows 2000 Professional Edition, calling the desktop's IShellFolder::GetDisplayNameOf with SHGDN_FORPARSING for a namespace extension returns a name with GUIDs in it rather than actual display names.

For example, the following code:


LPITEMIDLIST   pidl = NULL;

SHGetSpecialFolderLocation(NULL, CSIDL_CONTROLS, &pidl);

if(pidl)
   {
   IShellFolder   *pDesktop;

   SHGetDesktopFolder(&pDesktop);
   if(pDesktop)
      {
      STRRET   str;
      TCHAR    szText[MAX_PATH];

      pDesktop->GetDisplayNameOf(   pidl, 
                                    SHGDN_FORPARSING, 
                                    &str);

      pDesktop->Release();
      }
   }

returns a name such as:

::{<GUID for My Computer>}\{<GUID for Control Panel>}

rather than the following expected text:

Control Panel

Some folders may return a name such as:

My Computer\::{GUID for the requested item}

instead of returning the GUID for "My Computer."

CAUSE

This behavior is due to a design change in the Windows 2000 Professional Edition's desktop.

RESOLUTION

To retrieve the actual display text, you need to add the SHGDN_FORADDRESSBAR flag to the SHGDN_FORPARSING flag. If this is done in the sample code above, the text returned will be:

Control Panel

STATUS

This behavior is by design.

Additional query words:

Keywords : kbNameSpace kbNTOS400 kbWinOS2000 kbSDKPlatform kbSDKWin32 kbGrpShell
Version : WINDOWS:
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbprb