How can I get the URL of an internet shortcut (.url)? - vb.net

Question

My client has some internet shortcuts (*.url) on his desktop and I want to get their URL through a VB application and use them as variables.
Any idea how can I do that?

Answer 1

There's a sample on MSDN for *.lnk and *.appref-ms-files.
But seems to work for *.url-files too.
Quote from the site:
To check if a file is a shortcut and to resolve a shortcut path, the
COM Library Microsoft Shell Controls And Automation is used. This
library is added to the References of the Visual Studio project.
Code:
Public Function IsShortcut(strPath As String) As Boolean
If Not File.Exists(strPath) Then
Return False
End If
Dim directory As String = Path.GetDirectoryName(strPath)
Dim strFile As String = Path.GetFileName(strPath)
Dim shell As Shell32.Shell = New Shell32.Shell()
Dim folder As Shell32.Folder = shell.NameSpace(directory)
Dim folderItem As Shell32.FolderItem = folder.ParseName(strFile)
If folderItem IsNot Nothing Then
Return folderItem.IsLink
End If
Return False
End Function
Public Function ResolveShortcut(strPath As String) As String
If IsShortcut(strPath) Then
Dim directory As String = Path.GetDirectoryName(strPath)
Dim strFile As String = Path.GetFileName(strPath)
Dim shell As Shell32.Shell = New Shell32.Shell()
Dim folder As Shell32.Folder = shell.NameSpace(directory)
Dim folderItem As Shell32.FolderItem = folder.ParseName(strFile)
Dim link As Shell32.ShellLinkObject = folderItem.GetLink
Return link.Path
End If
Return String.Empty
End Function