Get extended file information details - vb.net

Question

How can one obtain the details of a windows file using VB.net?
The type of details I mean are those found when I right click on a file, say an MS word doc, then click "Properties" and select the "Details" tab.
I know some can be obtained via FileInfo, but not all, such as "Tags" for example.
Thanks

Answer 1

For that stuff you need to use Shell32. From the COM tab, find and add Microsoft Shell Controls and Automation. Here is code to create a list of property-values for a given file:
' class to hold the goodies
Friend Class ShellInfo
Public Property Name As String
Public Property Value As String
Public Sub New(n As String, v As String)
Name = n
Value = v
End Sub
Public Overrides Function ToString() As String
Return Name
End Function
End Class
Then a function to fill it up
Private Function GetXtdShellInfo(filepath As String) As List(Of ShellInfo)
' ToDo: add error checking, maybe Try/Catch and
' surely check if the file exists before trying
Dim xtd As New List(Of ShellInfo)
Dim shell As New Shell32.Shell
Dim shFolder As Shell32.Folder
shFolder = shell.NameSpace(Path.GetDirectoryName(filepath))
' its com so iterate to find what we want -
' or modify to return a dictionary of lists for all the items
Dim key As String
For Each s In shFolder.Items
' look for the one we are after
If shfolder.GetDetailsOf(s, 0).ToLowerInvariant = Path.GetFileName(file).ToLowerInvariant Then
Dim ndx As Int32 = 0
key = shfolder.GetDetailsOf(shfolder.Items, ndx)
' there are a varying number of entries depending on the OS
' 34 min, W7=290, W8=309 with some blanks
' this should get up to 310 non blank elements
Do Until String.IsNullOrEmpty(key) AndAlso ndx > 310
If String.IsNullOrEmpty(key) = False Then
xtd.Add(New ShellInfo(key,
shfolder.GetDetailsOf(s, ndx)))
End If
ndx += 1
key = shfolder.GetDetailsOf(shfolder.Items, ndx)
Loop
' we got what we came for
Exit For
End If
Next
Return xtd
End Function
Using it is simple:
Dim xtd As List(Of ShellInfo) = GetXtdShellInfo("C:\Temp\Capri.jpg")
For Each s As ShellInfo In xtd
Console.WriteLine("{0}: {1}", s.Name, s.Value)
Next
The return should be a list of ShellInfo items where the Name is the property name such as Name, BitRate, Album and the associated Value will be that returned by Shell32. e.g
Name: Capri.jpg
Size: 15.2 KB
Item type: Image File
Date modified: 7/20/2014 12:19 PM
Date created: 7/20/2014 12:17 PM
Date accessed: 7/20/2014 12:17 PM
(etc)
The actual number returned will vary depending on the OS ver
As noted in the comment Microsoft Shell Controls and Automation is renamed as Microsoft Shell Folder View Router (in Windows 8.1).
Also, the first 35 properties are fairly well known and more common, but with Win7 there are about 291. Under Windows 8, the max is 309 with some blank spots and deep into the list some property indices are changed.
See this answer related question How to read the bit rate information from a .mov video file header

Answer 2

Dim shellAppType = Type.GetTypeFromProgID("Shell.Application")
Dim shellApp = Activator.CreateInstance(shellAppType)
Dim folder = shellApp.NameSpace("c:\users\frank")
Dim folderitem = folder.parsename("yourfile.jpg")
Dim value = folder.GetDetailsOf(folderitem, 24) 'eg. 24 retrieves File Comments.

Answer 3

Just use something like :
Dim MyFileInfos as System.IO.FileInfo = My.Computer.FileSystem.GetFileInfo(PathToYourFile)
Then get infos using MyFileInfo.* (whatever you need, use IntelliSense).
Have a nice day