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

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, &amp;pidl);

if(pidl)

   {
   IShellFolder   *pDesktop;

   SHGetDesktopFolder(&amp;pDesktop);
   if(pDesktop)

      {
      STRRET   str;
      TCHAR    szText[MAX_PATH];

      pDesktop-&gt;GetDisplayNameOf(   pidl,
                                    SHGDN_FORPARSING,
                                    &amp;str);

      pDesktop-&gt;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 kbWinOS2000 kbSDKPlatform kbGrpShell 
Version           : WINDOWS:
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbprb

Last Reviewed: January 17, 1999