Sometimes it is necessary to create shortcuts to your applications or
documents somewhere on another user's system. Do this by calling the
fCreateShellLink API function found in the Stkit432.dll file that ships
with the Setup ToolKit in Microsoft Visual Basic version 4.0 for Windows or
the Vb5stkit.dll file that ships with the Setup Toolkit in Visual Basic
5.0. The steps that follow show you how to do this.
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Shell links, also known as shortcuts, are a convenient way to reference
objects within the shell name space (the hierarchical structure of objects
in the Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Me shell) without having to keep
track of the name and location of the original object. Shell links are
referred to as shortcuts in the Context menu (that appears when you right-
click an object) of shell objects. They are implemented internally through the
IShellLink interface.
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Steps for Creating a Shell Link (Shortcut) to the Desktop
| 1. | Start a new project in Visual Basic. Form1 is created by default.
|
| 2. | Add a Command button (Command1) to Form1.
|
| 3. | Add the following code to the General Declarations section of Form1:
Option Explicit
'NOTE: In Visual Basic 5.0, change Stkit432.dll in the following
'statement to Vb5stkit.dll.
Private Declare Function fCreateShellLink Lib "STKIT432.DLL" (ByVal _
lpstrFolderName As String, ByVal lpstrLinkName As String, ByVal _
lpstrLinkPath As String, ByVal lpstrLinkArgs As String) As Long
Sub Command1_Click()
Dim lReturn As Long
'Add to Desktop
lReturn = fCreateShellLink("..\..\Desktop", _
"Shortcut to Calculator", "c:\Winnt\system32\calc.exe", "")
'Add to Program Menu Group
lReturn = fCreateShellLink("", "Shortcut to Calculator", _
"c:\Winnt\system32\calc.exe", "")
'Add to Startup Group
'Note that on Windows NT, the shortcut will not actually appear
'in the Startup group until your next reboot.
lReturn = fCreateShellLink("\Startup", "Shortcut to Calculator", _
"c:\Winnt\system32\calc.exe", "")
End Sub
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| 4. | Press the F5 key to run the project, and then click the Command button.
|
NOTE: If you are running Windows NT, the above example works correctly.
If you are running Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Me, change the Calc.exe path to
the following:
C:\Windows\Calc.exe
This creates a shortcut to the Calc.exe file on the user's desktop, a
program group, and a reference to it in the Startup items.
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Please refer to the sample on the Visual Basic 5.0 and later CD-ROM:
Tools\Unsupprt\ShellLnk
In the Visual Studio CD-ROM:
\common\Tools\vb\Unsupprt\ShellLnk
For additional information, please see the following article in the
Microsoft Knowledge Base:
140443 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/140443/EN-US/)
How To Create a Shortcut on the Desktop
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