How do I get the icon associated with a file type?

Question

I have a form that displays file information in a TabControl, and I'd like the pages to have the file's icon in their tab. How do I get the icon associated with a file type?

I'd prefer solutions that don't involve looking things up in the registry, but if that's the only way then so be it.

Answer 1

CodeProject has some classes you can download.

First get the FileAssociationInfo, and from that get the ProgramAssociationInfo. The pai object can give you the icon.

FileAssociationInfo fai = new FileAssociationInfo(".bob");
ProgramAssociationInfo pai = new ProgramAssociationInfo(fai.ProgID);
ProgramIcon icon = pai.DefaultIcon;

Answer 2

System.Drawing.Icon.ExtractAssociatedIcon(string filePath)