windows read the target of shortcut file in c++

Question

How to read the target of shortcut file on windows. Tried using boost::read_symlink which throws exception saying \"the file or directory is not a reparse point\" message.

Answer 1

Here's more compact version of David's code, with ATL (included with Visual Studio).

#define CHECK( hr ) { const HRESULT __hr = ( hr ); if( FAILED( __hr ) ) return __hr; }

HRESULT resolveShortcutTarget( HWND wnd, const CString& lnk, CString& target )
{
    // Get a pointer to the IShellLink interface. It is assumed that CoInitialize has already been called. 
    CComPtr psl;
    CHECK( psl.CoCreateInstance( CLSID_ShellLink, nullptr, CLSCTX_INPROC_SERVER ) );

    // Get a pointer to the IPersistFile interface. 
    CComPtr ppf;
    CHECK( psl->QueryInterface( IID_PPV_ARGS( &ppf ) ) );

    // Load the shortcut. 
    CHECK( ppf->Load( lnk, STGM_READ ) );

    // Resolve the link. 
    CHECK( psl->Resolve( wnd, 0 ) );

    // Get the path to the link target. 
    const HRESULT hr = psl->GetPath( target.GetBufferSetLength( MAX_PATH ), MAX_PATH, nullptr, 0 );
    target.ReleaseBuffer();
    return hr;
}