Programmatically selecting file in explorer

Question

In my application I can programmatically open explorer and select a file using the following code:

void BrowseToFile(LPCTSTR filename)
{
    CString strArgs; 
    strArgs = _T("/select,\"");
    strArgs += filename; 
    strArgs += _T("\"");

    ShellExecute(0, _T("open"), _T("explorer.exe"), strArgs, 0, SW_NORMAL);
}

My problem is that if I call this function a second time with a different file, but in the same folder, the selection in explorer does not change to the new file, but remains on the previous file.

For example, if I call my function with C:\path\to\file1.txt, a new explorer window will open and file1.txt will be selected. If I call my function a second time with C:\path\to\file2.txt, the existing explorer window will be activated, but the selection will still be on file1.txt.

Is there a way to force explorer to update the selection or a better way to accomplish this?

EDIT:

The behavior mentioned above was on Windows XP. It seems the behavior on Vista / Win7 is different. Each call will open a new instance of explorer and select the file.

My main goal is to replicate the Visual Studio option to Open Containing Folder of a document. This feature in Visual Studio behaves the same on XP, Vista, and Win7. It will not create a new instance if another instance with the same folder is already open, but it will update the selection to the new file.

If anybody knows how Visual Studio accomplishes this I would love to know about it.

Answer 1

Found the answer to my question. I need to use the shell function SHOpenFolderAndSelectItems. Here is the code for the function if anybody is ever interested:

void BrowseToFile(LPCTSTR filename)
{
    ITEMIDLIST *pidl = ILCreateFromPath(filename);
    if(pidl) {
        SHOpenFolderAndSelectItems(pidl,0,0,0);
        ILFree(pidl);
    }
}

Answer 2

Try the '/n' option. This will, however, open a new folder - perhaps already opened. But, at least, the file you specify is selected.

/n,/select,<path_and_filename>

SHOpenFolderAndSelectItems always fails in my case and I can't figure out why. Btw, you must call CoInitialize/CoInitializeEx before calling this one.

Answer 3

In the case you outlined it appears the file window only selects the file when it's initialized instead of when activated.

Although this feels like a kludge, you could detect XP and only for that OS close the dialog using its handle and open a new one to target another file with.