Geoff Chappell - Software Analyst
Old attempts at alternative documentation of a few COMCTL32 functions have been revised. The articles previously described the implementations in the version 6.0 from Windows XP SP1, with notes on such variations for earlier versions as I happened to know (mostly from these articles’ original preparation in 1997). These articles now track the variations through all known versions up to and including Windows Server 2008. These updates and revisions were a trial for the rest of the Study of the Windows Shell, in which most implementation notes are (still) specific to Windows XP SP1. I regret to say that revising the whole study this way looks to be much more work than I can take on any time soon. The wonder is surely that I ever found time for all those pages even with the detail limited just to one Windows version.
Some entirely new research this month was an inspection of ExplorerFrame.dll, which is new to Windows Vista and provides a COM-based technique for getting EXPLORER to open a folder. At least for now, the writing up is only preparatory. A demonstration may be presented next month. This work led in turn to some quick cataloguing of COM interfaces (mostly in SHELL32) and some alternative documentation of a few more SHLWAPI functions.