LayoutFolder

The LayoutFolder class is one of many that SHELL32 exposes through its exported DllGetClass function. Instances can therefore be created using such well-documented COM functions as CoCreateInstance, by anyone who knows the CLSID:

CLSID_LayoutFolder

{328B0346-7EAF-4BBE-A479-7CB88A095F5B}

The class implements the following interfaces:

IExplorerPaneVisibility
IObjectWithSite
IPersistFolder2
IPersistPropertyBag
IRootAndRelativeParsingFolder
IShellFolder2

Instance Class

The IPersistPropertyBag interface exposes the LayoutFolder class to indirect creation through an instance class. Two properties are supported, which are each obtained as values in the one registry key:

Key:	HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{InstanceClassClsid}\Instance\InitPropertyBag
Values:	ResourceDLL ResourceID

This is the mechanism through which Control Panel items in the new style for Windows Vista obtain their unified layout.

Availability

The LayoutFolder class is implemented in the SHELL32 version 6.00 from Windows Vista, and higher.

Though new for Windows Vista, this class is not documented by Microsoft in the January 2007 edition of the Software Development Kit (SDK) for Windows Vista.