C-Sharp - FolderDialog Issues

The Browser Folder Dialog in ASP.NET 1.1 allows you to select a folder. There is a property, RootFolder, that allows you to select what folder is the root in the dialog. The RootFolder property can be set to any of the values in the System.Environment.SpecialFolder enum in the .NET Framework. However, there may be settings that are not in that enumeration that you may want to use. For example, you may want to set the root to be My Network Places.

It turns out that the Browse Folder Dialog is a cover for a Windows API call. The Windows API call takes a parameter that is a constant that indicates what the root should be. For some reason the allowed constants in Windows were not fully implemented in the System.Environment.SpecialFolder enum (for no good reason that I can figure out).

You can't just set the RootFolder property to the values in the constants provided by Windows. Instead you will have to pull a trick using Reflection to modify the internally stored number in a private variable inside the dialog.

Include the following class in your project:

[c#]

using System;
using System.Reflection;

public sealed class FolderBrowserDialogEx
{
    [Flags()]
    public enum CsIdl
    {
        Desktop =                   0x0000, // Desktop
        Internet =                  0x0001, // Internet Explorer (icon on desktop)
        Programs =                  0x0002, // Start Menu\Programs
        Controls =                  0x0003, // My Computer\Control Panel
        Printers =                  0x0004, // My Computer\Printers
        Personal =                  0x0005, // My Documents
        Favorites =                 0x0006, // user name\Favorites
        Startup =                   0x0007, // Start Menu\Programs\Startup
        Recent =                    0x0008, // user name\Recent
        SendTo =                    0x0009, // user name\SendTo
        BitBucket =                 0x000a, // desktop\Recycle Bin
        StartMenu =                 0x000b, // user name\Start Menu
        MyDocuments =               0x000c, // logical "My Documents" desktop icon
        MyMusic =                   0x000d, // "My Music" folder
        MyVideo =                   0x000e, // "My Videos" folder
        DesktopDirectory =          0x0010, // user name\Desktop
        Drives =                    0x0011, // My Computer
        Network =                   0x0012, // Network Neighborhood (My Network Places)
        Nethood =                   0x0013, // user name\nethood
        Fonts =                     0x0014, // windows\fonts
        Templates =                 0x0015,
        CommonStartMenu =           0x0016, // All Users\Start Menu
        CommonPrograms =            0x0017, // All Users\Start Menu\Programs
        CommonStartup =             0x0018, // All Users\Startup
        CommonDesktopDirectory =    0x0019, // All Users\Desktop
        AppData =                   0x001a, // user name\Application Data
        PrintHood =                 0x001b, // user name\PrintHood
        LocalAppData =              0x001c, // user name\Local Settings\Applicaton Data (non roaming)
        AltStartup =                0x001d, // non localized startup
        CommonAltStartup =          0x001e, // non localized common startup
        CommonFavorites =           0x001f,
        InternetCache =             0x0020,
        Cookies =                   0x0021,
        History =                   0x0022,
        CommonAppdata =             0x0023, // All Users\Application Data
        Windows =                   0x0024, // GetWindowsDirectory()
        System =                    0x0025, // GetSystemDirectory()
        ProgramFiles =              0x0026, // C:\Program Files
        MyPictures =                0x0027, // C:\Program Files\My Pictures
        Profile =                   0x0028, // USERPROFILE
        SystemX86 =                 0x0029, // x86 system directory on RISC
        ProgramFilesX86 =           0x002a, // x86 C:\Program Files on RISC
        ProgramFilesCommon =        0x002b, // C:\Program Files\Common
        ProgramFilesCommonx86 =     0x002c, // x86 Program Files\Common on RISC
        CommonTemplates =           0x002d, // All Users\Templates
        CommonDocuments =           0x002e, // All Users\Documents
        CommonAdminTools =          0x002f, // All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools
        AdminTools =                0x0030, // user name\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools
        Connections =               0x0031, // Network and Dial-up Connections
        CommonMusic =               0x0035, // All Users\My Music
        CommonPictures =            0x0036, // All Users\My Pictures
        CommonVideo =               0x0037, // All Users\My Video
        Resources =                 0x0038, // Resource Directory
        ResourcesLocalized =        0x0039, // Localized Resource Directory
        CommonOemLinks =            0x003a, // Links to All Users OEM specific apps
        CdBurnArea =                0x003b, // USERPROFILE\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\CD Burning
        ComputersNearMe =           0x003d, // Computers Near Me (determined from Workgroup membership)
        FlagCreate =                0x8000, // combine with CSIDL_ value to force folder creation in SHGetFolderPath()
        FlagDontVerify =            0x4000, // combine with CSIDL_ value to return an unverified folder path
        FlagNoAlias =               0x1000, // combine with CSIDL_ value to insure non-alias versions of the pidl
        FlagPerUserInit =           0x0800, // combine with CSIDL_ value to indicate per-user init (eg. upgrade)
        FlagMask =                  0xFF00, // mask for all possible flag values
    }
        
    private FolderBrowserDialogEx()
    {
    }

    public static void SetRootFolder(System.Windows.Forms.FolderBrowserDialog fbd, CsIdl csidl)
    {
        Type t = fbd.GetType();
        FieldInfo fi = t.GetField("rootFolder", BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.NonPublic);
        fi.SetValue(fbd, (System.Environment.SpecialFolder) csidl);
    }
}

To set the FolderRoot property, call it like this:

[c#]

 FolderBrowserDialogEx.SetRootFolder(fbd, FolderBrowserDialogEx.CsIdl.Network);

Where fbd is the name of the FolderBrowserDialog on your form, and the second argument is what you want to use as the root of the dialog.