A programmatic alternative to using the value of OpenSavePidlMRU in the registry
See the question and my original answer on StackOverflowIf you're going for undocumented stuff, here is a code that can dump an MRU list like the LastVisitedPidlMRU
one:
// the Shell object that can read MRU lists
static GUID CLSID_MruLongList = { 0x53bd6b4e,0x3780,0x4693,{0xaf,0xc3,0x71,0x61,0xc2,0xf3,0xee,0x9c} };
typedef enum MRULISTF
{
MRULISTF_USE_MEMCMP = 0x0,
MRULISTF_USE_STRCMPIW = 0x1,
MRULISTF_USE_STRCMPW = 0x2,
MRULISTF_USE_ILISEQUAL = 0x3,
};
typedef int (__stdcall *MRUDATALISTCOMPARE)(const BYTE*, const BYTE*, int);
MIDL_INTERFACE("00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000") // unknown guid but we don't care
IMruDataCompare : public IUnknown
{
public:
virtual HRESULT CompareItems(const BYTE*, int, const BYTE*, int) = 0;
};
MIDL_INTERFACE("d2c22919-91f5-4284-8807-58a2d64e561c")
IMruDataList2 : public IUnknown
{
public:
virtual HRESULT InitData(UINT uMax, MRULISTF flags, HKEY hKey, LPCWSTR pszSubKey, MRUDATALISTCOMPARE pfnCompare) = 0;
virtual HRESULT AddData(const BYTE* pData, DWORD cbData, DWORD* pdwSlot) = 0;
virtual HRESULT InsertData(const BYTE*, DWORD cbData, int* piIndex, DWORD* pdwSlot) = 0;
virtual HRESULT FindData(const BYTE* pData, DWORD cbData, int* piIndex) = 0;
virtual HRESULT GetData(int iIndex, BYTE* pData, DWORD cbData) = 0;
virtual HRESULT QueryInfo(int iIndex, DWORD* pdwSlot, DWORD* pcbData) = 0;
virtual HRESULT Delete(int iIndex) = 0;
virtual HRESULT InitData2(UINT uMax, MRULISTF flags, HKEY hKey, LPCWSTR pszSubKey, IMruDataCompare* pfnCompare) = 0;
};
int main()
{
CoInitialize(NULL);
{
CComPtr<IMruDataList2> mru;
if (SUCCEEDED(mru.CoCreateInstance(CLSID_MruLongList)))
{
const int max = 100; // get max 100 entries
mru->InitData(max, MRULISTF_USE_MEMCMP, HKEY_CURRENT_USER, L"Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Explorer\\ComDlg32\\LastVisitedPidlMRU\\", nullptr);
for (auto i = 0; i < max; i++)
{
DWORD slot;
DWORD size;
// get size
if (FAILED(mru->QueryInfo(i, &slot, &size)))
continue;
// get data
// note beginning is a LPWSTR containing exe data
auto data = (LPBYTE)_alloca(size);
if (FAILED(mru->GetData(i, data, size)))
continue;
// the rest is a PIDL
auto pidl = (LPCITEMIDLIST)(data + (lstrlen((LPWSTR)data) + 1) * 2);
// get the shell item
CComPtr<IShellItem> item;
if (SUCCEEDED(SHCreateItemFromIDList(pidl, IID_PPV_ARGS(&item))))
{
// get its path
CComHeapPtr<WCHAR> path;
item->GetDisplayName(SIGDN::SIGDN_DESKTOPABSOLUTEPARSING, &path);
wprintf(L"Executable: %s LastVisited: %s\n", data, path);
}
}
}
}
CoUninitialize();
}
PS: I'm using ATL's smart classes