ShellAnything

ShellAnything

ShellAnything is a C++ open-source software which allow one to easily customize and add new options to Windows Explorer context menu. Define specific actions when a user right-click on a file or a directory.

Status

Build:

Service	Build	Tests
AppVeyor, Visual Studio 2019
Github Actions, Windows Server 2019

Statistics:

Screenshots

Files context menu:

Directories context menu:

Purpose

Adding new options to Windows Explorer context menu can be done in many ways. One can create new context menus by manually editing the registry but this option is limited in support (static text, no submenus). If you are technical person, you can also follow this guide on StackOverflow.

With Shell Extension, you can dynamically create a context menu item (or submenu) that is more relevant to the selected file(s). Shell extension are dynamic by nature because they are runtime DLL inside Windows Explorer. They can show or hide options based on the selected file’s name, size, content, etc. Shell extensions also have the ability to handle multiple selected files simultaneously.

On the downside, writing shell extensions is complicated, tedious and difficult to debug.

This is where ShellAnything is useful. It provides a simple xml-based way of adding new dynamic options to Windows Explorer context menu.

ShellAnything is implemented in C++ which, for writing Shell Extension, is a safe programming language compared to C#. See Writing Shell Extensions with C# for details.

Writing Shell Extensions with C#.

Writing Shell Extensions with C# is possible but highly discouraged and probably not a good idea.

Many articles already discussed the subject and they all comes to the same conslusion: Don’t do it.

For instance, the following articles are good references:

• StackOverflow have discussed the issue rigorously : StackOverflow - Windows shell extension with C#.
• Raymond Chen, from The Old New Thing, says “Do not write in-process shell extensions in managed code” and following the release of version 4 of the .NET Framework (with in-process side-by-side runtimes), “the answer is still no”.
• Microsoft Guidance for Implementing In-Process Extensions is discouraging the use of C#.

Features

The main features of ShellAnything are:

• Easily add custom menus and submenus.
• Dynamic content based on xml files. Change xml configuration files to see the menu options update automatically.
• Support for custom icons for each menu.
• Support activation and visibility filters based on selected files.
• Define actions executed when a menu option is selected:
  • Launch an application.
  • Open a document.
  • Prompt for a value.
  • Change the clipboard.
  • and many more.
• Powerful property-based system for rich dynamic content and filters.
• Extendable with a custom plugin system.
• Easily integrate any third party application with custom menus.
• Supports windows keyboard mnemonics.

For more details about ShellAnything features, please refer to the User Manual.

Usage

For instructions on how to use ShellAnything, please refer to the User Manual.

The User Manual also features Use Case with the following examples:

• Integrate a third party application.
• Run an application with parameters.
• Open a command prompt in directory.
• Select two files for an operation.

Build

Please refer to file INSTALL.md for details on how installing/building the application.

Platform

ShellAnything has been tested with the following platform:

• Windows 8.1 (32 and 64 bit)
• Windows 10 (32 and 64 bit)

NOTE: Version 0.6.1 is the last version of ShellAnything that supports 32-bit Windows.

NOTE: Version 0.7 is the last version of ShellAnything that supports Windows 7.

Versioning

This project use Semantic Versioning 2.0.0 for versioning. For the versions available, see the tags on this repository.

Authors

• Antoine Beauchamp - Initial work - end2endzone

See also the list of contributors who participated in this project.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details