How do I get File Type Information based on extension? (not MIME) in c#

Question

How do I get the general File type description based on extension like Explorer does it? So not MIME but the information that the end-user sees, like.

.doc = Microsoft Office Word 97 - 2003 Document .zip = ZIP File .avi = Video File.

And how can I get the 'secondary' information that seems to be available, which I guess it not extension based. Like on "Video Files" it can give you the 'Length' of the movie or on doc files how many pages it has.. etc etc..

Answer 1

Thanks Dan, Alright.. This answers the first question I had. Sadly not the second. Note: Not everything prints.. Credits to PInvoke.net

using System;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.Text;
using System.Diagnostics;


namespace WindowsFormsApplication1
{
    static class Program
    {
        [DllImport("Shlwapi.dll", SetLastError = true, CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
        static extern uint AssocQueryString(AssocF flags, AssocStr str, string pszAssoc, string pszExtra, [Out] StringBuilder pszOut, [In][Out] ref uint pcchOut);

        /// <summary>
        /// The main entry point for the application.
        /// </summary>
        [STAThread]
        static void Main()
        {
            Debug.WriteLine(FileExtentionInfo(AssocStr.Command, ".doc"), "Command");
            Debug.WriteLine(FileExtentionInfo(AssocStr.DDEApplication, ".doc"), "DDEApplication");
            Debug.WriteLine(FileExtentionInfo(AssocStr.DDEIfExec, ".doc"), "DDEIfExec");
            Debug.WriteLine(FileExtentionInfo(AssocStr.DDETopic, ".doc"), "DDETopic");
            Debug.WriteLine(FileExtentionInfo(AssocStr.Executable, ".doc"), "Executable");
            Debug.WriteLine(FileExtentionInfo(AssocStr.FriendlyAppName, ".doc"), "FriendlyAppName");
            Debug.WriteLine(FileExtentionInfo(AssocStr.FriendlyDocName, ".doc"), "FriendlyDocName");
            Debug.WriteLine(FileExtentionInfo(AssocStr.NoOpen, ".doc"), "NoOpen");
            Debug.WriteLine(FileExtentionInfo(AssocStr.ShellNewValue, ".doc"), "ShellNewValue");

            //  DDEApplication: WinWord
            //DDEIfExec: ???
            //  DDETopic: System
            //  Executable: C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft OfficeOffice12WINWORD.EXE
            //  FriendlyAppName: Microsoft Office Word
            //  FriendlyDocName: Microsoft Office Word 97 - 2003 Document


        }

        public static string FileExtentionInfo(AssocStr assocStr, string doctype)
        {
            uint pcchOut = 0;
            AssocQueryString(AssocF.Verify, assocStr, doctype, null, null, ref pcchOut);

            StringBuilder pszOut = new StringBuilder((int)pcchOut);
            AssocQueryString(AssocF.Verify, assocStr, doctype, null, pszOut, ref pcchOut);
            return pszOut.ToString();
        }

        [Flags]
        public enum AssocF
        {
            Init_NoRemapCLSID = 0x1,
            Init_ByExeName = 0x2,
            Open_ByExeName = 0x2,
            Init_DefaultToStar = 0x4,
            Init_DefaultToFolder = 0x8,
            NoUserSettings = 0x10,
            NoTruncate = 0x20,
            Verify = 0x40,
            RemapRunDll = 0x80,
            NoFixUps = 0x100,
            IgnoreBaseClass = 0x200
        }

        public enum AssocStr
        {
            Command = 1,
            Executable,
            FriendlyDocName,
            FriendlyAppName,
            NoOpen,
            ShellNewValue,
            DDECommand,
            DDEIfExec,
            DDEApplication,
            DDETopic
        }

    }
}