Retrieve detailed file properties

Question

Clicking "Properties" in File Explorer displays many useful properties of the selected file. I can access some of these in VB by using the "GetFileInfo" method. But that method does not expose the properties shown on the "Description"
tab in File Explorer.
How can I access this information from my VB code?
Thanks for your help.

Answer 1

I found that you can get these properties using the Shell32 dll.  You can get the File Name, File Size, File Type, Modified Date, Created Date, Accessed Date, Author, Title, Subject, Catagory, Comment, and Author properties/attributes from  Plain
Text files,  RichText files,  Word Documents,  Excel Documents, Jpg Images, and any other types you can right clicking and viewing the properties on.
 You need to add a reference to Microsoft Shell Controls And Automation on the
Com tab of the Add Reference dialog window.  This example only requires 1 RichTextBox and 1 Button added to the Form.
'Add a Reference to (Microsoft Shell Controls And Automation) on the (Com) tab of the Add Reference Dialog Window
Public Class Form1
Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
RichTextBox1.Text = ""
Using OFD As New OpenFileDialog
OFD.Multiselect = False
If OFD.ShowDialog = DialogResult.OK Then
Dim FolderPath As String = IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(OFD.FileName)
Dim FileName As String = IO.Path.GetFileName(OFD.FileName)
Dim objShell As Shell32.Shell = CType(CreateObject("Shell.Application"), Shell32.Shell)
Dim objFolder As Shell32.Folder = CType(objShell.NameSpace(FolderPath.ToString), Shell32.Folder)
Dim sb As New System.Text.StringBuilder
'Standard Properties
sb.AppendLine("File Name: " & objFolder.GetDetailsOf(objFolder.ParseName(FileName), 0))
sb.AppendLine("File Size: " & objFolder.GetDetailsOf(objFolder.ParseName(FileName), 1))
sb.AppendLine("File Type: " & objFolder.GetDetailsOf(objFolder.ParseName(FileName), 2))
sb.AppendLine("Modified Date: " & objFolder.GetDetailsOf(objFolder.ParseName(FileName), 3))
sb.AppendLine("Created Date: " & objFolder.GetDetailsOf(objFolder.ParseName(FileName), 4))
sb.AppendLine("Accessed Date: " & objFolder.GetDetailsOf(objFolder.ParseName(FileName), 5))
'Extended Properties
sb.AppendLine("Author: " & objFolder.GetDetailsOf(objFolder.ParseName(FileName), 9))
sb.AppendLine("Title: " & objFolder.GetDetailsOf(objFolder.ParseName(FileName), 10))
sb.AppendLine("Subject: " & objFolder.GetDetailsOf(objFolder.ParseName(FileName), 11))
sb.AppendLine("Catagory: " & objFolder.GetDetailsOf(objFolder.ParseName(FileName), 12))
sb.AppendLine("Comment: " & objFolder.GetDetailsOf(objFolder.ParseName(FileName), 14))
sb.AppendLine("Author: " & objFolder.GetDetailsOf(objFolder.ParseName(FileName), 9))
RichTextBox1.Text = sb.ToString
End If
End Using
End Sub
End Class
 Here are 2 files i filled the extended properties of and opened.
If you say it can`t be done then i`ll try it