Read/Write 'Extended' file properties (C#)

Question

I\'m trying to find out how to read/write to the extended file properties in C# e.g. Comment, Bit Rate, Date Accessed, Category etc that you can see in Windows explorer. An

Answer 1

Solution 2016

Add following NuGet packages to your project:

• Microsoft.WindowsAPICodePack-Shell by Microsoft
• Microsoft.WindowsAPICodePack-Core by Microsoft

Read and Write Properties

using Microsoft.WindowsAPICodePack.Shell;
using Microsoft.WindowsAPICodePack.Shell.PropertySystem;

string filePath = @"C:\temp\example.docx";
var file = ShellFile.FromFilePath(filePath);

// Read and Write:

string[] oldAuthors = file.Properties.System.Author.Value;
string oldTitle = file.Properties.System.Title.Value;

file.Properties.System.Author.Value = new string[] { "Author #1", "Author #2" };
file.Properties.System.Title.Value = "Example Title";

// Alternate way to Write:

ShellPropertyWriter propertyWriter =  file.Properties.GetPropertyWriter();
propertyWriter.WriteProperty(SystemProperties.System.Author, new string[] { "Author" });
propertyWriter.Close();

Important:

The file must be a valid one, created by the specific assigned software. Every file type has specific extended file properties and not all of them are writable.

If you right-click a file on desktop and cannot edit a property, you wont be able to edit it in code too.

Example:

• Create txt file on desktop, rename its extension to docx. You can't edit its Author or Title property.
• Open it with Word, edit and save it. Now you can.

So just make sure to use some try catch

Further Topic: MSDN: Implementing Property Handlers

Answer 2

I'm not sure what types of files you are trying to write the properties for but taglib-sharp is an excellent open source tagging library that wraps up all this functionality nicely. It has a lot of built in support for most of the popular media file types but also allows you to do more advanced tagging with pretty much any file.

EDIT: I've updated the link to taglib sharp. The old link no longer worked.

EDIT: Updated the link once again per kzu's comment.

Answer 3

This sample in VB.NET reads all extended properties:

Sub Main()
        Dim arrHeaders(35)

        Dim shell As New Shell32.Shell
        Dim objFolder As Shell32.Folder

        objFolder = shell.NameSpace("C:\tmp")

        For i = 0 To 34
            arrHeaders(i) = objFolder.GetDetailsOf(objFolder.Items, i)
        Next
        For Each strFileName In objfolder.Items
            For i = 0 To 34
                Console.WriteLine(i & vbTab & arrHeaders(i) & ": " & objfolder.GetDetailsOf(strFileName, i))
            Next
        Next

    End Sub

You have to add a reference to Microsoft Shell Controls and Automation from the COM tab of the References dialog.

Answer 4

Jerker's answer is little simpler. Here's sample code which works from MS:

var folder = new Shell().NameSpace(folderPath);
foreach (FolderItem2 item in folder.Items())
{
    var company = item.ExtendedProperty("Company");
    var author = item.ExtendedProperty("Author");
    // Etc.
}

For those who can't reference shell32 statically, you can invoke it dynamically like this:

var shellAppType = Type.GetTypeFromProgID("Shell.Application");
dynamic shellApp = Activator.CreateInstance(shellAppType);
var folder = shellApp.NameSpace(folderPath);
foreach (var item in folder.Items())
{
    var company = item.ExtendedProperty("Company");
    var author = item.ExtendedProperty("Author");
    // Etc.
}