Using GetTempFileName, we can create a unique name for temporary file. It’s useful when your application is using temporary files and you want to save them into default TEMP folder and use a “random” filename.

To get full path to application associated with any file type, we need standard ShellAPI unit and the rest will do the FindExecutable function.

To search for a specific substring within any type of file, we can use this rather complex function.

This short tip will show you how to delete file to Recycle Bin. We need ShellAPI unit and the rest is very simple.

With this simple function, you will be able to get volume serial number and label. It could be either hard disk partition or CD/DVD disk.

Using this simple function, you will be able to read version information from any application executable. It’s very useful for example to show your own application version on title bar or “About” dialog.

One of the most effective method to check if the file is ok is to calculate CRC32 checksum and compare it with previously saved value. Using CRC check, you can also compare two files, verify downloaded files etc…

The length of whole path and file name could be too long to show it in title bar of application or some label. Solution? Show shortened version of a filename using dots instead of folders.

Using ShlObj unit and SHGetSpecialFolderLocation Windows API function, we can retrieve the location of a special folders, such as My computer, Desktop, Program Files etc… There are over 20 special folder locations.

Using ShellAPI unit and few lines of code, we can load directory structure into ListView and show associated icons and information for each file.