One thing I have been looking at recently is how to access the Users Internet Explorer Favorites.

I managed to find two resources somewhere, one was c# to find the favorites and the other was VB.Net code which parse the *.Url file.

I have the code below (tv is a Tree view on a form):

...DirectoryInfo di = new DirectoryInfo( System.Environment.GetFolderPath(  Environment.SpecialFolder.Favorites ));EnumerateFavorites(di);...

The above code will get the directory information about a users Favorites. The Static vairable "Environment.SpecialFolder" contains some other very usefull locations. My Computer, My Network etc.... I think :)

private void EnumerateFavorites(DirectoryInfo dii){    tv.Nodes.Add(dii.FullName);    int i = tv.Nodes.Count-1;    foreach(DirectoryInfo dI in dii.GetDirectories())    {                 EnumerateFavorites(dI);    }    foreach(FileInfo fi in dii.GetFiles())    {        string URL = GetUrlFromLinkFile(fi.FullName);        tv.Nodes[i].Nodes.Add(URL);         }}private string GetUrlFromLinkFile(string file){    StreamReader sr = null;    string content;    if(!file.EndsWith('.url'))        return '';     try    {        sr = new StreamReader(file);        content = sr.ReadToEnd();    }    finally    {        if(sr != null)            sr.Close();    }    if(content.Length == 0)        return '';    int startI = content.IndexOf('URL=');    if(startI == -1)        return '';    startI += 4;    int endI = content.IndexOf(    Environment.NewLine, startI + 1);    return content.Substring(startI, endI -startI);}

What appears above is code that will Recursivly iterate into any Folders that the user has defined for their Favorites. Some futher code will also parse the .URL.

The *.URL file is a basic text file (much like the AutoRun.inf file). One line starts URL=kinlan.co.uk etc. The function GetUrlFromLinkFile, parse this information and returns it as a string.

If I find the resources where I got this from I will give the credit where it is due.

One thing that is not available in the *.URL is the text that appears in the Internet Explorer Favorites menu. For example [www.microsoft.com](http://www.microsoft.com) might appear as "Microsoft" in the Favorite menu. If anyone knows how to do this in c# let me know (I would be greatful). I have a feeling that it might be something to do with IShellLink, but I am not too sure, nor am I any good with Interop [at the moment, I will have to learn]

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