ShellTreeView displays the shell namespace of Windows in a tree, which looks and behaves exactly like the left pane of the Windows Explorer. When the user right clicks on a folder, it will automatically show the shell context menu. ShellTreeView is derived from the TreeView control, so it is easy to use the ShellTreeView if you already familiar with the TreeView control. The tree can be rooted at any folder, including special folders like the Control Panel. You can synchronize it with other ShellBrowser controls using the ShellControlConnector control. With the linked ShellControlConnector it is also possible to use checkboxes in the ShellTreeView. The look and behaviour of the control is highly customizable.

ShellListView displays the contents of a folder in a list, which looks and behaves exactly like the right pane of the Windows Explorer. You can switch between the view styles Details, Small Icons, Large Icons, List and Thumbnails. Every thumbnail of an image is loaded in its own thread. As you see in the right screenshot, it is also possible to use a background image in the ShellListView. Needless to say, that the features of the ShelltreeView described above are also implemented in the ShellListView.

ShellComboBox behaves like a combo box in the Windows Explorer. Usually you will just drop this component on a form and assign its ShellLink property to a ShellControlConnector, everything else will be done automatically by the ShellBrowser Components.

ThumbnailImage displays a thumbnail image of a file or folder. The image is extracted by using the same API calls that the Windows Explorer uses, so the result is similar and any installed Shell Extensions are used automatically. You may either set the Path property to set a path to a file or folder for which the thumbnail image should be displayed. Or you may synchronize it to a ShellListView or ShellTreeView using the ShellControlConnector property. The size of the thumbnail image will be adjusted automatically to fit the current size of the control.

ShellControlConnector is a non visual control, which is able to synchronize several of the visual shell controls ShellTreeView, ShellListView and ThumbnailImage. Just drop a ShellControlConnector control to this form and assign the ShellLink property of all shell controls to the ShellControlConnector control. You can refresh all connected shell controls by using the FulllRefresh method. You can disable a ShellControlConnector control temporarily by using the Enabled property. If you want to use CheckBoxes in a ShellTreeView or ShellListView, that must be connected to a ShellControlConnector. The ShellControlConnector will synchronize the selected files and folder in the different shell controls.

PathEdit is a control that allows the user to enter a path or to browse for it. The user can open a drowse dialog by pressing the button on the right. Use the Path property to set a default path or the get the path that the user has finally chosen. Use The FolderMode property to define if the user should enter / browse for a path to a file or a folder.

ShellBrowser is an invisible control. The property Folder contains the path of the current folder, ObjectName contains the name of the current object. Use the method Next to enumerate the objects in the current folder. IconNumber contains the number of the corresponding icon of the current object in the system icon list. The method ShowContextMenu shows the context menu of the current object at a given point. InvokeContextMenuCommand will execute a command of the context menu, for example 'properties', 'default' or 'delete'. Use IsFolder to check if the current object is a folder.

Use ShellChangeNotifier to get informations about changes in the file system (copy, move or delete operations) and other changes relevant for shell operations. The Directory property decides which part of the shell namespace will be watched for changes.