Windows context menu - visibility of the item (if clipboard contains text)

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I work on app to copy and paste filenames. I already have a working context menu with little subapps (written in c#), but I would like to that paste options will be visible only if clipboard contains some text. How to do it? Is it possible by add something to registry?

What I have tried:

I have no idea. Keys in Windows registry below.
Registry key context menu:

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\CopyPasteFileName]
"SubCommands"="cfn;cfp;pfn;pfnne"
"icon"="C:\\Users\\KN\\Desktop\\files\\icon.ico"
"Position"="Bottom"

Paste filename keys:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CommandStore\shell\pfn]
@="Paste Filename"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CommandStore\shell\pfn\command]
@="C:\\Program Files\\CopyPasteFileName\\pfn.exe \"%1\""

Other menu items have similar keys

Posted 25-Jul-18 5:03am

ZYV0

Updated 25-Jul-18 5:34am

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2 solutions

Solution 1

See here: Clipboard.ContainsText Method (System.Windows.Forms)[^]

Posted 25-Jul-18 5:15am

OriginalGriff

Comments

Dave Kreskowiak 25-Jul-18 11:28am

I think he's just poking registry entries in to get the shell to add his apps to the context menu.

To do what I think he wants, he's going to have to write a shell extension.

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Dave Kreskowiak · Accepted Answer · 2018-07-25T05:34:00

There's nothing you can put into the registry that's going to do the whole "If there's something on the clipboard" thing. You're going to have to provide actual code for that and modify the context menu on-the-fly.

The only way to do that is to write a shell extension. This is FAR from a trivial piece of code to write. Thankfully, there's a couple series of articles here on CP that covers this, like .NET Shell Extensions - Shell Context Menus[^] and Explorer Shell Extensions in .NET (Revised)[^].