The Exontrol eXFolderView component offers a folder list view that closely resembles the left pane of Windows Explorer. It allows you to easily display a folder hierarchy to users with customizable features like checkboxes, buttons, and separator lines between folders. Designed to work seamlessly with Exontrol's eXShellView, eXFolderView can be part of applications providing full or limited Explorer-like functionality. It also includes a comprehensive set of events, giving you full control over user interactions such as selecting and clicking folders. Additionally, eXFolderView exposes a Folders collection containing Folder objects with useful properties like PathName, ShareName, and
DisplayName.
note The eXShellView
and eXFolderView controls bring full Windows Explorer functionality - with the same appearance and behavior as the native Explorer - directly into your forms. The key difference between
eXFileView
and these controls is that eXFileView allows you to customize groups of files or folders with specific colors, fonts, or icons. In contrast, eXShellView and eXFolderView leverage the Windows system itself to create the views, ensuring the look and feel exactly match what you experience in Windows Explorer.
Features include:
1. File System Integration
- Allows browsing and navigating the shell namespace (My Computer, Desktop, folders, etc.)
- Can explore and display the file system structure
- Supports both files and folders view
- Automatically updates when the contents of a folder change (shell notifications)
2. User Interaction
- Supports drag and drop (including OLE drag and drop)
- Supports context menus similar to Windows Explorer
- Supports multiple item selection
- Incremental search support
- Mouse and keyboard navigation
3. Customization & Appearance
- Skinnable interface support (ability to apply a skin to any background part)
- Supports custom views with thumbnails, tiles, icons, list, and details
- Ability to assign different icons or overlay icons to folders/files
- Customizable background and item appearance
4. Integration & Extensibility
- Can be used as a drop-in replacement for standard Shell controls
- Exposes properties and methods to customize and control behavior
- Can be embedded in other components (like tree views, split views)
5. Performance & Behavior
- High-performance file system browsing
- Efficient and fast directory enumeration
- Supports filtering of file types or folder names
The control supports the following properties and methods:
| | Name | Description | |
| | AllowDropFiles | Indicates if the control accepts dropping files. | |
| | Appearance | Returns or sets a value that determines the appearance of the object. | |
| | AttachTemplate | Attaches a script to the current object, including the events, from a string, file, a safe array of bytes. | |
| | AutoUpdate | Retrieves or sets a value indicating whether the control refreshes its content when a shell object was changed, moved, or renamed. | |
| | BackColor | Specifies the control's background color. | |
| | BorderStyle | Retrieves or sets the border style of the control. | |
| | CanRename | Retrieves or sets a value indicating whether the control add Rename context menu. | |
| | DisplayShareName | Indicating whether the control displays the share folder name. | |
| | DropFilesCount | Retrieves the count of dropped files. | |
| | DropFilesPathName | Retrieves the dropped files given an index. | |
| | Enabled | Returns or sets a value that determines whether a control can respond to user-generated events. | |
| | EnableShellMenu | Enables or disables the control's context menu. | |
| | EnsureVisible | Ensures a specified ExShellFolder object , path or special folder is visible. | |
| | EventParam | Retrieves or sets a value that indicates the current's event parameter. | |
| | ExecuteTemplate | Executes a template and returns the result. | |
| | ExploreFromHere | Retrieves or sets a path that indicates the root folder used to display the hierarchy. | |
| | FirstVisibleFolder | Retrieves or sets the first visible folder. | |
| | FolderFromPoint | Retrieves the ExShellFolder object from the point. | |
| | FoldersCheck | Gets a collection of folders being checked. | |
| | Font | Determines the Font object associated to the control | |
| | ForeColor | Specifies the control's foreground color. | |
| | HasButtons | Adds a (+/-) button to the left side of each parent item | |
| | HasCheckBoxes | Retrieves or sets a value indicating whether the folder has associated a checkbox. | |
| | HasLines | Enhances the graphic representation of a tree control's hierarchy by drawing lines that link child items to their corresponding parent item. | |
| | HasLinesAtRoot | Link items at the root of the hierarchy. | |
| | HiddenFolders | Retrieves or sets a value indicating whether the control displays the hidden folders. | |
| | HideSelection | Returns a value that determines whether selected item appears highlighted when a control loses the focus. | |
| | HorizontalHeight | Retrieves the width of the height scroll bar. | |
| | HorizontalOffset | Indicates the horizontal scroll position. | |
| | HorizontalOversize | Indicates the horizontal oversize value. | |
| | hwnd | Retrieves the window's handle. | |
| | IconsVisible | Determines if the control displays the icons. | |
| | IncludeAttributeMask | Retrieves or sets a value that determines the attribute mask used to enumerate the objects. | |
| | IncludeFolder | Retrieves or sets a value indicating whether the control fires IncludeFolder event before inserting folders to the tree. | |
| | ItemHeight | Gets or sets the height to display the folders/files of the control. | |
| | MouseIcon | This property identifies mouse icon when MousePointer is Custom. | |
| | MousePointer | Returns or sets a value indicating the type of mouse pointer displayed when the mouse is over a particular part of an object at run time. | |
| | OverlayIcons | Retrieves or sets a value indicating whether the control displays the overlay icons. | |
| | PartialCheck | Retrieves or sets a value indicating whether the control accepts partial-check feature. | |
| | Refresh | Refreshes the control. | |
| | Scrollbars | Returns value indicating whether an object has horizontal or vertical scroll bars | |
| | SelectedFolder | Retrieves or sets the selected folder. | |
| | ShellFolder | Constructs a ExShellFolder object given a path or a special folder constant. | |
| | SmallIcons | Retrieves or sets a value that indicates whether the control displays small icons or large icons. | |
| | SpecialFolderPath | Gets a path given a special folder constant. | |
| | Template | Specifies the control's template. | |
| | TemplateDef | Defines inside variables for the next Template/ExecuteTemplate call. | |
| | TemplatePut | Defines inside variables for the next Template/ExecuteTemplate call. | |
| | Version | Retrieves the version of the control. | |
| | VerticalOffset | Indicates the vertical scroll position. | |
| | VerticalOversize | Indicates the vertical oversize value. | |
| | VerticalWidth | Retrieves the width of the vertical scroll bar. | |
| | VisibleCount | Counts the visible folders. | |
