CIFS Shell Extensions

[kimmoilppola]

Hi all,
it's been some time I have posted anything on the forums but there's something I'd like to share with the community.
I have recently developed a Windows client for the Alfresco CIFS that implements a context menu.
[img]http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/5186/menud.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/1379/checkedout.jpg[/img]

The client actually knows nothing about Alfresco and the menu is generated via a webscript. So it's a one-time installation and all customizations to the menu are done server-side 

[img]http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/2857/cifsshellext.jpg[/img]

It's still just a proof of concept, the whole thing is written in C#.NET and it crashes on most computers - it should be rewritten in unmanaged C so if you can help send me email or a message throught the forums.
We are open to sharing all work with the community but need some help in the Windows development side.
Sources are available via request.

Best regards,
Kimmo Ilppola

[gronfelt]

This sounds really interesting, unfortunately I have no Windows development skills to contribute with, but I was wondering if there's some kind of project page where one could follow this project?

[benswitzer]

Hi kimmoilppola.

I like the concept very much.

I haven't written unmanaged C code in what seems like a decade or two.

Why would you not want to keep it in C#?  Seems to me that if you do, you could probably (with some re-factoring), make it fairly portable between Windows and Gnome.  Obviously speed might be one issue, but I've seen and have used managed code in this manner before.

Ben

[kimmoilppola]

Hi Ben,
you can find plenty of warnings about using managed code in shell extensions, here's one:
http://www.danielmoth.com/Blog/2006/12/managed-code-and-shell-dont.html

I'm setting up a forge project for this so you guys can pick up stuff that is already made - there's a nice list of todo's too, I'll put it in forge also. I'll let you know when the project is there.

[kimmoilppola]

Ok,
all the code is now in https://forge.alfresco.com/svn/shellext and the project setup in forge http://forge.alfresco.com/projects/shellext/
I'll try to write down the todo list ASAP..