Unsure of how to proceed -- Windows Explorer plugin/add-in.

[-Lost]

Unsure of how to proceed -- Windows Explorer plugin/add-in.

I want to develop a Windows Explorer add-in that adds an additional
listing to the "Views" button and then modify the "contents" of the
current folder being displayed.

What should I be researching to get this solution rolling? A specific
control, hook, the Win32 API directly... ?

Thanks!

--
-Lost
Remove the extra words to reply by e-mail. Don't e-mail me. I am
kidding. No I am not.

[-Lost]

Re: Unsure of how to proceed -- Windows Explorer plugin/add-in.

Response to "-Lost" <maventheextraw ords@techie.com >:

Unsure of how to proceed -- Windows Explorer plugin/add-in.
>
I want to develop a Windows Explorer add-in that adds an
additional listing to the "Views" button and then modify the
"contents" of the current folder being displayed.
>
What should I be researching to get this solution rolling? A
specific control, hook, the Win32 API directly... ?

It appears a COM application written in unmanaged C/C++ may be a
viable solution -- heck, from the information I've found it appears
it may be the only solution.

Trying to write an "in-process" shell extensions/handlers creates CLR
dependencies and race cases where the host process tries to load the
CLR version it requires.

"Since only one version of the CLR can be loaded per process, it
becomes a race to see who gets to load the CLR first and establish
the version that the process runs, and everybody else who wanted some
other version loses." - [URL:
http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2006/12/18/1317290.aspx ]

Is this still the case? Is an unmanaged COM extension the only way?
Could it be written in C# as opposed to C++? Why/why not? Is it
possible to NOT inject the CLR into all running processes?

Thanks so much for any and all advice!

--
-Lost
Remove the extra words to reply by e-mail. Don't e-mail me. I am
kidding. No I am not.