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A displayed entry in the Win10 music library includes the file name, the contributing artist, the album name, the track number, and the song title. I know how to get the file name in Visual Basic using the directory.getfiles method. Is there any way to get the other fields programmatically as well?

user3111176
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1 Answers1

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This could be done adding a reference to the "Microsoft Shell Controls and Automation" from the COM tab in the project references.

After adding the reference you will be able to instantiate a Shell object

Dim info As List(Of String) = New List(Of String)
Dim shell As Shell32.Shell = New Shell32.Shell()

' Path to the MyMusic folder
Dim musicPath = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.MyMusic)
Dim musicFolder As Shell32.Folder = shell.NameSpace(musicPath)

At this point you will be able to query each item in that folder and ask for their extended properties

For Each item As Shell32.FolderItem2 In musicFolder.Items()
    ' Title
    Console.WriteLine($"Title: {musicFolder.GetDetailsOf(item, 21)}")
    ' Author
    Console.WriteLine($"Author: {musicFolder.GetDetailsOf(item, 20)}")
    ' Album
    Console.WriteLine($"Album: {musicFolder.GetDetailsOf(item, 14)}")
    ' Artist
    Console.WriteLine($"Part.: {musicFolder.GetDetailsOf(item, 13)}")
    ' Track
    Console.WriteLine($"Track.: {musicFolder.GetDetailsOf(item, 26)}")
    ' Duration
    Console.WriteLine($"Length: {musicFolder.GetDetailsOf(item, 27)}")
    ' Bits
    Console.WriteLine($"Bits: {musicFolder.GetDetailsOf(item, 28)}")
    Console.WriteLine()
Next

And for a description of those magic numbers in the call to GetDetailsOf you can take a look at this question: What options are available for Shell32.Folder.GetDetailsOf

Steve
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  • Steve, your answer worked just fine for music that is directly in the top folder, e.g., "my music\song file. Can this be made to work for music in sub-folders, e.g.,my music\sub-folder\song file? – user3111176 May 03 '21 at 19:11
  • You just need to change the line where _musicPath_ is defined. You can use [Path.Combine](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.io.path.combine?view=net-5.0) to add your specific folder to the base for the MyMusic folder returned by Environment.GetFolderPath. Of course if you need to recurse on every folder then you need a solution that give you a recursive examination of each folder. You can find many examples here or on the net – Steve May 03 '21 at 19:18