How To Determine File Type from Registered CLSID

MORE INFORMATION

The CLSID for a product or component can be found in the Windows Registry under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT. For example:

The following example creates a Visual Basic project that shows how to retrieve and use the CLSID associated with a given file. Constants are only defined for two versions of Microsoft Excel and two versions of Microsoft Word to demonstrate this technique. This example can be modified to work for any file format with a unique CLSID associated with it.

NOTE: In order to identify a file on a given system, the appropriate CLSID must be registered on the system running this code. Also, this sample does not include any error trapping, which should be added for any production use of this technique.

Step-by-Step Example

1. Start a new Standard EXE project. Form1 is created by default.
2. Add a Command button, a TextBox, and two Labels to Form1.
3. Copy the following code into the Form's module:

         Private Sub Command1_Click()
         Dim FileCLSID As String
   
         FileCLSID = GetCLSID(Text1.Text)
         Label2.Caption = FileCLSID
         Select Case FileCLSID
           Case EXCEL97
             Label1.Caption = "Excel 97"
           Case EXCEL95
             Label1.Caption = "Excel 95"
           Case WORD97
             Label1.Caption = "Word 97"
           Case WORD95
             Label1.Caption = "Word 95"
           Case Else
             Label1.Caption = "Unknown File Version"
         End Select
         End Sub
   
         Private Sub Form_Load()
                    Label1.AutoSize = True
                    Label2.AutoSize = True
               End Sub
   
   						

4. Add a Module to the project. In Visual Basic 4, choose "Module" from the "Insert" menu. In later versions of Visual Basic, choose "Add Module" from the "Project" menu.
5. Copy the following code into Module1:

         Type GUID
           B(16) As Byte
         End Type
   
         Declare Function GetClassFile Lib "Ole32.DLL" (ByVal lpszFileName _
         As String, ByRef pclsid As GUID) As Long
   
         Declare Function StringFromGUID2 Lib "Ole32.DLL" (ByRef rguid _
         As GUID, ByVal lpsz As String, ByVal cbMax As Long) As Long
   
         Public Const EXCEL97 As String = _
            "{00020820-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}"
         Public Const EXCEL95 As String = _
            "{00020810-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}"
         Public Const WORD97 As String = _
            "{00020906-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}"
         Public Const WORD95 As String = _
            "{00020900-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}"
   
         Function GetCLSID(FileName As String) As String
            Dim g As GUID
            Dim RetVal As Long
            Dim strGUID As String
   
            RetVal = GetClassFile(StrConv(FileName, vbUnicode), g)
            strGUID = Space(255)
            RetVal = StringFromGUID2(g, strGUID, 255)
            strGUID = StrConv(strGUID, vbFromUnicode)
            If (InStr(strGUID, Chr(0)) > 0) Then
               strGUID = Left(strGUID, InStr(strGUID, Chr(0)) - 1)
            End If
            GetCLSID = strGUID
         End Function
   
   						

6. Run the project and enter a path and filename for a Word 97 or Word 95 document, or an Excel 97 or Excel 95 Worksheet into Text1. Click on Command1 and the type of file will be displayed in Label1 and the actual CLSID will be displayed in Label2.