Explorer Bands Sample

All band types have to implement the same interfaces: IOleWindow, IDockingWindow, IDeskBand, IObjectWithSite, IOWS.IPersist and IPersistStream. The diference between them is how they are registered in the system.

Since all bands implements the same interfaces you can register the same band to more than one type at the same time.

Registering the bands

To register Desktop, Vertical and Horizontal bars add the following category to the Implemented Categories key in the registry entry:

Desktop bands: {00021492-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}
Vertical bands: {00021493-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}
Horizontal bands: {00021494-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}

To register a Toolbar add a value named as the CLSID of the object to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar registry key.

Installing from Internet Explorer

To install the bands from a web page add one of the bands in the page using the <OBJECT> tag:

<OBJECT CLASSID="CLSID:59DCC49A-F862-11D3-9876-CA89CFBC2BD0"
	CODEBASE="shlbands.CAB#version=1,0,0,0">
</OBJECT>

Create the cab file using the setup wizard and add the required registry entries to the inf file inside the cab. If the bands are not installed the file will be downloaded and installed.