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Get Windows Special Folders (JNA) Tag(s): JNI/JNA


JNA (Java Native Access) provides Java programs easy access to native shared libraries (DLLs on Windows) without writing anything but Java code - no JNI or native code is required.

In this HowTo, we retrieve the path of some Windows Special Folders : Program Files, Common Documents and the Desktop.

You can get the others by using the right identifier from the constants defined in the ShlObj interface. 

import com.sun.jna.Native;
import com.sun.jna.platform.win32.Shell32;
import com.sun.jna.platform.win32.ShlObj;
import com.sun.jna.platform.win32.WinDef;

// https://github.com/twall/jna#readme
//    you need 2 jars : jna-3.5.1.jar and platform-3.5.1.jar

public class GetFolderPathDemo {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    char[] pszPath = new char[WinDef.MAX_PATH];
    Shell32.INSTANCE.SHGetFolderPath(null,
      ShlObj.CSIDL_PROGRAM_FILES, null, ShlObj.SHGFP_TYPE_CURRENT,
      pszPath);
    System.out.println(Native.toString(pszPath));
    Shell32.INSTANCE.SHGetFolderPath(null,
      ShlObj.CSIDL_DESKTOPDIRECTORY, null, ShlObj.SHGFP_TYPE_CURRENT,
      pszPath);
    System.out.println(Native.toString(pszPath));
    Shell32.INSTANCE.SHGetFolderPath(null,
      ShlObj.CSIDL_COMMON_DOCUMENTS, null, ShlObj.SHGFP_TYPE_CURRENT,
      pszPath);
    System.out.println(Native.toString(pszPath));

    /*
     * output :
     * C:\Program Files
     * C:\Users\Real_User\Desktop
     * C:\Users\Public\Documents
     */
    }
}
See also : 1, 2 and 3
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