July 5th, 2019

I set the OFN_NONETWORKBUTTON option in the OPENFILENAME structure, but it has no effect on the network item in the navigation pane

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

A customer set the OFN_NO­NETWORK­BUTTON option in the OPEN­FILE­NAME structure, but it stil shows the Network item in the navigation pane.

There are a number of flags in the OPEN­FILE­NAME structure which harken back to the old Windows 3.1-style dialog box. In Windows 3.1, the Open dialog had a button labeled Network that appeared next to the drives combo box. Clicking it let you map a new network drive. The OFN_NO­NETWORK­BUTTON flag hides that button.

But if you’re using the new Explorer-style Open dialog, there is no Network button to begin with, so there’s no button to hide.

While it’s true that there is a Network item in the navigation pane, that is not the thing that the OFN_NO­NETWORK­BUTTON flag controls. The purpose of the flag was not to hide the network; it was merely to hide the button that lets you map a new network drive. And since the Explorer-style dialog doesn’t have such a button in the first place, the flag is redundant.

There’s another flag left over from the Windows 3.1 dialog: OFN_HIDE­READ­ONLY. The original Windows 3.1 dialog had a separate check box called Read-only, but the Explorer style dialog doesn’t have that check box. Instead, the Open button is a split button, with options Open and Open as read-only. In this case, the Open dialog box was able to map the old flag to a corresponding feature in the new dialog.

 

Category
Old New Thing
Topics
Code

Author

Raymond Chen

Raymond has been involved in the evolution of Windows for more than 30 years. In 2003, he began a Web site known as The Old New Thing which has grown in popularity far beyond his wildest imagination, a development which still gives him the heebie-jeebies. The Web site spawned a book, coincidentally also titled The Old New Thing (Addison Wesley 2007). He occasionally appears on the Windows Dev Docs Twitter account to tell stories which convey no useful information.

4 comments

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  • David Walker

    It’s *convenient* to be able to map a network drive from these dialog boxes!

    • smf

      Can we also have a button that launces the calculator there? I might want to do some maths when opening a file.

      • W S

        Hardly a relevant comparison, the Calculator can be started from the start menu in seconds while mapping a drive could be annoying if UAC/RunAs has been used on the running app and the mapped drives are not the same as your main Explorer shell.

  • W S

    The split-button is a Vista thing, the Windows 95 style dialog also has a checkbox control.

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