Project Description
PowerExt can display assembly version, assembly name, public key, strong name etc in Windows Explorer. It's a Windows Explorer extension written in C++. For .NET Assemblies (.dll and .exe files) it adds an additional .NET tab to the Windows Explorer's File Properties dialog.

v1.0 (Alpha 4) released (7th April 2011)
Release notes:
1. Fixed a file locking issue in Windows Explorer
2. Both 32bit (x86) and 64bit (x64) installer packages are included in the latest download

Please send your feedback, bug reports and comments to: powerext at relogged dot net

Installers
PowerExt is packaged in a simple MSI installer. There are builds for both x86 and x64 editions of Windows in the zip file available for download. The x64 build is tested on 64bit Windows 7 with .NET 3.5 SP1 and x86 build is tested with Windows XP .NET 3.5 SP1.

Screenshot
Screenshot.png

Requirements
  • Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 Redistributable is required. Chances are you already have this on you machine. You can always download it from Microsoft's download center: x86 or x64.
  • .NET Framework - Although PowerExt itself doesn't use any managed code the unmanaged APIs that it uses are installed by .NET Framework so you will need a version of .NET Framework.

Troubleshooting
  • Module C:\Program Files\PowerExt\PowerExt.dll failed to register. HRESULT -2147010895. Contact your support personnel. - If you get this error then you need to install Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 Redistributable
  • If you are using 64-bit version of Windows 7 and after installing PowerExt you don't see the .NET tab in the File Properties dialog then you might have installed the 32-bit (x86) build. Uninstall the 32-bit build and install the 64-bit build from the releases page.

Files
  • PowerExt.dll - The main add-in or extension dll
  • DnaInfo.exe - .NET Assembly Info (Diagnostics tool)

How does it work?
PowerExt is a ATL COM component. It registers itself as property sheet handlers for .DLL and .EXE files with Windows Explorer. When a user right-clicks on a DLL or EXE file within Windows Explorer window and selects Properties, the extension will try to determine if the selected file is a .NET assembly or not. If the file is a .NET assembly then you will see a new .NET tab next to the General tab. The .NET tab displays information such as assembly name, assembly version, assembly strong name, public key token and the public key. This information is particularly useful for programmers working with different versions of the same assembly. Without PowerExt, this information isn't displayed by Windows Explorer in Vista or Windows 7.

License
  • PowerExt is licensed under the new BSD license.

Limitations
  • Being a new project this extension hasn't been tested thoroughly yet
  • Might not be able to identify some .NET assemblies
  • On some machines the extension isn't able to register the property sheet handlers and as a result you might not see the .NET tab

Tips
  • In Windows Explorer select a file and hit Alt+Enter to bring up the File Properties dialog

Last edited Apr 7, 2011 at 7:39 PM by relogged, version 42