Hello shell experts!

I'd like to know if there is a way for 3rd party apps to be aware of Explorer's search results.

Here is the scenario: a user types some pattern in an Explorer window's search box, say abc*.jpg. The shell displays all the jpegs beginning with abc in the folder, presumably a subset of all the files in there. The user double-clicks one of the image and the associated viewer launches.

From there, is there a way for the just launched app to either retrieve the search pattern (or the search result list) from the Explorer window from which the app was launched, so it can show only the files that matched the search criteria and not all the jpegs in the folder?

I understand that I coud use the Search API (ISearchDesktop) to re-do the search from within the application, but could I retrieve the search pattern typed by the user in Explorer?

I hope the question makes sense.

Thanks,

Axel

hmm...could you clarify the scenario?

 we provide a mechnism for applictions to show search results within the context of their application. they can show a seach box and seach the system index just like the shell can. does this help?

 let me know and i can give you some links to some docs on how to do this.