PRB: ShellExecuteEx Limits URL to MAX_PATH (263909)

RESOLUTION

This problem can be overcome by creating a temporary Internet shortcut file that contains the long URL and passing the Internet shortcut file to ShellExecute or ShellExecuteEx. After calling ShellExecute or ShellExecuteEx, this file can safely be deleted.

Code such as the following can be used to create an Internet shortcut file:

#include <windows.h>
#include <shlobj.h>
#include <intshcut.h>

/**************************************************************************

   CreateInternetShortcut()

   pszShortcut - Path and file name of the Internet shortcut file. This 
   must have the URL extension for the shortcut to be used correctly.

   pszURL - URL to be stored in the Internet shortcut file.
   
**************************************************************************/ 

HRESULT CreateInternetShortcut(LPTSTR pszShortcut, LPTSTR pszURL)
{
IUniformResourceLocator *purl;
HRESULT                 hr; 

hr = CoInitialize(NULL);

if(SUCCEEDED(hr)) 
   { 
   //Get a pointer to the IShellLink interface. 
   hr = CoCreateInstance(  CLSID_InternetShortcut, 
                           NULL, 
                           CLSCTX_INPROC_SERVER, 
                           IID_IUniformResourceLocator, 
                           (LPVOID*)&purl); 
   
   if(SUCCEEDED(hr)) 
      { 
      IPersistFile* ppf;

      hr = purl->QueryInterface(IID_IPersistFile, (LPVOID*)&ppf);

      if(SUCCEEDED(hr)) 
         {
         hr = purl->SetURL(pszURL, 0);

         if(SUCCEEDED(hr))
            {
            WCHAR wszShortcut[MAX_PATH];

#ifdef UNICODE
            lstrcpyn(wszShortcut, pszShortcut, MAX_PATH);
#else
            MultiByteToWideChar( CP_ACP, 
                                 0, 
                                 pszShortcut, 
                                 -1, 
                                 wszShortcut, 
                                 MAX_PATH); 
#endif

            hr = ppf->Save(wszShortcut, FALSE);
            }
           
         ppf->Release(); 
         }
       
       purl->Release(); 
       }

   CoUninitialize();
   }

return hr;
}