Toolbar Separators with Explorer Patcher

nonameneeded
Regular Member

Posts: 359

Toolbar Separators with Explorer Patcher Mar 21, 2024 18:16:30 GMT -8

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Post by nonameneeded on Mar 21, 2024 18:16:30 GMT -8

I wonder how and if it's possible to get the toolbar separators when you use Explorer Patcher to disable the (Windows 7) navigation bar.

By the toolbar separators I mean these separator lines that you find (in older versions of Windows) between the menu bar, the actual toolbar and the address bar.

I know that there is the Windhawk mod "Classic Theme Explorer" which kind of replicates the EP functions AND which provides the "bar borders" and it actually works.
UNLESS you use EP to disable the navigation bar.

So it's either EP to disable the navigation bar OR the Windhawk mod, you can't combine the two.

So, what's the problem you might ask.

The problem is that the Windhawk mod is less reliable (sometimes the navigation bar WILL show even if it's disabled) and much slower especially if the bar borders option is enabled.

So I wanted to see if it's possible to use the "hide navigation bar" option in EP and the bar borders option in the Windhawk mod, but one option excludes the other and vice versa. So it's not possible, which is a shame since it would be nice to have a more reliable "hide navigation bar" option PLUS the separator lines.

Cynosphere
Freshman Member

Posts: 46

OS: Windows 10 Home 22H2
Theme: Classic (Scheme: Amora Focus)
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
RAM: 32 GB
GPU: AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT

Toolbar Separators with Explorer Patcher Mar 22, 2024 16:08:19 GMT -8

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Post by Cynosphere on Mar 22, 2024 16:08:19 GMT -8

I split those features of Classic Theme Explorer and rewrote them from scratch which they can be found in this thread. The old method was slow because it iterated over every element in the window, the new method instead hooks the method that creates the toolbars to set the properties as needed.

As far as unreliability, I don't have any issues with it outside of on startup and control panel. I tried to use Aerexplorer's forced control panel mode with adding svchost to the allowed injections list, but ended up with explorer crashing on startup.

It would be neat to have something that de-elevates control panel explorer processes from svchost, but I know I'm the only person here that has paranoia about things breaking when allowing things to inject into every process.

nonameneeded
Regular Member

Posts: 359

Toolbar Separators with Explorer Patcher Mar 22, 2024 17:00:01 GMT -8

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Post by nonameneeded on Mar 22, 2024 17:00:01 GMT -8

Even though your mods work just fine, they cause the same problem as the EP method did a while ago (because they fixed it...)

When you open a window everything normally looks fine but when you open it indirectly the navigation bar will not be hidden.
What do I mean by indirectly, you might ask?
So I have this batch file which imports a registry file to enable thumbnail view, then it opens a Explorer window (and then it disables thumbnail view again, but that has nothing to do with it).

It looks like this:
@echo off

reg import "F:\Eigene Dateien\reg\MiniaturansichtWIn7.reg"
%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe "F:\Eigene Dateien\Neuer Ordner (2)"
timeout 2
reg import "F:\Eigene Dateien\reg\MiniaturansichtAusWIndows7.reg"

So first it imports the registry file and then it opens the Explorer window kind of "indirectly", it takes a little longer than just double clicking on the folder icon.
And in such a case, the navigation bar will not be hidden, maybe because the command to hide it is released to early, before the window actually opens or I don't know.

It might also happen when you right click on a shortcut and choose to open the target path in a Explorer window (but it's not as likely).

~~This problem was addressed in EP at some point but the problem with EP is that none of the methods to create those separator bars will work, when you disable the navigation bar via EP.~~

Edit:
Oh wait!
Your mod to create the separator lines actually DOES work together with EP!
So this DOES seem to solve the problem!

Thx a lot!

(but I'll leave everything I wrote above anyway, might be interesting for others who've stumbled upon the same problem)

Last Edit: Mar 22, 2024 17:06:37 GMT -8 by nonameneeded

nonameneeded
Regular Member

Posts: 359

Toolbar Separators with Explorer Patcher Mar 22, 2024 17:03:55 GMT -8

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Post by nonameneeded on Mar 22, 2024 17:03:55 GMT -8

Mar 22, 2024 16:08:19 GMT -8 Cynosphere said:

but I know I'm the only person here that has paranoia about things breaking when allowing things to inject into every process.

No, you're not.

I also try to avoid as many injections as possible.

It makes sense because injecting code into hundreds of processes might cause a huge number of problems.

nonameneeded
Regular Member

Posts: 359

Toolbar Separators with Explorer Patcher Mar 22, 2024 19:56:25 GMT -8

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Post by nonameneeded on Mar 22, 2024 19:56:25 GMT -8

I hate to say this but I found a little problem with your "Classic Explorer Toolbar" mod:
It adds separator lines to the taskbar as well...

Do you think this could be fixed?

The thing is, if you turn the mod on, it will immediately create the separator lines in Explorer windows. The taskbar remains untouched.

Only when you restart Explorer will it also draw the lines on the taskbar.

Do you think there is any way to prevent that?

Maybe something like a delay?
So that the mod waits for like 10 seconds after the Windows desktop has finished loading before the mod is used or something?

Last Edit: Mar 22, 2024 20:07:06 GMT -8 by nonameneeded

nonameneeded
Regular Member

Posts: 359

Toolbar Separators with Explorer Patcher Mar 22, 2024 20:59:18 GMT -8

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Post by nonameneeded on Mar 22, 2024 20:59:18 GMT -8

I asked ChatGPT how to add a short delay and it seems to work.

10 seconds isn't necessary, it's actually enough to use 100 milliseconds.

Edit: Well maybe 1 second (1000 milliseconds) is better.

Sometimes 100 milliseconds is enough, sometimes it isn't, same goes for 500 milliseconds but 1 second seems to work fine.

// ==WindhawkMod==
// @id              classic-explorer-toolbars-fork
// name             Classic Explorer Toolbars - Fork
// @description     Restyles Explorer toolbars to fit in with classic theme
// @version         0.1
// @author          Cynosphere
// @github          github.com/Cynosphere
// @homepage        c7.pm
// @include         explorer.exe
// @compileroptions -lcomdlg32
// ==/WindhawkMod==

// ==WindhawkModReadme==
/*
# Classic Explorer Toolbars
*/
// ==/WindhawkModReadme==

#include <windhawk_utils.h>
#include <windows.h> // Include this header for Sleep function

#ifdef _WIN64
#   define THISCALL  __cdecl
#   define STHISCALL L"__cdecl"
#else
#   define THISCALL  __thiscall
#   define STHISCALL L"__thiscall"
#endif

typedef long (THISCALL *BandSite__Initialize_t)(int* pThis, HWND hWnd);
BandSite__Initialize_t CBandSite__Initialize_orig;
long THISCALL CBandSite__Initialize_hook(int* pThis, HWND hWnd) {
    long ret = CBandSite__Initialize_orig(pThis, hWnd);

    // FIXME: pointer math bad!
    HWND barHwnd = *((HWND *)pThis + 17);

    if (barHwnd) {

        LONG style = GetWindowLongPtrW(barHwnd, GWL_STYLE);
        style |= RBS_BANDBORDERS;
        style |= WS_BORDER;
        SetWindowLongPtrW(barHwnd, GWL_STYLE, style);
    }

    return ret;
}

BOOL Wh_ModInit() {
       // Introduce a delay of 10 seconds
    Sleep(100); // Sleep for 10 seconds (10000 milliseconds)
    
    HMODULE hExplorerFrame = LoadLibraryW(L"ExplorerFrame.dll");
    if (!hExplorerFrame)
    {
        Wh_Log(L"Failed to load ExplorerFrame.dll");
        return FALSE;
    }

    const WindhawkUtils::SYMBOL_HOOK hooks[] = {
        {
            {
                L"protected: virtual long "
                STHISCALL
                L" CBandSite::_Initialize(struct HWND__ *)"
            },
            &CBandSite__Initialize_orig,
            CBandSite__Initialize_hook,
            false
        }
    };

    if (!WindhawkUtils::HookSymbols(
        hExplorerFrame,
        hooks,
        ARRAYSIZE(hooks)
    ))
    {
        Wh_Log(L"Failed to hook CBandSite::_Initialize");
        return FALSE;
    }

    return TRUE;
}

Last Edit: Mar 22, 2024 21:40:32 GMT -8 by nonameneeded

Cynosphere
Freshman Member

Posts: 46

OS: Windows 10 Home 22H2
Theme: Classic (Scheme: Amora Focus)
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
RAM: 32 GB
GPU: AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT

Toolbar Separators with Explorer Patcher Mar 24, 2024 13:29:04 GMT -8

Quote

Post by Cynosphere on Mar 24, 2024 13:29:04 GMT -8

Mar 22, 2024 19:56:25 GMT -8 nonameneeded said:

I hate to say this but I found a little problem with your "Classic Explorer Toolbar" mod:
It adds separator lines to the taskbar as well...

View Attachment

Do you think this could be fixed?

The thing is, if you turn the mod on, it will immediately create the separator lines in Explorer windows. The taskbar remains untouched.

Only when you restart Explorer will it also draw the lines on the taskbar.

Do you think there is any way to prevent that?

Maybe something like a delay?
So that the mod waits for like 10 seconds after the Windows desktop has finished loading before the mod is used or something?

It was already fixed, I don't know where you got the first version of the mod from when the thread has the updated version.

nonameneeded
Regular Member

Posts: 359

Toolbar Separators with Explorer Patcher Mar 24, 2024 13:59:09 GMT -8

Quote

Post by nonameneeded on Mar 24, 2024 13:59:09 GMT -8

I had the updated version but the problem would still occur

Now with this little delay it seems to be fixed.

Maybe it didn't occur on Windows 10 (after you fixed it) but still occurs on Windows 11?
I don't know.

Last Edit: Mar 24, 2024 14:00:19 GMT -8 by nonameneeded