winapi - ShellExecute Command doesn't work properly in win10

Question

I m trying to open a file using shellexecute command my code is

ShellExecute(NULL,NULL,itemPath,NULL,NULL,SW_SHOW); 

or

ShellExecute(NULL,L"open",itemPath,NULL,NULL,SW_SHOW); 

I have used both ways but when I m giving path of a folder it opens a folder but when I m giving a full specified path of a file it doesn't work. one thing more if I m giving a hardcode path like for example

ShellExecute(NULL,L"open",L"E:\abc.xlsx",NULL,NULL,SW_SHOW);

than it opens this file. can any one explain why it is happening.

Answer 1

ShellExecute works correctly, and the defect can be found in your code. The only explanation that makes sense is that itemPath is not what you think it is. If it were indeed a pointer to null-terminated character array containing L"E:\abc.xlsx" then ShellExecute would behave as you expect.

You can debug the problem by inspecting the content of itemPath to find out what it really contains. Were you to have provided an MCVE then we could have been more specific in the diagnosis of the problem.

Finally, ShellExecute is deprecated, largely because it provides no good means of reporting failure conditions. You should use ShellExecuteEx instead.