How would you convert any document into a preview image?

Question

I use .NET and am looking for a way to convert almost any document into a preview image. I say any, but the priorities are Office documents, PDFs and most image files.

I would suggest that I can somehow use the capabilities of Windows Explorer to preview documents ... but I do not know how to do this.

What would you do?

Answer 1

In Windows Vista, you can use the preview API to either write a preview handler or use the preview handler to display a preview in your expression. The link contains code that shows you how to do this. Here's an example of a Photoshop preview handler that also contains some background information that might be helpful.

Finally, here is an example that C # uses . This is a WPF application that uses the C # COMStream to get preview data from a preview handler (which is an unmanaged COM object).