VB.Net RecycleBin is not declared

Question

I refer to this post How to retrieve the 'Deletion Date' property of an Item stored in the Recycle Bin using Windows API Code Pack?

I refer to the answer by @ElektroStudios. I am trying to run that code. My knowledge of VB.net is very little.

Imports Microsoft.WindowsAPICodePack.Shell
Imports System.Text

Public Class Form1

    Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click

        Dim RecycledFiles As ShellFile() = RecycleBin.MasterBin.Files


        Dim sb As StringBuilder
        ' Loop through the deleted Items.
        For Each Item As ShellFile In RecycledFiles

            ' Append the full name
            sb.AppendLine(Item.Name)

            ' Append the DateDeleted.
            sb.AppendLine(Item.Properties.GetProperty("DateDeleted").ValueAsObject.ToString)

            MsgBox(sb.ToString)
            sb.Clear()

        Next Item
    End Sub
End Class

However, I get a compiler error that RecycleBin is not declared. at

RecycleBin.MasterBin.Files

I am not too sure how to make this work. What is it that I am missing here? Is that a correct code ? Am I missing any Imports or any references?

I have already installed

nuget\Install-Package WindowsAPICodePack-Core

nuget\Install-Package WindowsAPICodePack-Shell

Note - I have already succeeded in accessing the RecycleBin using

SH.NameSpace(Shell32.ShellSpecialFolderConstants.ssfBITBUCKET) 

I am specifically interested in that above piece of code. Thanks

Answer 1

To get the deletion date for items in the Recycle Bin, you don't need any extra libraries, you can use the Shell Objects for Scripting and Microsoft Visual Basic library (which I understand you already found in your last sentences) and the ExtendedProperty method.

Here is some code that dumps items in the recycle bin and their deletion date:

Sub Main()

    Dim shell = Activator.CreateInstance(Type.GetTypeFromProgID("Shell.Application"))
    Const ssfBITBUCKET As Integer = 10
    Dim folder = shell.Namespace(ssfBITBUCKET)

    For Each item In folder.Items
        ' dump some standard properties
        Console.WriteLine(item.Path)
        Console.WriteLine(item.ModifyDate)

        ' dump extended properties (note they are typed, here as a Date)
        Dim dd As Date = item.ExtendedProperty("DateDeleted")
        Console.WriteLine(dd)

        ' same but using the "canonical name"
        ' see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/propsys/nf-propsys-psgetpropertydescriptionbyname#remarks
        Console.WriteLine(item.ExtendedProperty("System.Recycle.DateDeleted"))
    Next

End Sub