How does the Dropbox desktop app update the icon overlays so fast?

[loop1213123]

Hi, I was under the impression that DropBox uses SHChangeNotify (or the corresponding Python wrapper) to trigger a UI update for icon overlays.  But in my experiments using SHChangeNotify, icon overlays don't update as fast.  There's noticeable latency.  Does DropBox call a different function, or is there any trick that DropBox uses?  Thanks for any info!

[Jay]

Hi @loop1213123, thanks for posting on the Community!

I don’t have any info on this matter currently, however, I’ve made some internal inquiries and will let you know if there’s any details that might help.

Thanks for your patience!

[loop1213123]

Thanks a lot for inquiring -- I appreciate it.

[loop1213123]

Actually, just to clarify, my question pertains to the Windows desktop app (I saw that someone tagged my question with "Linux," but it should be Windows).  Thanks again.

[Jay · Accepted solution]

Hi @loop1213123, thanks for your patience!

After checking further, it wouldn’t be possible to provide more details since the Windows app is closed source.

However, a colleague did suggest to try some of the flags on SHChangeNotify to see if they help at all!

[loop1213123]

Okay, thank you very much.  So it does use SHChangeNotify with some key flag configurations, or is your colleague just making that suggestion randomly?

[loop1213123]

I seem to be having some success with SHCNF_FLUSHNOWAIT.  Could your ask your colleague if that's the one, or there are any other flags I should also consider?

[Jay]

Unfortunately, there wouldn't be any other information that they could provide on this matter other than what I previously mentioned.