The IShellIcon interface is used to obtain an icon index for an IShellFolder object. Only one instance of the interface for the folder is required instead of an instance for each object, as is the case for IExtractIcon.
When to Implement
Implement IShellIcon as part of an IShellFolder implementation as a quick way to obtain the icon for an object in the folder.
If IShellIcon is not implemented by an IShellFolder object, IShellFolder::GetUIObjectOf(..., IID_IExtractIcon, ...) is used to get an icon for all objects.
When to Use
Use IShellIcon when getting icon indexes for items in a shell folder.
Methods in Vtable Order
| IUnknown Methods | Description |
| QueryInterface | Returns pointers to supported interfaces. |
| AddRef | Increments reference count. |
| Release | Decrements reference count. |
| IShellIcon Methods | Description |
| GetIconOf | Retrieves an icon for an object in a folder. |