What does HRESULT 0x00040100 (DRAGDROP_S_DROP) mean?

 
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OLE_S_MAC_CLIPFORMAT DRAGDROP_S_CANCEL

DRAGDROP_S_DROP

OLE drag-and-drop completed with a drop

DRAGDROP_S_DROP is HRESULT 262400 (0x00040100) from winerror.h. AllStat describes this result as “Successful drop took place.” The high-order severity bit is clear, so this is a success result, but it carries more information than plain S_OK.

DoDragDrop ended because the user completed the drop and the target accepted the negotiated operation.

Where the result is encountered

  • This result can appear in OLE drag loops returned by DoDragDrop; record the producing interface and method rather than inferring behavior from the symbolic name alone.
  • This result can appear in file or object transfer between shell and desktop applications; record the producing interface and method rather than inferring behavior from the symbolic name alone.
  • It can appear in custom IDropSource and IDropTarget implementations; record the producing interface and method rather than inferring behavior from the symbolic name alone.

The same numeric success value can be mishandled when a wrapper exposes only a Boolean. Keep the original HRESULT until the code-specific outputs and state transition have been evaluated.

State boundary that must be proved

The central question for it is whether the final effect returned to the source matches what the target actually committed, including copy, move, or link semantics. The HRESULT alone confirms neither unrelated work nor the quality of optional outputs.

A reliable interpretation of it names the exact method contract, the object generation, and the outputs that remain valid. This prevents a success-with-information result from being promoted to full success or demoted to a generic error.

Diagnostic sequence

  • capture the raw HRESULT 0x00040100 immediately after the returning method and record whether the caller used SUCCEEDED, FAILED, equality testing, or exception translation.
  • Identify the exact owner of it: interface, method, object instance, provider or filter version, thread or apartment, and operation phase.
  • Validate the decisive contract boundary for it: the final effect returned to the source matches what the target actually committed, including copy, move, or link semantics.
  • inspect every output parameter, count, status array, returned interface, or side effect that the method documentation associates with this success-with-information result.
  • Compare the observed state before and after it; do not assume that a success severity bit means every optional sub-operation completed.
  • reproduce the smallest request with the same object state and then change only the condition identified by the evidence before repeating the operation.

Evidence and telemetry to preserve

  • preserve allowed effects passed into DoDragDrop.
  • preserve final effect returned through pdwEffect.
  • preserve target window and data format selected.
  • preserve source cleanup or delete action for a move.
  • preserve user cancellation and exception traces from callbacks.

Also record dragdrop_s_drop_operation, dragdrop_s_drop_object, dragdrop_s_drop_state_before, dragdrop_s_drop_state_after, UTC time, process and thread identifiers, and a correlation ID. Keep secrets out of logs while retaining GUIDs, CLSIDs, media subtypes, property IDs, row identities, and hashes needed to distinguish objects.

Correct handling, retry, and recovery

Commit source-side postprocessing only for the returned effect. A move must not delete source data until the target has completed its part and the final effect confirms the move.

Retry it only when the recorded state can change the documented outcome. Repeating the same call is inappropriate for a stable end marker, cancellation, unsupported format, adjusted property, or partial result whose completed side effects have not been reconciled.

Difference from nearby HRESULT values

DRAGDROP_S_CANCEL ends the loop without a drop. DRAGDROP_S_USEDEFAULTCURSORS is a feedback instruction during the loop, not the final transfer outcome.

This distinction determines whether the caller should consume partial outputs, stop iteration, wait, reconfigure, notify the user, or perform no error recovery at all.

Practical validation scenario

A file manager starts DoDragDrop with copy and move allowed. The target stores the item and returns move; the source deletes the original only after receiving it and validating the final effect.

The negative test should preserve the condition that produces it; the recovery test should alter only that condition and verify the final state as well as the HRESULT.

Developer and administrator guidance

Application telemetry should separate terminal failure, ordinary success, partial completion, continuation, cancellation, and warning-like success. Support bundles should contain the smallest reproducible call and the effective configuration seen by the owning component.

A support report for it should include decimal 262400, hexadecimal 0x00040100, the AllStat meaning, the owning API, and the first detailed status or output that explains why the method did not return ordinary S_OK.

References

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