This thread is for discussions of Advanced Files & Folders.

This is a a great tutorial, but how do you open up a folder on a persons desktop? Shell Execute will launch programs, but if you wanted to open up a folder like Installshield does at the end of installing a program. How is that done?


Thanks

-DP

In the code for checking if a file exists (page "Does it exist?") the first part needs this added to it near the start:
Code:

dim strPath as string

I put it right after "Dim sStartDir As String" and it worked perfect.

Normally, the folders on the Desktop are stored on the systems partition. So you have to find out which it is. Then you have to find out, the username of the currently loggod in user, because the desktop folders (for example in the german version of W2k) are stored in "[SystemPartition]:\Dokumente und Einstellungen\[Username]\Desktop".

To archive your goal, you paste the Code below into a module and call the function "getdesktopfolder" which returns a string. If you are using another version of Windows, you have to find out the equivalent path to "Dokumente und Einstellungen".

Lars

Private S1 As String
Private Declare Function GetUserName Lib "AdvAPI32.dll" Alias "GetUserNameA" (ByVal lpBuffer As String, nSize As Long) As Long

Public Function FindUserName() As String
 S1 = Space(512)
 GetUserName S1, Len(S1)
 FindUserName = Trim$(S1)
End Function

Public Function GetWindowsDirectory() As String
  Dim s As String
  Dim c As Long
  s = String$(MAX_LENGTH, 0)
  c = GetWindowsDirectoryB(s, MAX_LENGTH)
  If c > 0 Then
      If c > Len(s) Then
          s = Space$(c + 1)
          c = GetWindowsDirectoryB(s, MAX_LENGTH)
      End If
  End If
  GetWindowsDirectory = IIf(c > 0, Left$(s, c), "")
End Function

Public Funtion getdesktopfolder() As String
   a = GetWindowsDirectory
   a = Left(a, 3)                                              'extract drive letter
   a = a & "\Dokumente und Einstellungen\"
   a = a & FindUserName & "\Desktop"
   getdesktopfolder = a
End Function

Shellexecute explorer.exe PathToFolder

How can I get rid of the progress dialog, so the user basically has no indication the operation is being performed?
[edit] Nevermind. ^_^

yah, i wanted to search through a root folder for files in the sub folders within folders of the root folders..

i need to pass the filenames and their directories into an Access2000 table[.mdb].

Can u guys please help me? I'm very new to VB.NET and i need to get this done by VB.NET... thanks in advance...

first add this (in a module):
Code:

Declare Function SHGetSpecialFolderLocation Lib "shell32.dll" (ByVal hwndOwner As Long, ByVal nFolder As Long, pidl As ITEMIDLIST) As Long
Declare Function SHGetPathFromIDList Lib "shell32.dll" Alias "SHGetPathFromIDListA" (ByVal pidl As Long, ByVal pszPath As String) As Long
Public Type SHITEMID
   cb As Long
   abID As Byte
End Type
Public Type ITEMIDLIST
   mkid As SHITEMID
End Type
Public Const MAX_PATH As Integer = 260
Private Const CSIDL_PROGRAM_FILES = &H26 ' Program Files
Private Const CSIDL_STARTMENU = 11 ' Start Menu
Private Const CSIDL_DESKTOP = &H0 ' The Desktop

then, in the form:
Code:

Public Function fGetSpecialFolder(CSIDL As Long) As String
   Dim sPath As String
   Dim IDL As ITEMIDLIST
   fGetSpecialFolder = ""
   If SHGetSpecialFolderLocation(frmMain.hWnd, CSIDL, IDL) = 0 Then
       sPath = Space$(MAX_PATH)
       If SHGetPathFromIDList(ByVal IDL.mkid.cb, ByVal sPath) Then fGetSpecialFolder = Left$(sPath, InStr(sPath, vbNullChar) - 1) & ""
   End If
End Function

then to get the desktop folder (or start menu or program files):
Code:

string_desktop_folder = fGetSpecialFolder(CSIDL_DESKTOP)
string_startmenu_folder = fGetSpecialFolder(CSIDL_STARTMENU)
string_prog_files_folder = fGetSpecialFolder(CSIDL_PROGRAM_FILES)

easy, not??
(i found this somewhere on this site.. i didn't make this myself)

I'm surprised no one said "double click"...

did anyone solve this one as I need it too?  Should we be using a different api?

Hi,
Couple of small bugs -

Change  Dim sPath As String   to    strPath

Change ""  to  "\" in two lines -
       sStartDir = Left$(sFile, InStrRev(sFile, ""))
       '// just get filename
       sFile = Right$(sFile, Len(sFile) - InStrRev(sFile, ""))

Regards,
Rob

Hi,

This code snippet works all right.  What I’m looking for, however, is how to actually Undo a file operation?  I can’t find any way to do that by code...

Thanks for all tips!

vor0nwe

I think you use the FOF_SILENT flag. Been a while since I did it though.

I think you use the FOF_SILENT flag. Been a while since I did it though.

Okay, I've used the 'List all files in a directory' code (with a few slight modifications) but whenever I reboot the computer, it stops finding the files that are there (other than that, it works fine). It only finds them again if I rename the files. I figure it might be because I'm using a computer at University with some strange access priviledges. Any help is much appreciated.