copy entire folder and sub folders

hi, i am making a program that i would like to copy a folder from one workstation/document server to my network server. how can i make an app copy a folder (E:\documents\ or //A/DOCS$/) to a server (//HOST/DOCS$ or C:\Documents\) to backup documents and overwrite the old files and do this every 10 or 15 mins. i am making this program incase one of my servers brakes down.
Thanks, dandono.

Some APIs are involved so here is a sample:

VB Code:

Option Explicit
 
Private Type SHFILEOPSTRUCT
        hwnd As Long
        wFunc As Long
        pFrom As String
        pTo As String
        fFlags As Integer
        fAnyOperationsAborted As Long
        hNameMappings As Long
        lpszProgressTitle As String '  only used if FOF_SIMPLEPROGRESS
End Type
 
Private Const FOF_MULTIDESTFILES = &H1
Private Const FOF_CONFIRMMOUSE = &H2
Private Const FOF_SILENT = &H4
Private Const FOF_RENAMEONCOLLISION = &H8
Private Const FOF_NOCONFIRMATION = &H10
Private Const FOF_WANTMAPPINGHANDLE = &H20
Private Const FOF_CREATEPROGRESSDLG = &H0
Private Const FOF_ALLOWUNDO = &H40
Private Const FOF_FILESONLY = &H80
Private Const FOF_SIMPLEPROGRESS = &H100
Private Const FOF_NOCONFIRMMKDIR = &H200
 
Private Const FO_MOVE = 1
Private Const FO_COPY = 2
Private Const FO_DELETE = 3
Private Const FO_RENAME = 4
 
Private Declare Function SHFileOperation Lib "shell32.dll" (lpFileOp As SHFILEOPSTRUCT) As Long
    
Public Function CopyFolder(ByVal strSource As String, ByVal strDest As String) As Boolean
'==========================================================================================
Dim varFOS As SHFILEOPSTRUCT
    With varFOS
        .fFlags = FOF_NOCONFIRMATION Or FOF_SILENT Or FOF_NOCONFIRMMKDIR
        .wFunc = FO_COPY
        .pFrom = strSource
        .pTo = strDest
    End With
    Call SHFileOperation(varFOS)
    CopyFolder = (varFOS.fAnyOperationsAborted = 0)
End Function
 
Private Sub Command1_Click()
 
    CopyFolder "c:\temp\test1", "c:\temp\test2"
 
End Sub

If the destination folder exists you can just do

VB Code:

Shell "xcopy.exe C:\temp C:\temp2 /E", 1

Nice to see the old Dos commands still have their uses.

i could not get the api version to work but does the shell one copy over network aswell?

I believe so but I have no way to test it.

It doesn't appear to. I even tried mapping the drive to \david on the remote machine, and then copying \test with \test2 in it to \test

xcopy y:\test c:\test
0 files copied.

That sample I've posted works perfectly IF user has sufficient security access: read/write at least. Also you may need to check if source/destination folders exist prior to calling CopyFolder function ...

sorry, i was referring to the xcopy command.

... and I was just answering to this :) :

i could not get the api version to work ...

Also, XCOPY might not recognize long names so you'll need to convert long path to short (the DOS way):

VB Code:

Private Declare Function GetShortPathName Lib "kernel32" Alias "GetShortPathNameA" _
    (ByVal lpszLongPath As String, ByVal lpszShortPath As String, ByVal lBuffer As Long) As Long
Public Function GetShortPath(strFileName As String) As String
    'KPD-Team 1999
    'URL: [url]http://www.allapi.net/[/url]
    'E-Mail: [email][email protected][/email]
    Dim lngRes As Long, strPath As String
    'Create a buffer
    strPath = String$(165, 0)
    'retrieve the short pathname
    lngRes = GetShortPathName(strFileName, strPath, 164)
    'remove all unnecessary chr$(0)'s
    GetShortPath = Left$(strPath, lngRes)
End Function
Private Sub Form_Load()
    MsgBox GetShortPath("c:\Program Files\")
End Sub

Nope, I was using \David\Test

Wouldn't know what to tell you then as I like using more robust API solution(s) when aplicable and not those for DOS. Sorry.

i'm using this code: Shell "xcopy " + txtloc.Text + " " + txthost.Text
it does not seem to work and i am on a user that is a net admin. does it work if it is copying to a windows server 2003 domain controler from a windows xp professional workstation?

I would go with the API version. I fought for quite a while to try to get a batch/cmd file to work, and ran into one problem after another. I finally redid everything using an older API, and I guess that it hasn't been tested, yet.
Usie RhinoBulls example above. It should work.