VB - Send File to the Recycle Bin

[John McKernan]

Summary:
Procedure sends a file to the Recycle Bin and updates the Recycle Bin icon.

Option Explicit
 
'declare api procedures
    Private Declare Function SHFileOperation Lib "shell32.dll" _
        Alias "SHFileOperationA" _
        (lpFileOp As SHFILEOPSTRUCT) As Long
        
    Private Declare Function SHUpdateRecycleBinIcon Lib "shell32.dll" () As Long
 
'declare constants
    Private Const FO_DELETE = &H3
    Private Const FOF_ALLOWUNDO = &H40
    
'declare udt's
    Private Type SHFILEOPSTRUCT
        hWnd As Long
        wFunc As Long
        pFrom As String
        pTo As String
        fFlags As Integer
        fAborted As Boolean
        hNameMaps As Long
        sProgress As String
    End Type
 
Public Sub RecycleFile(FileSpec As String)
    On Error Resume Next
 
    'initialize variable
    Dim SHFileOp As SHFILEOPSTRUCT
    
    'configure file operation
    With SHFileOp
        '...specify `Delete` operation
        .wFunc = FO_DELETE
        
        '...specify the file
        .pFrom = FileSpec
        
        '...specify send to recycle bin
        .fFlags = FOF_ALLOWUNDO
    End With
    
    'perform file operation
    SHFileOperation SHFileOp
    
    'update recycle bin icon
    SHUpdateRecycleBinIcon
End Sub

Usage Example:

RecycleFile "c:\recycleme.txt"