ARR! Directories....[RESOLVED]

[WilliamRobinson]

Iv never used anything to do with directorys in Visual Basic really...but heres what i want to do the way im trying isnt working and once i get a code to open a browse window then im sure there much better ways to do this anyway i want to delete a file in a directory the file is called custom.hpk and the user will enter the directory in the text box e.g they enter C:\folder\ and then i want the program to add "custom.hpk" to the end of that i have this but it doesnt work

Kill ((Text1.Text) & "custom.hpk")

i assume its something simillar to that but maybe im missing out something
i need the code to browse for files aswell thx

[baja_yu]

You have to do a check that the user entered the backslash at the end. Your code should wokr. Try changing the file's attributes to vbNormal before doing a kill, it might be set to read only.

For file browsing, you can use a combination of FileList, DirList and DriveList,
or use the Common Dialog control.

[WilliamRobinson]

Backslash at the end? came up eeror and the file is not read only and id prefer not to use the dir and list boxes i want a "Browse" button and the window as if you were opening a file to come up

[WilliamRobinson]

rofl! i got it now i relise what you mean with the backslash now omg how silly of me xD

do you have a code to browse for files now?

thx for fast reply

[baja_yu]

Add a common dialog control to your form, then put this code in the browse button click event:

dlgBrowse.Filter = "Text File (*.txt)|*.txt|Log File (*.log)|*.log||All Files (*.*)|*.*"
        dlgBrowse.DialogTitle = "Open Log File"
        dlgBrowse.ShowOpen
        If dlgBrowse.FileName <> "" Then
            txtLogFile.Text = dlgBrowse.FileName
        End If
        DoEvents

[baja_yu]

Forgot to mention:
-name the common dialog control "dlgBrowse"
-make a text box and name it "txtLogFile"

or edit the code and name it what you like, of course.

Also, not the dlgBrowse.Filter line and it's format. Change it to allow users
to open (see) only certain type of files.

[|2eM!x]

playing counter-strike i see?

[WilliamRobinson]

How do i add common dialog control?

[|2eM!x]

right click the bar on the left of your screen (very long and slender) click components then microsoft common dialog control

[WilliamRobinson]

Aww man that kicks ass lol what would be the code similar to that but to browse for directory

[|2eM!x]

this what you want?
http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.php?t=329386

[WilliamRobinson]

no, can you tell me anyway to select a directory and display the path in a textbox?

[|2eM!x]

well, i do it like this
If Dir$(App.Path & "\saveto.txt") <> "" Then
msgbox "brtar"

[WilliamRobinson]

i dont get how that will let the user browse for a specific folder, but ill play around with that code

[Joacim Andersson]

Add the following code to a module.

Private Declare Function SHBrowseForFolder _
 Lib "shell32" ( _
 lpbi As BROWSEINFO) As Long
 
Private Declare Function SHGetPathFromIDList _
 Lib "shell32" ( _
 ByVal pidList As Long, _
 ByVal lpBuffer As String) As Long
 
Private Type BROWSEINFO
   hWndOwner As Long
   pIDLRoot As Long
   pszDisplayName As String
   lpszTitle As String
   ulFlags As Long
   lpfnCallback As Long
   lParam As Long
   iImage As Long
End Type
 
Private Const BIF_RETURNONLYFSDIRS = 1
Private Const BIF_DONTGOBELOWDOMAIN = 2
Private Const MAX_PATH = 260
 
Public Function BrowseForFolder(OwnerForm As Form) As String
    Dim lpIDList As Long
    Dim sBuffer As String
    Dim tBrowseInfo As BROWSEINFO
    
    With tBrowseInfo
        .pszDisplayName = Space$(MAX_PATH)
        .lpszTitle = "Select a folder"
        .hWndOwner = OwnerForm.hWnd
        .ulFlags = BIF_DONTGOBELOWDOMAIN + BIF_RETURNONLYFSDIRS
    End With
    
    lpIDList = SHBrowseForFolder(tBrowseInfo)
    If (lpIDList) Then
        sBuffer = Space(MAX_PATH)
        SHGetPathFromIDList lpIDList, sBuffer
        BrowseForFolder = Left$(sBuffer, InStr(sBuffer, vbNullChar) - 1)
    End If
End Function

You can then get a folder name by doing the following call from inside your form somewhere:

MsgBox BrowseForFolder(Me)

[|2eM!x]

no, can you tell me anyway to select a directory and display the path in a textbox?

what i said selects the dir, and you can see if it exists. If it does then you can do some stuff with it

[Joacim Andersson]

what i said selects the dir, and you can see if it exists. If it does then you can do some stuff with it

I think he wanted to show the browse for folder dialog box and let the user select a folder.

[moeur]

There are three ways I know of to browse for folders:
1. SHBrowseForFolder Function (Joacim's example) -
The downside to this is that as far as I can tell you can only set the root directory to one of the "special folders"
by setting the pidlRoot member of the BROWSEINFO structure
2. Create your own browse form by using a DriveList and DirList control
3. Use the Shell Object, code below

Option Explicit
 
'special folders
    Private Const ssfALTSTARTUP = &H1D
    Private Const ssfAPPDATA = &H1A
    Private Const ssfBITBUCKET = &HA
    Private Const ssfCOMMONALTSTARTUP = &H1E
    Private Const ssfCOMMONAPPDATA = &H23
    Private Const ssfCOMMONDESKTOPDIR = &H19
    Private Const ssfCOMMONFAVORITES = &H1F
    Private Const ssfCOMMONPROGRAMS = &H17
    Private Const ssfCOMMONSTARTMENU = &H16
    Private Const ssfCOMMONSTARTUP = &H18
    Private Const ssfCONTROLS = &H3
    Private Const ssfCOOKIES = &H21
    Private Const ssfDESKTOP = &H0
    Private Const ssfDESKTOPDIRECTORY = &H10
    Private Const ssfDRIVES = &H11
    Private Const ssfFAVORITES = &H6
    Private Const ssfFONTS = &H14
    Private Const ssfHISTORY = &H22
    Private Const ssfINTERNETCACHE = &H20
    Private Const ssfLOCALAPPDATA = &H1C
    Private Const ssfMYPICTURES = &H27
    Private Const ssfNETHOOD = &H13
    Private Const ssfNETWORK = &H12
    Private Const ssfPERSONAL = &H5
    Private Const ssfPRINTERS = &H4
    Private Const ssfPRINTHOOD = &H1B
    Private Const ssfPROFILE = &H28
    Private Const ssfPROGRAMFILES = &H26
    Private Const ssfPROGRAMS = &H2
    Private Const ssfRECENT = &H8
    Private Const ssfSENDTO = &H9
    Private Const ssfSTARTMENU = &HB
    Private Const ssfSTARTUP = &H7
    Private Const ssfSYSTEM = &H25
    Private Const ssfTEMPLATES = &H15
    Private Const ssfWINDOWS = &H24
 
'constants for Dialog box Options
Private Const BIF_VALIDATE = &H20               ' insist on valid result (or CANCEL)
Private Const BIF_BROWSEINCLUDEURLS = &H80      ' Allow URLs to be displayed or entered. (Requires BIF_USENEWUI)
Private Const BIF_UAHINT = &H100                ' Add a UA hint to the dialog, in place of the edit b= &h. May not be combined with BIF_EDITB= &h
 
Private Const BIF_BROWSEFORCOMPUTER = &H1000   ' Browsing for Computers.
Private Const BIF_BROWSEFORPRINTER = &H2000    ' Browsing for Printers
Private Const BIF_BROWSEINCLUDEFILES = &H4000  ' Browsing for Everything
Private Const BIF_DONTGOBELOWDOMAIN = &H2      ' For starting the Find Computer
Private Const BIF_EDITBOX = &H10               ' Add an editbox to the dialog
Private Const BIF_NEWDIALOGSTYLE = &H40         ' Use the new dialog layout with the ability to resize
Private Const BIF_NONEWFOLDERBUTTON = &H200     ' Do not add the "New Folder" button to the dialog.  Only applicable with BIF_NEWDIALOGSTYLE.
Private Const BIF_NOTRANSLATETARGETS = &H400    ' don't traverse target as shortcut
                                        ' Caller needs to call OleInitialize() before using this API
Private Const BIF_RETURNONLYFSDIRS = &H1       ' For finding a folder to start document searching
Private Const BIF_RETURNFSANCESTORS = &H8
Private Const BIF_SHAREABLE = &H8000           ' sharable resources displayed (remote shares, requires BIF_USENEWUI)
Private Const BIF_STATUSTEXT = &H4              ' Top of the dialog has 2 lines of text for BROWSEINFO.lpszTitle and one line if
Private Const BIF_USENEWUI = BIF_NEWDIALOGSTYLE Or BIF_EDITBOX
 
 
'Returns path to selected folder
' vRootFolder can be one of the special folders
'  or a string to the root folder
 Function fnShellBrowseForFolderVB(vRootFolder as Variant) As String
        Dim fso
        Dim objShell
        Dim objFolder As Object
        Dim iOptions As Long 'see constants in declarations
        
        Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
        iOptions = BIF_DONTGOBELOWDOMAIN Or BIF_RETURNONLYFSDIRS
        
        Set objShell = CreateObject("Shell.Application")
            Set objFolder = objShell.BrowseForFolder(Me.hWnd, _
              "Browse for Folders", iOptions, vRootFolder)
                If (Not objFolder Is Nothing) Then
                    'the following only works on local drives
                    fnShellBrowseForFolderVB = fso.GetAbsolutePathName(objFolder.Title)
                End If
            Set objFolder = Nothing
        Set objShell = Nothing
End Function

The problem with this is that it only returns the directory name in the title property so you have to do some manipulation to get the fully qualified path. the method I used above only works for local drives. To include functionality for network drives you'll probably have to walk the folder object back to the root using the ParentFolder property (i.e. objFolder.ParentFolder.ParentFolder...etc

[|2eM!x]

I think he wanted to show the browse for folder dialog box and let the user select a folder.

yeh, i just didnt understand it as that

[Joacim Andersson]

There are three ways I know of to browse for folders:
1. SHBrowseForFolder Function (Joacim's example) -
The downside to this is that as far as I can tell you can only set the root directory to one of the "special folders" by setting the pidlRoot member of the BROWSEINFO structure

Yes but I don't see why that is a problem when you use the BIF_RETURNONLYFSDIRS flag. You can also specify any folder to be preselected when the dialog is shown if you like, but it requires a callback function.

The Shell object internally use the SHBrowseForFolder API.

[moeur]

Yes but I don't see why that is a problem when you use the BIF_RETURNONLYFSDIRS flag. You can also specify any folder to be preselected when the dialog is shown if you like, but it requires a callback function.

It is a problem if you don't want the user to be able to browse above a certain directory.

The Shell object internally use the SHBrowseForFolder API.

True, but as I mentioned, you can't set the root directory unless you can find the pidl for that directory. So far I have only found a way to do this for the "special" directories. I even posted a thread earlier asking for a solution to this and I got zero responses. I know you can do it, but I just don't know how.

[Joacim Andersson]

It is a problem if you don't want the user to be able to browse above a certain directory.

True, but as I mentioned, you can't set the root directory unless you can find the pidl for that directory. So far I have only found a way to do this for the "special" directories. I even posted a thread earlier asking for a solution to this and I got zero responses. I know you can do it, but I just don't know how.

Aha... Now I see what you mean. I haven't seen your earlier thread about it but I hope you don't mind me posting it here instead. To get the PIDL for a path there is one correct way witch is pretty hard to do in VB and an easier way which is very easy. Well it's easy if you know about a little undocumented function in Shell32, that is. The function accepts a string, but as with all undocumented APIs there is not one Ansi version and one Wide version available so you need to pass a Unicode string if you're using a NT based system (incl. Win2000/XP) and an Ansi string if you pass it to a Win9x/Me system. Even though VB internally stores all strings in Unicode format it always converts them to an Ansi string before it passes it to an API function, so you have to convert the converted string back to Unicode. This sounds harder then it is, so I just show you the code instead:

Private Declare Function SHGetPIDLFromPath _
 Lib "shell32" Alias "#162" ( _
 ByVal sPath As String) As Long
 
Private Declare Function GetVersionEx _
 Lib "kernel32" Alias "GetVersionExA" ( _
 lpVersionInformation As OSVERSIONINFO) As Long
 
Private Type OSVERSIONINFO
    dwOSVersionInfoSize As Long
    dwMajorVersion As Long
    dwMinorVersion As Long
    dwBuildNumber As Long
    dwPlatformID As Long
    szCSDVersion As String * 128
End Type
 
Public Function GetPIDL(ByVal sPath As String) As Long
    GetPIDL = SHGetPIDLFromPath(UnicodeCheck(sPath))
End Function
 
Private Function UnicodeCheck(str As String) As String
    If IsWinNT Then
        UnicodeCheck = StrConv(str, vbUnicode)
    Else
        UnicodeCheck = str
    End If
End Function
 
Private Function IsWinNT() As Boolean
  'Returns True if the current operating system is WinNT/2000/XP
   Dim osvi As OSVERSIONINFO
   osvi.dwOSVersionInfoSize = Len(osvi)
   GetVersionEx osvi
   IsWinNT = (osvi.dwPlatformID = VER_PLATFORM_WIN32_NT)
End Function

All you have to do is to call the GetPIDL function. So there is no reason to use the Microsoft Scripting Runtime.

[moeur]

I just tried your example on an XP platform and got the same results I got when I tried to solve this problem earlier. I made a change to your function

Public Function BrowseForFolder(OwnerForm As Form, [COLOR=Red]sPath[/COLOR] As String) As String
    Dim lpIDList As Long
    Dim sBuffer As String
    Dim tBrowseInfo As BROWSEINFO
    
    With tBrowseInfo
        .pszDisplayName = Space$(MAX_PATH)
        .lpszTitle = "Select a folder"
        .hWndOwner = OwnerForm.hWnd
        .ulFlags = BIF_DONTGOBELOWDOMAIN + BIF_RETURNONLYFSDIRS
        [COLOR=Red].pIDLRoot = GetPIDL(sPath)[/COLOR]
    End With
        lpIDList = SHBrowseForFolder(tBrowseInfo)
    If (lpIDList) Then
        sBuffer = Space(MAX_PATH)
        SHGetPathFromIDList lpIDList, sBuffer
        BrowseForFolder = Left$(sBuffer, InStr(sBuffer, vbNullChar) - 1)
    End If
End Function

Then call the function

Debug.Print BrowseForFolder(Me, "C:\Windows")

I get a single folder that has a strange icon and will not expand.
Do you not get the same thing?

[Joacim Andersson]

I get a single folder that has a strange icon and will not expand.
Do you not get the same thing?

Oh yeah... Strange! I've never used this code for anything but to show the the root folder of a drive as the root. Like C:\ or D:\ and that works just fine. I guess this needs to be investigated a bit more

[WilliamRobinson]

Thanks For All The help guys i have it working now