Shell

[stweelman]

My program needs to start another prograr to do some editing, but I belive that I need to get the path first this will need to be done programaticly dose anybody know how to do this? The file that will be edited will be installed with my program. I tryed
Shell("Appname.exe" & app.path & "file.xyz",1)
code sample please.

[Keiko]

Hi stweelman,

You may try this ...

Dim myPath As String

myPath = IIf(Right(App.Path, 1) = "\", App.Path, App.Path & "\")

Call Shell(myPath & "Appname.exe " & myPath & "file.xyz", 1)

Does it help ?

Regards

[stweelman]

No, unless I've made a mistake. What I need to do is the same as the find in windows start menu and I need to do it on mycomputer.
I'm looking for MSPaint.exe. I then need to shell MyPath & "MSPaint.exe C:\picture.bmp",1
I need to find MyPath programaticly?

[Compwiz]

To find MSPaint.exe programically, open the registry and the default data under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\MSPAINT.EXE

Then Shell that.

------------------
Tom Young, 14 Year Old
[email protected]
ICQ: 15743470
AIM: TomY10
PERL, JavaScript and VB Programmer

[stweelman]

OK, but how? I don't know how to work with the registry yet. I know that you use getsettings but what part is the key and so on?

[Compwiz]

When Command1 is clicked, Text1.Text will become the path to MSPaint:

Module Code:

Public Const HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE = &H80000002
Public Const REG_SZ = 1 ' Unicode nul terminated string
Public Const ERROR_SUCCESS = 0&
Public Declare Function RegCloseKey Lib "advapi32.dll" (ByVal hKey As Long) As Long
Public Declare Function RegOpenKey Lib "advapi32.dll" Alias "RegOpenKeyA" (ByVal hKey As Long, ByVal lpSubKey As String, phkResult As Long) As Long
Public Declare Function RegQueryValueEx Lib "advapi32.dll" Alias "RegQueryValueExA" (ByVal hKey As Long, ByVal lpValueName As String, ByVal lpReserved As Long, lpType As Long, lpData As Any, lpcbData As Long) As Long
Public Function GetSettingString(hKey As Long, strPath As String, strValue As String, Optional Default As String, Optional Test As Boolean) As String
    Dim hCurKey As Long
    Dim lResult As Long
    Dim lValueType As Long
    Dim strBuffer As String
    Dim lDataBufferSize As Long
    Dim intZeroPos As Integer
    Dim lRegResult As Long
    ' Set up default value
    If Not IsEmpty(Default) Then
        GetSettingString = Default
    Else
        GetSettingString = ""
    End If
    lRegResult = RegOpenKey(hKey, strPath, hCurKey)
    lRegResult = RegQueryValueEx(hCurKey, strValue, 0&, lValueType, ByVal 0&, lDataBufferSize)
    If lRegResult = ERROR_SUCCESS Then
        If lValueType = REG_SZ Then
            strBuffer = String(lDataBufferSize, " ")
            lResult = RegQueryValueEx(hCurKey, strValue, 0&, 0&, ByVal strBuffer, lDataBufferSize)
            intZeroPos = InStr(strBuffer, Chr$(0))
            If intZeroPos > 0 Then
                GetSettingString = Left$(strBuffer, intZeroPos - 1)
            Else
                GetSettingString = strBuffer
            End If

        End If
    Else
        If Test = True Then
            GetSettingString = "-1"
        End If
        ' there is a problem
    End If
    lRegResult = RegCloseKey(hCurKey)
End Function
Public Function GetMSPAINTPath() As String
    If GetSettingString(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, "Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\MSPAINT.EXE", "", , True) = "-1" Then
        Err.Raise vbObjectError + 513, "Get MSPAINT Path", "MSPAINT IS NOT INSTALLED ON THIS SYSTEM!"
        Exit Function
    Else
        GetMSPAINTPath = GetSettingString(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, "Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\MSPAINT.EXE", "")
    End If
End Function

Form Code:

Private Sub Command1_Click()
On Error GoTo NotFound
    Text1.Text = GetMSPAINTPath
    Exit Sub
NotFound:
    MsgBox Err.Description, vbCritical, Err.Source
End Sub

Hope this helps.

------------------
Tom Young, 14 Year Old
[email protected]
ICQ: 15743470 Add Me ICQ Me
AIM: TomY10
PERL, JavaScript and VB Programmer