Finding User’s My Documents (A2000)

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My users run mostly WinXP with some 98’s. Under XP individual users have their own My Documents which could be anywhere. I use automation to mail merge and have code that opens a standard OpenFile dialog to merge with an existing document, but I want to point it at the user’s own documents

Is there a way of establishing in code the location of the current user’s root My Documents folder?

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Easist way to do this (w/o resorting to convoluted API’s) is to use Windows Script Host (WSH), if available. Example:

Function GetMyDocsFolder() As String

Dim wsh As New IWshShell_Class
GetMyDocsFolder = wsh.SpecialFolders(“MyDocuments”)
Set wsh = Nothing

End Function

Function will return full path of current Windows user’s “My Documents” folder:

? GetMyDocsFolder
C:Documents and Settingsmark.d******My Documents

To use WSH must set reference to following type library:

Library IWshRuntimeLibrary
C:WINNTSystem32wshom.ocx
Windows Script Host Object Model (Ver 1.0)

This should be available on any current/recent version of Windows (WIN 98 or later).

HTH

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Easist way to do this (w/o resorting to convoluted API’s) is to use Windows Script Host (WSH), if available. Example:

Function GetMyDocsFolder() As String

Dim wsh As New IWshShell_Class
GetMyDocsFolder = wsh.SpecialFolders(“MyDocuments”)
Set wsh = Nothing

End Function

Function will return full path of current Windows user’s “My Documents” folder:

? GetMyDocsFolder
C:Documents and Settingsmark.d******My Documents

To use WSH must set reference to following type library:

Library IWshRuntimeLibrary
C:WINNTSystem32wshom.ocx
Windows Script Host Object Model (Ver 1.0)

This should be available on any current/recent version of Windows (WIN 98 or later).

HTH

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In further reply, here is example of using Windows SHGetSpecialFolderLocation API function to get a user’s “My Documents” folder path. This may be more reliable than using WSH, if not sure if all users have WSH installed/enabled on their systems, plus you don’t need any external references since the functionality is provided by SHELL32.DLL:

Option Explicit

Public Const CSIDL_DESKTOP = &H0
Public Const CSIDL_PERSONAL = &H5 ‘My Documents
Public Const CSIDL_FAVORITES = &H6
Public Const CSIDL_DESKTOPDIRECTORY = &H10
Public Const CSIDL_WINDOWS = &H24
Public Const CSIDL_SYSTEM = &H25
Public Const CSIDL_MYPICTURES = &H27
Public Const MAX_PATH = 260

Public Declare Function SHGetPathFromIDList Lib “shell32” _
Alias “SHGetPathFromIDListA” _
(ByVal pidl As Long, ByVal pszPath As String) As Long

Public Declare Function SHGetSpecialFolderLocation Lib “shell32” _
(ByVal hwndOwner As Long, ByVal nFolder As Long, pidl As Long) As Long

Public Declare Sub CoTaskMemFree Lib “ole32” (ByVal pv As Long)

Public Function GetSpecialFolderLocation(CSIDL As Long) As String

Dim strPath As String
Dim pidl As Long

If SHGetSpecialFolderLocation(Application.hWndAccessApp, CSIDL, pidl) = 0 Then
strPath = Space$(MAX_PATH)

If SHGetPathFromIDList(ByVal pidl, ByVal strPath) Then
GetSpecialFolderLocation = Left$(strPath, InStr(strPath, Chr$(0)) – 1)
End If

CoTaskMemFree pidl
End If

End Function

Examples (WIN XP – will work in older versions of Windows where folder type is applicable):

? GetSpecialFolderLocation(CSIDL_PERSONAL)
C:Documents and SettingsMarkDMy Documents

? GetSpecialFolderLocation(CSIDL_DESKTOPDIRECTORY)
C:Documents and SettingsMarkDDesktop

? GetSpecialFolderLocation(CSIDL_WINDOWS)
C:WINDOWS
? GetSpecialFolderLocation(CSIDL_SYSTEM)
C:WINDOWSSYSTEM32

? GetSpecialFolderLocation(CSIDL_MYPICTURES)
C:Documents and SettingsMarkDMy DocumentsMy Pictures

There are many more CSIDL constants that can be used to get path for other Windows special folders. For brevity only a few listed above. For more info see MSDN:

MSDN CSIDL Reference

Note all values listed are in hexadecimal. Example: CSIDL_PERSONAL (0x0005) is declared in VB as:
Const CSIDL_PERSONAL = &H5.

HTH

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Thanks Mark, the second method appears to be the way forward and I will incorporate it over the weekend

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Thanks Mark, the second method appears to be the way forward and I will incorporate it over the weekend

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In further reply, here is example of using Windows SHGetSpecialFolderLocation API function to get a user’s “My Documents” folder path. This may be more reliable than using WSH, if not sure if all users have WSH installed/enabled on their systems, plus you don’t need any external references since the functionality is provided by SHELL32.DLL:

Option Explicit

Public Const CSIDL_DESKTOP = &H0
Public Const CSIDL_PERSONAL = &H5 ‘My Documents
Public Const CSIDL_FAVORITES = &H6
Public Const CSIDL_DESKTOPDIRECTORY = &H10
Public Const CSIDL_WINDOWS = &H24
Public Const CSIDL_SYSTEM = &H25
Public Const CSIDL_MYPICTURES = &H27
Public Const MAX_PATH = 260

Public Declare Function SHGetPathFromIDList Lib “shell32” _
Alias “SHGetPathFromIDListA” _
(ByVal pidl As Long, ByVal pszPath As String) As Long

Public Declare Function SHGetSpecialFolderLocation Lib “shell32” _
(ByVal hwndOwner As Long, ByVal nFolder As Long, pidl As Long) As Long

Public Declare Sub CoTaskMemFree Lib “ole32” (ByVal pv As Long)

Public Function GetSpecialFolderLocation(CSIDL As Long) As String

Dim strPath As String
Dim pidl As Long

If SHGetSpecialFolderLocation(Application.hWndAccessApp, CSIDL, pidl) = 0 Then
strPath = Space$(MAX_PATH)

If SHGetPathFromIDList(ByVal pidl, ByVal strPath) Then
GetSpecialFolderLocation = Left$(strPath, InStr(strPath, Chr$(0)) – 1)
End If

CoTaskMemFree pidl
End If

End Function

Examples (WIN XP – will work in older versions of Windows where folder type is applicable):

? GetSpecialFolderLocation(CSIDL_PERSONAL)
C:Documents and SettingsMarkDMy Documents

? GetSpecialFolderLocation(CSIDL_DESKTOPDIRECTORY)
C:Documents and SettingsMarkDDesktop

? GetSpecialFolderLocation(CSIDL_WINDOWS)
C:WINDOWS
? GetSpecialFolderLocation(CSIDL_SYSTEM)
C:WINDOWSSYSTEM32

? GetSpecialFolderLocation(CSIDL_MYPICTURES)
C:Documents and SettingsMarkDMy DocumentsMy Pictures

There are many more CSIDL constants that can be used to get path for other Windows special folders. For brevity only a few listed above. For more info see MSDN:

MSDN CSIDL Reference

Note all values listed are in hexadecimal. Example: CSIDL_PERSONAL (0x0005) is declared in VB as:
Const CSIDL_PERSONAL = &H5.

HTH

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