Preset the folder in SHBrowseForFolder API (Excel 8 SR-2 VBA)

Topic

New Reply

I’m using the SHBrowseForFolder API to get a Folder choice from the user using a construction similar to the snippet below. There are a couple of examples floating around the web (vbapi.com/ref/s/shbrowseforfolder.html for one) that use a ‘Dummy Function’ to enable use of the AddressOf operator to point to a Function named BrowseCallBackProc that will accept a ‘preset argument’. The VBE will not let me use AddressOf – says it’s not active in this VBA. Is there a way in VBA to preset the folder using the SHBrowseForFolder API?

Declare Function SHBrowseForFolder Lib “shell32.dll”( ByRef lpbi As BROWSEINFO) As Long
Declare Function SHGetPathFromIDList Lib “shell32″(ByVal pidList As Long, ByVal lpBuffer As String) As Long

Public Type BROWSEINFO
hOwner As Long
pidlRoot As Long
pszDisplayName As String
lpszTitle As String
ulFlags As Long
lpfn As Long
lParam As Long
iImage As Long
End Type

Function GetDirectory(Optional msg) As String
‘needs api calls SHBrowseForFolder and SHGetPathFromIDList
‘needs type statement Browseinfo

Dim bInfo As BROWSEINFO
Dim path As String
Dim R As Long, X As Long, pos As Integer

bInfo.pidlRoot = 0& ‘ Root folder = Desktop

If IsMissing(msg) Then ‘ Title in the dialog
bInfo.lpszTitle = “Select a folder.”
Else
bInfo.lpszTitle = msg
End If

bInfo.ulFlags = &H1 ‘ Type of directory to return
X = SHBrowseForFolder(bInfo) ‘ Display the dialog
path = Space$(512) ‘ Parse the result
R = SHGetPathFromIDList(ByVal X, ByVal path)

If R Then
pos = InStr(path, Chr$(0))
GetDirectory = Left(path, pos – 1)
Else
GetDirectory = “”
End If

End Function

Sub TestGetDir()
Dim strMsg As String
strMsg = “hello world”
MsgBox GetDirectory(strMsg), , strMsgBoxTitle
End Sub

(vbapi.com/ref/s/shbrowseforfolder.html for one) that demonstrate how to ‘preset’ this with a starting folder. Problem is that all of the examples I’ve seen use a ‘Dummy Function’ to enable use of the AddressOf operator for another function. My VBE will not allow me to use that function. Is there a way to make a folder preselection in SHBrowseForFolder in VBA?

————————————————

Reply | Quote

Replies

Did you track down all 7 declarations:

Public Declare Function SendMessage Lib “user32” Alias “SendMessageA” (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal wMsg As Long, ByVal wParam As Long, lParam As Any) As Long
Declare Function SHBrowseForFolder Lib “shell32.dll” Alias “SHBrowseForFolderA” (lpbi As BROWSEINFO) As Long
Declare Function SHGetFileInfo Lib “shell32.dll” Alias “SHGetFileInfoA” (ByVal pszPath As Any, ByVal dwFileAttributes As Long, psfi As SHFILEINFO, ByVal cbFileInfo As Long, ByVal uFlags As Long) As Long
Declare Function SHGetFolderLocation Lib “shell32.dll” Alias “SHGetFolderLocationA” (ByVal hwndOwner As Long, ByVal nFolder As Long, ByVal hToken As Long, ByVal dwReserved As Long, ppidl As Long) As Long
Declare Function SHGetSpecialFolderLocation Lib “shell32.dll” (ByVal hwndOwner As Long, ByVal nFolder As Long, ppidl As Long) As Long
Declare Function SHGetPathFromIDList Lib “shell32.dll” Alias “SHGetPathFromIDListA” (ByVal pidl As Long, ByVal pszPath As String) As Long
Declare Sub CoTaskMemFree Lib “ole32.dll” (ByVal pv As Long)

Plus these three constants:
Const BFFM_SETSELECTION = &H466
Const BFFM_INITIALIZED = 1
Const CSIDL_DRIVES = &H11

Plus all 4 user-defined types, in addition to the Dummy() function and the BrowseCallbackProc() function?

Reply | Quote

When you say…
[indent]

---

Is there a way in VBA to preset the folder using the SHBrowseForFolder API?

---

[/indent]Do you mean the folder that will open when you pop up the file open dialog? If so, I haven’t figured it out (it is SO EASY in Word!). You would think this would work, but…

Sub OpenSezMe()
Dim strOldDefaultPath As String
With Application
    strOldDefaultPath = .DefaultFilePath
    .DefaultFilePath = GetDirectory()
    If .DefaultFilePath = vbNullString Then
        .DefaultFilePath = strOldDefaultPath
        Exit Sub
    Else
        MsgBox .DefaultFilePath
        .Dialogs(xlDialogOpen).Show	'why c:my documents?!!
        .DefaultFilePath = strOldDefaultPath
    End If
End With
End Sub

I’m stumped.

Reply | Quote

No – I’m not using the FileOpen or GetSaveAsFileName functions because I only want to put up a ‘Choose Folder’ function and both of those built in dialogs have unwanted side effects.

Charlotte, in the reply above your’s, gave me a bunch of additional stuff to run down.

For something that I would have thought would have been somewhat simple, this is turning into a much bigger can of worms then I expected.

Reply | Quote

When you aksed [indent]

---

Is there a way in VBA to preset the folder using the SHBrowseForFolder API?

---

[/indent]I assumed you meant once you had the folder name. From your response, I gather that you want to start somewhere other than at the desktop in the browse for folder dialog itself.

According to one article on MSDN, “pidlRoot is the folder at the top of the directory tree displayed in the Browse For Folder dialog box. … If you want to specify where the browsing starts, you can’t just pass a string; you have to create an LPITEMIDLIST, and that’s not a trivial task.”

But, you already knew that. You can use the Shell32 object instead, but then constructing a full path is a hassle (you have to iteratively check the parentfolder.title). To play with that, add a reference to Microsoft Shell Controls and Automation and try this:

Sub browsetest()
Dim myshell As New Shell32.Shell, myFolder As Shell32.Folder
On Error Resume Next
Set myFolder = myshell.BrowseForFolder(0, "Find your folder...", 0, 0) 'starts at desktop
'Set myFolder = myshell.BrowseForFolder(0, "Find your folder...", 0, "C:") 'starts at c:
If Err  0 Then
    MsgBox Err.Description
    Set myshell = Nothing
    Exit Sub
Else
    MsgBox myFolder.Title
End If
On Error GoTo 0
Stop    'use View Locals Window to see how the properties work
Set myFolder = Nothing
Set myshell = Nothing
End Sub

Good luck.

Reply | Quote