VB Forum / General 2 / June 2004

How do you know that VB finds the EXE ?

Are you absolutely sure that you have the correct path / file name, and that
you are not inadvertently trying to run the setup program or something else
that is not actually the ACDSee exe? I know the following code is a bit of
overkill for this little job (it is a modification of some code that I wrote
to clear file attributes) but it will fill a Textbox with the full path /
name of all files that contain the phrase "acdsee" and end with ".exe". When
you have decided which of the files is the one you are looking for then
you'll be able to use CtrlC / CtrlV to copy / paste it into your code (don't
forget to have your other VB IDE running before you use CtrlV because the VB
IDE trashes the Windows cliupboard when it starts up). Also, is there any
chance that ACDSee has set itself up so as to be available only to persons
logged on as Administrator, and that it might deliberately refuse to start
othjerwise? Just an idea. Here's the code to diaply the file names. Paste it
into a VB Form containing one Text Box and one Command Button (Set the Text
Box Multiline to True in the IDE). When you run the code, click the button
and select your main drive (so that it will search the entire drive):

Mike

Option Explicit
Const MAX_PATH = 260
Private Type FILETIME
  dwLowDateTime As Long
  dwHighDateTime As Long
End Type
Private Type WIN32_FIND_DATA
   lngFileAttributes As Long           ' File attributes
   ftCreationTime As FILETIME          ' Creation time
   ftLastAccessTime As FILETIME        ' Last access time
   ftLastWriteTime As FILETIME         ' Last modified time
   lngFileSizeHigh As Long             ' Size (hi word)
   lngFileSizeLow As Long              ' Size (lo word)
   lngReserved0 As Long                ' reserved
   lngReserved1 As Long                ' reserved
   strFileName As String * MAX_PATH    ' File name
   strAlternate As String * 14         ' 8.3 file name
End Type
Private Type BrowseInfo
 hWndOwner As Long
 pidlRoot As Long
 sDisplayName As String
 sTitle As String
 ulFlags As Long
 lpfn As Long
 lParam As Long
 iImage As Long
End Type
Private Declare Function SHBrowseForFolder Lib "shell32.dll" _
(bBrowse As BrowseInfo) As Long
Private Declare Function SHGetPathFromIDList Lib "shell32.dll" _
(ByVal lItem As Long, ByVal sDir As String) As Long
Private Declare Function FindFirstFile Lib "kernel32" _
Alias "FindFirstFileA" (ByVal lpFileName As String, _
lpFindFileData As WIN32_FIND_DATA) As Long
Private Declare Function FindNextFile Lib "kernel32" _
Alias "FindNextFileA" (ByVal hFindFile As Long, _
lpFindFileData As WIN32_FIND_DATA) As Long
Private Declare Function FindClose Lib "kernel32" _
(ByVal hFindFile As Long) As Long
Private Const FILE_ATTRIBUTE_ARCHIVE = &H20
Private Const FILE_ATTRIBUTE_COMPRESSED = &H800
Private Const FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY = &H10
Private Const FILE_ATTRIBUTE_HIDDEN = &H2
Private Const FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL = &H80
Private Const FILE_ATTRIBUTE_READONLY = &H1
Private Const FILE_ATTRIBUTE_SYSTEM = &H4
Private Const FILE_ATTRIBUTE_TEMPORARY = &H100

Private Function Browse_Folder() As String
' Let the user browse for a folder. Return the
' selected folder. Return an empty string if
' the user cancels.
Dim browse_info As BrowseInfo
Dim lItem As Long
Dim sDirName As String
Dim hwnd As Long
browse_info.hWndOwner = hwnd
browse_info.pidlRoot = 0
browse_info.sDisplayName = Space$(260)
browse_info.sTitle = "Select Folder"
browse_info.ulFlags = 1 ' Return folder name.
browse_info.lpfn = 0
browse_info.lParam = 0
browse_info.iImage = 0
lItem = SHBrowseForFolder(browse_info)
If lItem Then
 sDirName = Space$(260)
 If SHGetPathFromIDList(lItem, sDirName) Then
   Browse_Folder = Left(sDirName, _
     InStr(sDirName, Chr$(0)) - 1)
 Else
   Browse_Folder = ""
 End If
End If
End Function

Private Sub ClearAttributes(strFolderPath As String)
Dim fd As WIN32_FIND_DATA
Dim hFind As Long
Dim strFile As String
Dim strSearch As String
If Right$(strFolderPath, 1) <> "\" Then strFolderPath _
 = strFolderPath & "\"
strSearch = strFolderPath & "*.*"
hFind = FindFirstFile(strSearch, fd)
If hFind > 0 Then
 Do
   strFile = Left$(fd.strFileName, _
     InStr(fd.strFileName, Chr(0)) - 1)
   If (fd.lngFileAttributes And FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY) _
     = FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY Then
     If strFile = "." Or strFile = ".." Then
       '
     Else
       ' It is a directory so do what you want to do with
       ' directories. In this example we want to:
       ' (1) Set its attributes to Normal
       'SetAttr strFolderPath & strFile, vbNormal
       ' (2) Recursively trawl that directory (if you comment
       ' out the following line then this Function will deal
       ' only with files in the target directory and will not
       ' "drill down" recursively
       ClearAttributes strFolderPath & strFile
     End If
   Else
     ' It is a file (not a directory) so do what you want to
     ' do with files. In this example we want to:
     ' (1) Set its attributes to Normal
     'SetAttr strFolderPath & strFile, vbNormal
     '
     '
     If InStr(LCase(strFile), "acdsee") > 0 And _
         Right$(LCase(strFile), 4) = ".exe" Then
       Text1.Text = Text1.Text & _
         (strFolderPath & strFile) & vbCrLf
     End If
     '
     '
   End If
 Loop While CBool(FindNextFile(hFind, fd))
 Call FindClose(hFind)
End If
End Sub

Private Sub Command1_Click()
' Set Text1 Multinline to True in the IDE
Me.WindowState = vbMaximized
DoEvents
Text1.Move 0, 0, Me.Width, Me.Height / 3
Text1.Text = ""
Dim sfolder As String
sfolder = Browse_Folder
If sfolder = "" Then ' Cancel
 Caption = "No Folder Selected"
Else
 Caption = "Please wait . . . . ."
 ClearAttributes sfolder
 Caption = "Done."
 Text1.Text = Text1.Text & "Done."
End If
End Sub

*Somewhere* in the registry is the full path to this exe.  You'll have to
find it and compare it to your Shell string. As I don't have this utility
installed I can't be more help.  But the authors do have a developer program
and SDK that may also be of help ... see
http://www.acdsystems.com/english/partners/sdkpartners/index

Agreed. Lots of people seem to go away as soon as they have their answer
without even bothering to post back to tell us which suggestion (if any)
solved their problem. Rob so far seems to have done the same with his
"Printing in VB6" problem. Come on Vleugels (and Rob). Tell us what your
problem actually was and how you fixed it.

Mike