VB Forum / COM / July 2008

For file related code and many others I go to http://vbnet.mvps.org. It has
everything you need. Plenty of code samples/demos.

especially for all my friends without access to google:

Option Explicit

Type openFilename
   lStructSize             As Long
   hwndOwner               As Long
   hInstance               As Long
   lpstrFilter             As String
   lpstrCustomFilter       As String
   nMaxCustFilter          As Long
   nFilterIndex            As Long
   lpstrFile               As String
   nMaxFile                As Long
   lpstrFileTitle          As String
   nMaxFileTitle           As Long
   lpstrInitialDir         As String
   lpstrTitle              As String
   Flags                   As Long
   nFileOffset             As Integer
   nFileExtension          As Integer
   lpstrDefExt             As String
   lCustData               As Long
   lpfnHook                As Long
   lpTemplateName          As String
End Type

Private Declare Function GetOpenFileName Lib "comdlg32.dll"
Alias "GetOpenFileNameA" (pOpenfilename As openFilename) As
Long

Public Function ShowOpen(filename As String, pathname As
String, filter As String, title As String) As String

   Const OFN_FILEMUSTEXIST = &H1000
   Const OFN_EXPLORER = &H80000

   Dim flag            As Long
   Dim OFN             As openFilename

   flag = OFN_EXPLORER Or OFN_FILEMUSTEXIST

   OFName.lStructSize = Len(OFName)
   OFName.hwndOwner = Screen.ActiveForm.hWnd
   OFName.hInstance = App.hInstance
   OFName.lpstrFilter = filter
   OFName.lpstrFile = left$(filename & Space$(254), 254)
   OFName.nMaxFile = 255
   OFName.lpstrFileTitle = String(254, vbNullChar)
   OFName.nMaxFileTitle = 255
   OFName.lpstrInitialDir = pathname
   OFName.lpstrTitle = title
   OFName.Flags = flag

   If GetOpenFileName(OFName) = 0 Then
           ShowOpen = ""
       Else
           ShowOpen = StripNullChar(OFName.lpstrFile)
       End If

End Function

Private Function StripNullChar(Buffer As String) As String

   Dim NullPos             As Integer

   NullPos = InStr(Buffer, vbNullChar)
   If NullPos > 0 Then
       StripNullChar = left$(Buffer, NullPos - 1)
   Else
       StripNullChar = Buffer
   End If

End Function

I have found a site which seems to do exactly what I want with a small
amount of code. See
http://www.visualbasic.happycodings.com/Common_Dialogs/code6.html
for more info.

However, I believe the method to call the BrowseForFile function
should be something like this.
'--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub Test()

Dim strFilename As String

   strFilename = BrowseForFile("C:\", "Excel File (*.xls);*.xls",
"Open Workbook")
   if strFilename = "" Then End

End Sub
'--------------------------------------------------------------------------

I also changed the flags parameter in the code :-

   tFileBrowse.flags = 4

to hide the Read Only tick box on the dialog form.

The only slight problem is that it displays the File Selector dialog
in the top left corner of the screen, if anyone knows how to centre it
on the screen I would be very grateful.

Peter Hibbs.