by EM Dixson (6 Submissions)
Category: Windows API Call/Explanation
Compatability: Visual Basic 5.0
Difficulty: Unknown Difficulty
Originally Published: Mon 27th September 1999
Date Added: Mon 8th February 2021
Rating: 
(1 Votes)
THE_BEST SHELL_EXECUTE_EVER
API Declarations
I'm just gonna paste the whole poop in one scoop. I recommend you do the same.
To call it just:
Call Shell("Whatever.txt") ' or ANY filename for that matter. As long as there
'is an associated extension available on the box that the program resides it 'WILL CALL ANYTHING!
'Please be advised: Even though this Module will call a .HTML file it will only
'call it from the box that it's on. It does NOT Shell to the web. It will call
'an HTML file but only like this:
Call Shell("YourFile.html")
'or like:
Call Shell("C:\Whatever\The_Path_Is_To\YourFile.html")
Your friend,
EM Dixson
http://developer.ecorp.net
VBcoders
'# This code was written by Emmett Dixson (c)1999. You may alter
'# this code, trade, steal, borrow, lend or give away this code.
'# However, this code has been regisered with the Library of
'# Congress as a literary acheivement and as such excludes it
'# from being known or proclaimed as "PUBLIC DOMAIN".
'#---------------You may NOT remove this header---------------
'#------------------You may NOT SELL this work----------------
'#----YES! You MAY use this work for commercial purposes------
'#---This code MAY NOT be sold or redistributed for profit----
'#-------- I wish you every success in your projects ---------
'#------------------------ Visit me at -----------------------
'#------------------http://developer.ecorp.net ---------------
'#-----------------FREE Visual Basic Source Code -------------
#
'For best results paste everything into a NEW MODULE and be sure
'you SAVE the module to your project. I call the module...
'Surething.bas because it won't let you down.
'Works for Win3.x, Win95,Win98,WinNT and EVEN Win2000(don't ask!)
'Here it is and it is Soooo sweet!
'I mean it will call any file man and auto-launch it's
'associated application in any Windows OS.
'All you have to do is enter the path and the
'file-name and extension. It is totally awesome if I do say so
'my self.....LOL.
'Don't change anything...just paste all this crap into ONE
'MODULE that you can add to a project.
Option Explicit
Private Declare Function ShellExecute Lib "shell32.dll" Alias "ShellExecuteA" (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal lpOperation As String, ByVal lpFile As String, ByVal lpParameters As String, ByVal lpDirectory As String, ByVal nShowCmd As Long) As Long
Function Shell(Program As String, Optional ShowCmd As Long = vbNormalNoFocus, Optional ByVal WorkDir As Variant) As Long
Dim FirstSpace As Integer, Slash As Integer
If Left(Program, 1) = """" Then
FirstSpace = InStr(2, Program, """")
If FirstSpace <> 0 Then
Program = Mid(Program, 2, FirstSpace - 2) & Mid(Program, FirstSpace + 1)
FirstSpace = FirstSpace - 1
End If
Else
FirstSpace = InStr(Program, " ")
End If
If FirstSpace = 0 Then FirstSpace = Len(Program) + 1
If IsMissing(WorkDir) Then
For Slash = FirstSpace - 1 To 1 Step -1
If Mid(Program, Slash, 1) = "\" Then Exit For
Next
If Slash = 0 Then
WorkDir = CurDir
ElseIf Slash = 1 Or Mid(Program, Slash - 1, 1) = ":" Then
WorkDir = Left(Program, Slash)
Else
WorkDir = Left(Program, Slash - 1)
End If
End If
Shell = ShellExecute(0, vbNullString, _
Left(Program, FirstSpace - 1), LTrim(Mid(Program, FirstSpace)), _
WorkDir, ShowCmd)
If Shell < 32 Then VBA.Shell Program, ShowCmd 'To raise Error
End Function
