Space in file var string

R2005 Vlisp:

After stringent training and discipline practices, I still run into filenames with spaces in them.
Command: (setq file_name (getfiled "OPEN FILE IN Excel " "G:" "xls" 8))
"G:\\2003\\Lists\\Floor Plates 03.XLS"

When I try to feed this string to startapp:
(Startapp "C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Office\\Office10\\excel.exe" file_name)

It opens Excel but errors out on the file name.

Is there a simple way to get value of file_name so Excel will understand it?

TIA

Bill

 

Sorry,
It was too simple for me.

(strcat "\"" file_name "\"")

Bill

 

(Startapp "C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Office\\Office10\\excel.exe" (strcat "\"" file_name "\""))

 

You could use dos_lib...

(dos_shellexe "notepad.exe" "c:\\dev folder\\dev.txt")

The above worked for me.

Devin

 

It worked good in notepad but when I tried this in excel it croaked.

(dos_shellexe "excel.exe" "g:\\temp\\area clear test.txt")

Bill

 

Have a look at DOSLIB's dos_shortpath function. Though you would probably think it only applies to directory names, it also works (almost correctly) on files. Here's an example using a long file name on my PC:

(dos_shortpath "C:\\Program Files\\Autodesk\\ObjectARX Wizards for AutoCAD 2004\\ArxWizardHelp.chm")

returns

"C:\\PROGRA~1\\Autodesk\\OBJECT~1\\ARXWIZ~1.CHM\\"

Note, however, the backslash at the end of the return value;if you're trying to get the short file name for a file, not a directory, your program would have to strip that off before sending the string to something like startapp. I think this ought to work; give it a try:

(setq long_file_name (getfiled "Select Excel file" "" "xls" 0))
(setq short_file_name (dos_shortpath long_file_name))
(setq short_file_name (substr short_file_name 1 (1- (strlen short_file_name))))
(startapp "C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Office\\Office10\\excel.exe" short_file_name)

 

Just to make things interesting, here's what I use based on the fact that
workstations have Office installed inconsistently:

(startapp
(vl-registry-read
"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\App
Paths\\Excel.exe\\" "@")
(strcat "\"" filename"\"")
)

 

I see your point

 

(setq 1path (strcat "\042G:\\2003\\Lists\\"))

(setq 2name "Floor Plates 03.xls\042")



(defun cpen-floor ()

(startapp "C:/Program Files/Microsoft Office/Office/EXCEL"(strcat 1path
2name))

(princ)

)

Bill someone from here about a month ago sent me the solution. See example
above and note the location of "042". I split it up this way for our own
reasons. HTH
Richard

 

Thanks.
I'll have to try that.

Bill