Windows Open Dialog

Do I need a full copy of VB to get access to Windows dialogs? I want to
allow a user to pick a text file that I can then search through, but haven't
been able to get the Windows reference to work correctly. I get a licensing
error it seems.

Thanks in advance.

--
James Wedding, P.E.
Technology Manager &
Associate
Jones & Boyd, Inc.
Dallas, TX
XP/2 on P4-3.4/1G
LDT2005SP1 & C3D2005SP1

 

the hip way is with the standard api calls
one of the hundreds of versions floating around the web, this one by
randall rath if i'm not mistaken
a google search will turn up many more.
(this is set up to be used in a class module)
Option Explicit

'//The Win32 API Functions///
Private Declare Function GetSaveFileName Lib _
"comdlg32.dll" Alias "GetSaveFileNameA" _
(pOpenfilename As OPENFILENAME) As Long

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

'//A few of the available Flags///
Private Const OFN_HIDEREADONLY = &H4
'//The Structure
Private 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 lngHwnd As Long
Private strFilter As String
Private strTitle As String
Private strDir As String
Private blnHideReadOnly As Boolean

Private Sub Class_Initialize()
'Set default values when
'class is first created
strDir = CurDir
strTitle = "Llamas Rule"
strFilter = "All Files" _
& Chr$(0) & "*.*" & Chr$(0)
lngHwnd = &O0 'Desktop
End Sub

Public Property Let OwnerHwnd(WindowHandle As Long)
'//FOR YOU TODO//
'Use the API to validate this handle
lngHwnd = WindowHandle
'R14 users who just want to use this code:
'Simple, don't set this property! the default
'of &0 will work fine for most of yor needs
End Property

Public Property Get OwnerHwnd() As Long
OwnerHwnd = lngHwnd
End Property

Public Property Let Title(Caption As String)
'don't allow null strings
If Not Caption = vbNullString Then
strTitle = Caption
End If
End Property

Public Property Get Title() As String
Title = strTitle
End Property

Public Property Let Filter(ByVal FilterString As String)
'Filters change the type of files that are
'displayed in the dialog. I have designed this
'validation to use the same filter format the
'Common dialog OCX uses:
'"All Files (*.*)|*.*"
Dim intPos As Integer
Do While InStr(FilterString, "|") > 0
intPos = InStr(FilterString, "|")
If intPos > 0 Then
FilterString = Left$(FilterString, intPos - 1) _
& Chr$(0) & Right$(FilterString, _
Len(FilterString) - intPos)
End If
Loop
If Right$(FilterString, 2) <> Chr$(0) & Chr$(0) Then
FilterString = FilterString & Chr$(0)
End If
strFilter = FilterString
End Property


Public Property Get Filter() As String
'Here we reverse the process and return
'the Filter in the same format the it was
'entered
Dim intPos As Integer
Dim strTemp As String
strTemp = strFilter
Do While InStr(strTemp, Chr$(0)) > 0
intPos = InStr(strTemp, Chr$(0))
If intPos > 0 Then
strTemp = Left$(strTemp, intPos - 1) _
& "|" & Right$(strTemp, _
Len(strTemp) - intPos)
End If
Loop
If Right$(strTemp, 1) = "|" Then
strTemp = Left$(strTemp, Len(strTemp) - 1)
End If
Filter = strTemp
End Property

Public Property Let HideReadOnly(blnVal As Boolean)
'Simple one
blnHideReadOnly = blnVal
End Property

Public Property Get HideReadOnly() As Boolean
HideReadOnly = blnHideReadOnly
End Property

'@~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~@
' Display and use the File open dialog
'@~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~@
Public Function ShowOpen() As String
Dim strTemp As String
Dim udtStruct As OPENFILENAME
udtStruct.lStructSize = Len(udtStruct)
'Use our private variable
udtStruct.hwndOwner = lngHwnd
'Use our private variable
udtStruct.lpstrFilter = strFilter
udtStruct.lpstrFile = Space$(254)
udtStruct.nMaxFile = 255
udtStruct.lpstrFileTitle = Space$(254)
udtStruct.nMaxFileTitle = 255
'Use our private variable
udtStruct.lpstrInitialDir = strDir
'Use our private variable
udtStruct.lpstrTitle = strTitle
'Ok, here we test our boolean to
'set the flag
If blnHideReadOnly Then
udtStruct.flags = OFN_HIDEREADONLY
Else
udtStruct.flags = 0
End If
If GetOpenFileName(udtStruct) Then
strTemp = (Trim(udtStruct.lpstrFile))
ShowOpen = Mid(strTemp, 1, Len(strTemp) - 1)
End If
End Function

'@~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~@
' Display and use the File Save dialog
'@~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~@
Public Function ShowSave() As String
Dim strTemp As String
Dim udtStruct As OPENFILENAME
udtStruct.lStructSize = Len(udtStruct)
'Use our private variable
udtStruct.hwndOwner = lngHwnd
'Use our private variable
udtStruct.lpstrFilter = strFilter
udtStruct.lpstrFile = Space$(254)
udtStruct.nMaxFile = 255
udtStruct.lpstrFileTitle = Space$(254)
udtStruct.nMaxFileTitle = 255
'Use our private variable
udtStruct.lpstrInitialDir = strDir
'Use our private variable
udtStruct.lpstrTitle = strTitle
'Ok, here we test our flag
If blnHideReadOnly Then
udtStruct.flags = OFN_HIDEREADONLY
Else
udtStruct.flags = 0
End If
If GetSaveFileName(udtStruct) Then
strTemp = (Trim(udtStruct.lpstrFile))
ShowSave = Mid(strTemp, 1, Len(strTemp) - 1)
End If
End Function

 

Hi James,

You aren't able to legally use the VB DLL in VBA, so even if you had it and
could, it is not a good solution.

I found Randall's code close enough to incomprehensible and gave up before
succeeding in finding which variables he used to filter the displayed files,
and the displayed filters.

If you know the files are always in a fixed directory, it's very easy to use
the DIR command based on your own filter into a list box to display the
files from that directory.

It's also possible to find dozens of alternatives on the web.


--

Regards,


Laurie Comerford
www.cadapps.com.au

 

You need a full copy of VB to do any serious development,
and expect it to be taken seriously by your peers

 

I like Frank O's CommonDialog class.
Pretty straight-forward and I can post a copy of it if you'd like.
It includes access to the Open and Save dialog boxes.

 

Laurie,
If you're talking about the code I posted last night....
if you want to test it....
1 start a new vba project
2 insert a class module
3 copy paste the code into that class module
4 name the class module FileDialog
5 paste the following code into the ThisDrawing module
6 hit f5
7 browse to a folder containing lisp files

'---this is all the code you need to use the class file as posted----
Sub LauriesFiles()
Dim fd As FileDialog
Set fd = New FileDialog
fd.Title = "Lauries Files"
fd.Filter = "Lisp Files (*.lsp)|*.lsp"
fd.ShowOpen
Set fd = Nothing
End Sub
'---end of code using filedialog class

if you want to filter for other file types, change the line
fd.Filter = "Lisp Files (*.lsp)|*.lsp"
to
fd.Filter = "Text Files (*.txt)|*.txt"
or
fd.Filter = "Dwg Files (*.dwg)|*.dwg"


in fact you can ignore the title and filter and get it down to the minimum

Sub LauriesFiles2()
Dim fd As FileDialog
Set fd = New FileDialog
fd.ShowOpen
Set fd = Nothing
End Sub




This is just my beginners understanding of api calls so forgive all
mis-statements and omissions

When you first start looking at api calls the amount of code there is
overwhelming.
The good thing about it is you're only going to put it in a class somewhere
(encapsulate it) and then forget about it....
Simply insert the class into project you want to use it in (not the best way
to reuse code but the simplest to explain and generally for us
"non-programmer autocad users" in our initial forrays into vba imho I think
it's acceptable)
Then in our actual project code we just use the class as in the above
sample - whose code I think you will admit is fairly simple and uncluttered.
Api calls can of course also go in bas files - just depends on what you're
doing and the specifics of the project.
In this case using a class simplifies the access to the title and filter
settings - nothing more.

In general all api calls will follow the format
1 Declare SomeFunction (located in some windows file)
2 Define Types required by SomeFunction
3 Write BodyOfFunctionCall

what makes it look confusing is that
-Declare SomeFunction
can take up two or three lines with word wrap

-Define Types required by SomeFunction
can take up many lines depending on which type we're talking about

-Write BodyOfFunctionCall
again can take up many lines depending

so the total gob of code can run several pages just to define one stupid
little function


the beauty of them is that once all that dirty work is done
(usually by two clicks of Ctl-C and Ctl-V)-not actually too hard once you
get it down
then using the function is as simple as

Sub MyUsingSub()
SomeFunction arg1, arg2..., argn
End sub


hth
Mark

 

You need a full copy of VB to do any serious development,

so your saying we can be taken seriously
with VB? Not just C? ;-) Did VB.Net entice
you over form the darkside? 0-)

 

Glad to see you haven't grown any more likable over the years. Thanks for
the input.

--
James Wedding, P.E.
Technology Manager &
Associate
Jones & Boyd, Inc.
Dallas, TX
XP/2 on P4-3.4/1G
LDT2005SP1 & C3D2005SP1

 

That would be great. I'm simply trying to let the user navigate to a file,
nothing complicated. Thank you.

--
James Wedding, P.E.
Technology Manager &
Associate
Jones & Boyd, Inc.
Dallas, TX
XP/2 on P4-3.4/1G
LDT2005SP1 & C3D2005SP1

 

James,

Take a look at "AutoCAD 2004 VBA Programmers Reference" by Joe Sutphin. It
has a chapter dedicated to the Windows API which may help address your
issue.

 

Hi,

Thanks for that.

I was referring to code I got from Randall years ago. Whether it is the
same as you posted, I don't know.

The equivalent of the line "fd.Filter = "Lisp Files (*.lsp)|*.lsp"" was
the one I couldn't get going.

I would presume it can be extended to:

fd.Filter = "Menu Files (*mnl,*.mnu.)|*.mnl,*,mnu"


With your advice, next time I wish to do this, I'll revisit Randall's work.

--


Laurie Comerford
CADApps
www.cadapps.com.au

 

I'm saying that Microsoft deliberately limits what you
can do with VBA, mainly because it sells VB for $$$$.

If you use the redistributable tools that come with
VB, then yes, I think users of your software will take
your work more seriously.

The bigger question is what is the big deal about
plopping down a few hundred bucks for something
that has most of what you need?

 

just a joke;;-)