README.md

Description

How do I launch a file in its associated program?

The Shell statement unfortunately only supports launching an EXE file directly. If you want to be able to launch, i.e. Microsoft Word by calling a .DOC file only, you can make your VB application launch the associated program with the document using the following method:

More Info

Submitted On
By	VB FAQ
Level	Unknown
User Rating	4.4 (40 globes from 9 users)
Compatibility	VB 3.0, VB 4.0 (16-bit), VB 4.0 (32-bit), VB 5.0, VB 6.0
Category	Files/ File Controls/ Input/ Output
World	Visual Basic
Archive File

API Declarations

#IF WIN32 THEN
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
Private Declare Function GetDesktopWindow Lib "user32" () As Long
#ELSE
Declare Function ShellExecute Lib "SHELL" (ByVal hwnd%, _
ByVal lpszOp$, ByVal lpszFile$, ByVal lpszParams$, _
ByVal lpszDir$, ByVal fsShowCmd%) As Integer
Declare Function GetDesktopWindow Lib "USER" () As Integer
#END IF
Private Const SW_SHOWNORMAL = 1

Source Code

Function StartDoc(DocName As String) As Long
  Dim Scr_hDC As Long
  Scr_hDC = GetDesktopWindow()
  StartDoc = ShellExecute(Scr_hDC, "Open", DocName, "", "C:\", SW_SHOWNORMAL)
End Function
Private Sub Form_Click()
  Dim r As Long
  r = StartDoc("c:\my documents\word\myletter.doc")
  Debug.Print "Return code from Startdoc: "; r
End Sub