File list in VBA/Excel

[tom1681]

Is there a way to display a file list, with the ability to change folders etc., and be able to use the file name selected, ie. store it in a variable? If so, how?!
I want to allow users to use a script in various workbooks by getting the script to ask them which file they want to use.

TIA.

---
Tom

 

[nberryman]

Copy this into a new code module and call it by using

Variable=GetOpenFileName

Option Compare Database

'***************** Code Start **************
'This code was originally written by Ken Getz.
'It is not to be altered or distributed,
'except as part of an application.
'You are free to use it in any application,
'provided the copyright notice is left unchanged.
'
' Code courtesy of:
' Microsoft Access 95 How-To
' Ken Getz and Paul Litwin
' Waite Group Press, 1996

Type tagOPENFILENAME
lStructSize As Long
hwndOwner As Long
hInstance As Long
strFilter As String
strCustomFilter As String
nMaxCustFilter As Long
nFilterIndex As Long
strFile As String
nMaxFile As Long
strFileTitle As String
nMaxFileTitle As Long
strInitialDir As String
strTitle As String
Flags As Long
nFileOffset As Integer
nFileExtension As Integer
strDefExt As String
lCustData As Long
lpfnHook As Long
lpTemplateName As String
End Type

Declare Function aht_apiGetOpenFileName Lib "comdlg32.dll" _
Alias "GetOpenFileNameA" (OFN As tagOPENFILENAME) As Boolean

Declare Function aht_apiGetSaveFileName Lib "comdlg32.dll" _
Alias "GetSaveFileNameA" (OFN As tagOPENFILENAME) As Boolean

Declare Function CommDlgExtendedError Lib "comdlg32.dll" () As Long

Global Const ahtOFN_READONLY = &H1
Global Const ahtOFN_OVERWRITEPROMPT = &H2
Global Const ahtOFN_HIDEREADONLY = &H4
Global Const ahtOFN_NOCHANGEDIR = &H8
Global Const ahtOFN_SHOWHELP = &H10
' You won't use these.
'Global Const ahtOFN_ENABLEHOOK = &H20
'Global Const ahtOFN_ENABLETEMPLATE = &H40
'Global Const ahtOFN_ENABLETEMPLATEHANDLE = &H80
Global Const ahtOFN_NOVALIDATE = &H100
Global Const ahtOFN_ALLOWMULTISELECT = &H200
Global Const ahtOFN_EXTENSIONDIFFERENT = &H400
Global Const ahtOFN_PATHMUSTEXIST = &H800
Global Const ahtOFN_FILEMUSTEXIST = &H1000
Global Const ahtOFN_CREATEPROMPT = &H2000
Global Const ahtOFN_SHAREAWARE = &H4000
Global Const ahtOFN_NOREADONLYRETURN = &H8000
Global Const ahtOFN_NOTESTFILECREATE = &H10000
Global Const ahtOFN_NONETWORKBUTTON = &H20000
Global Const ahtOFN_NOLONGNAMES = &H40000
' New for Windows 95
Global Const ahtOFN_EXPLORER = &H80000
Global Const ahtOFN_NODEREFERENCELINKS = &H100000
Global Const ahtOFN_LONGNAMES = &H200000


Function TestIt()
Dim strFilter As String
Dim lngFlags As Long
strFilter = ahtAddFilterItem(strFilter, "Access Files (*.mda, *.mdb)", _
"*.MDA;*.MDB&quot
strFilter = ahtAddFilterItem(strFilter, "dBASE Files (*.dbf)", "*.DBF&quot
strFilter = ahtAddFilterItem(strFilter, "Text Files (*.txt)", "*.TXT&quot
strFilter = ahtAddFilterItem(strFilter, "All Files (*.*)", "*.*&quot
MsgBox "You selected: " & ahtCommonFileOpenSave(InitialDir:="C:\", _
Filter:=strFilter, FilterIndex:=3, Flags:=lngFlags, _
DialogTitle:="Hello! Open Me!&quot
' Since you passed in a variable for lngFlags,
' the function places the output flags value in the variable.
Debug.Print Hex(lngFlags)
End Function


Function GetOpenFile(Optional varDirectory As Variant, _
Optional varTitleForDialog As Variant) As Variant
' Here's an example that gets an Access database name.
Dim strFilter As String
Dim lngFlags As Long
Dim varFileName As Variant
' Specify that the chosen file must already exist,
' don't change directories when you're done
' Also, don't bother displaying
' the read-only box. It'll only confuse people.
lngFlags = ahtOFN_FILEMUSTEXIST Or _
ahtOFN_HIDEREADONLY Or ahtOFN_NOCHANGEDIR
If IsMissing(varDirectory) Then
varDirectory = ""
End If
If IsMissing(varTitleForDialog) Then
varTitleForDialog = ""
End If

' Define the filter string and allocate space in the "c"
' string Duplicate this line with changes as necessary for
' more file templates.
strFilter = ahtAddFilterItem(strFilter, _
"Pictures (*.jpg)", "*.jpg;*.gif&quot
' Now actually call to get the file name.
varFileName = ahtCommonFileOpenSave( _
OpenFile:=True, _
InitialDir:=varDirectory, _
Filter:=strFilter, _
Flags:=lngFlags, _
DialogTitle:=varTitleForDialog)

If Not IsNull(varFileName) Then
varFileName = TrimNull(varFileName)
End If
GetOpenFile = varFileName
End Function


Function ahtCommonFileOpenSave( _
Optional ByRef Flags As Variant, _
Optional ByVal InitialDir As Variant, _
Optional ByVal Filter As Variant, _
Optional ByVal FilterIndex As Variant, _
Optional ByVal DefaultExt As Variant, _
Optional ByVal FileName As Variant, _
Optional ByVal DialogTitle As Variant, _
Optional ByVal hwnd As Variant, _
Optional ByVal OpenFile As Variant) As Variant

' This is the entry point you'll use to call the common
' file open/save dialog. The parameters are listed
' below, and all are optional.
'
' In:
' Flags: one or more of the ahtOFN_* constants, OR'd together.
' InitialDir: the directory in which to first look
' Filter: a set of file filters, set up by calling
' AddFilterItem. See examples.
' FilterIndex: 1-based integer indicating which filter
' set to use, by default (1 if unspecified)
' DefaultExt: Extension to use if the user doesn't enter one.
' Only useful on file saves.
' FileName: Default value for the file name text box.
' DialogTitle: Title for the dialog.
' hWnd: parent window handle
' OpenFile: Boolean(True=Open File/False=Save As)
' Out:
' Return Value: Either Null or the selected filename
Dim OFN As tagOPENFILENAME
Dim strFilename As String
Dim strFileTitle As String
Dim fResult As Boolean
' Give the dialog a caption title.
If IsMissing(InitialDir) Then InitialDir = CurDir
If IsMissing(Filter) Then Filter = ""
If IsMissing(FilterIndex) Then FilterIndex = 1
If IsMissing(Flags) Then Flags = 0&
If IsMissing(DefaultExt) Then DefaultExt = ""
If IsMissing(FileName) Then FileName = ""
If IsMissing(DialogTitle) Then DialogTitle = ""
If IsMissing(hwnd) Then hwnd = Application.hWndAccessApp
If IsMissing(OpenFile) Then OpenFile = True
' Allocate string space for the returned strings.
strFilename = Left(FileName & String(256, 0), 256)
strFileTitle = String(256, 0)
' Set up the data structure before you call the function
With OFN
.lStructSize = Len(OFN)
.hwndOwner = hwnd
.strFilter = Filter
.nFilterIndex = FilterIndex
.strFile = strFilename
.nMaxFile = Len(strFilename)
.strFileTitle = strFileTitle
.nMaxFileTitle = Len(strFileTitle)
.strTitle = DialogTitle
.Flags = Flags
.strDefExt = DefaultExt
.strInitialDir = InitialDir
' Didn't think most people would want to deal with
' these options.
.hInstance = 0
.strCustomFilter = ""
.nMaxCustFilter = 0
.lpfnHook = 0
'New for NT 4.0
.strCustomFilter = String(255, 0)
.nMaxCustFilter = 255
End With


' This will pass the desired data structure to the
' Windows API, which will in turn it uses to display
' the Open/Save As Dialog.
If OpenFile Then
fResult = aht_apiGetOpenFileName(OFN)
Else
fResult = aht_apiGetSaveFileName(OFN)
End If

' The function call filled in the strFileTitle member
' of the structure. You'll have to write special code
' to retrieve that if you're interested.
If fResult Then
' You might care to check the Flags member of the
' structure to get information about the chosen file.
' In this example, if you bothered to pass in a
' value for Flags, we'll fill it in with the outgoing
' Flags value.
If Not IsMissing(Flags) Then Flags = OFN.Flags
ahtCommonFileOpenSave = TrimNull(OFN.strFile)
Else
ahtCommonFileOpenSave = "NoFile"
End If
End Function


Function ahtAddFilterItem(strFilter As String, _
strDescription As String, Optional varItem As Variant) As String
' Tack a new chunk onto the file filter.
' That is, take the old value, stick onto it the description,
' (like "Databases&quot, a null character, the skeleton
' (like "*.mdb;*.mda&quot and a final null character.

If IsMissing(varItem) Then varItem = "*.*"
ahtAddFilterItem = strFilter & _
strDescription & vbNullChar & _
varItem & vbNullChar
End Function


Private Function TrimNull(ByVal strItem As String) As String
Dim intPos As Integer
intPos = InStr(strItem, vbNullChar)
If intPos > 0 Then
TrimNull = Left(strItem, intPos - 1)
Else
TrimNull = strItem
End If
End Function
'************** Code End *****************

Neil Berryman
IT Trainer
neil_berryman@btopenworld.com

 

[acron]

A slightly shorter routine :

Sub SelectFile()

    Dim strFileName As String
    Dim strFilter As String
    
    strFilter = "Excel Files (*.xls),*.xls, " & _
                "Excel Templates (*.xlt), *.xlt, " & _
                "Excel AddIns (*.xla), *.xla), " & _
                "All Files (*.*), *.*"
                
    strFileName = Application.GetOpenFilename( _
                    FileFilter:=strFilter, _
                    FilterIndex:=1, _
                    Title:="Select File to open", _
                    MultiSelect:=False)
                    
    MsgBox strFileName
    
End Sub

This presents the FileOpen dialog box, and either returns False (If cancelled) selected or the Filename if a file is selected. The file is NOT opened, and a further operation is required to open the file.

FileFilter is a comma seperated list of file types that the user can select from, and FilterIndex is the item from that list the dialog will default to. Multiselect can be set to True to allow the selection of more than one file.

A.C.

 

[tom1681]

Thanks for the posts. Just what I was afer A.C. - cheers!