Find-a-file 4

peekay · Jan 1, 2000

I need to know whether a file with a certain name exists on a C drive and use the following function : 
 
Type WIN32_FIND_DATA ' 318 Bytes 
dwFileAttributes As Long 
nFileSizeHigh As Long 
nFileSizeLow As Long 
dwReserved¯ As Long 
dwReserved1 As Long 
cFileName As String 
cAlternate As String 
End Type 
 
Public lpFindFileData As WIN32_FIND_DATA 
Private A As Long, FileToFind As String 
 
Declare Function FindFirstFile& Lib "kernel32" Alias "FindFirstFileA" (ByVal lpFileName As String, lpFindFileData As WIN32_FIND_DATA) 
 
Public Sub FindFile() 
Dim FileFound As String 
FileToFind = "frmFatal.frm" 
A = FindFirstFile(FileToFind, lpFindFileData) 
FileFound = lpFindFileData.cFileName 
End Sub 
 
However I do not get satisfactory results. Am I using the function wrongly? Can somebody please help. 
Thanks 
PK

MikeLacey · Jan 4, 2000

PK, 
 
I have tried your function and have come up against the same problem as you - bad dll calling convention. 
 
This is not trivial stuff you're doing. When I've had this problem in the past it's been because of the function definition and translating the data types. 
 
Could I reccomend a book to you? It's Dan Appleman's Win32 for VB[56]. I've got it at home and I'll have a look this evening. 
 
Mike 
Mike Lacey <a href=mailto:Mike_Lacey@Cargill.Com>Mike_Lacey@Cargill.Com</a> <a href=

http://www.cargill.com/>

Cargill's Corporate Web Site</a>

DougP · Jan 4, 2000

Have you tried the Dir function? 
Heres some example in Help 
 
Dim MyFile, MyPath, MyName 
' In Microsoft Windows: 
' Returns "WIN.INI" if it exists. 
MyFile = Dir("C:\WINDOWS\WIN.INI&quot

' Returns filename with specified extension. If more than one *.ini 
' file exists, the first file found is returned. 
MyFile = Dir("C:\WINDOWS\*.INI&quot

' Call Dir again without arguments to return the next *.INI file in the 
' same directory. 
MyFile = Dir 
 
' Return first *.TXT file with a set hidden attribute. 
MyFile = Dir("*.TXT", vbHidden)

peekay · Jan 5, 2000

DougP 
Thanks for your tip which solved my problem 
I had indeed used the very same method a month ago when I had the same problem but due to my alzheimerian (blush)nature forgot about it. 
PK

raviman · Jan 6, 2000

Why don't you use the microsoft scripting object runtime library. Create a file system object and manage all these type of things. It's very easy that way. Ravi Kochher <a href=mailto:rkochher@ssius.com>rkochher@ssius.com</a> <a href= > </a>

peekay · Jan 7, 2000

Hi Raviman 
I have no knowledge of scripting objects. Can you please elucidate - maybe via email - or send some code 
Thanks 
pk

raviman · Jan 7, 2000

Ok, 
Here is the sample code. 
 
Give the reference to the microsoft scripting runtime library. 
 
Then write the code as following. 
 
dim fso as new filesystemobject 
 
If fso.FileExists(source_filename) = False Then 
 
MsgBox "The Specified File Doesn't exist. Please 
Specify A Valid File Name", vbInformation + Only, "Data Transfer Utility" 
end if 
 
 
 
 
Ps : Here explore the other properties of the filesystem object as well. It offers some nice features.This works in VB6.0 only. If you are using the VB5.0 version then you can download the scripting runtime library from the MS site. 
Ravi Kochher <a href=mailto:rkochher@ssius.com>rkochher@ssius.com</a> <a href= > </a>

peekay · Jan 8, 2000

Thanks for the tip Ravi. I will try it out 
PK

EveRYeaR · Jan 8, 2000

'This is for anyone who wants to know about the 
'FindFirstFile. Your sub will work fine but the 
'lpFileName$ (Your FileToFind$) requires the full 
'path. 
 
Public Function FindFile(FileToFind as String)as String 
Dim A as long 
A& = FindFirstFile(FileToFind$, lpFindFileData) 
FindFile = lpFindFileData.cFileName 
End Function 
 
'Example1 
Ret$=FindFile("C:\frmFatal.frm&quot

'This would return the filename IF the file 
'exist under C:\ 
 
'Example2 
Ret$=FindFile("C:\*.*&quot

'This would return the first file under C:\ 
 
'Example3 
Ret$=FindFile("C:\*.avi&quot

'This would return the first .AVI under C:\

peekay · Jan 10, 2000

I wish to thank Raviman and EveRYear for two excellent contributions. 
PK 
PK Odendaal <a href=mailto: pko@mweb.co.za> pko@mweb.co.za</a> <a href= > </a>

Alt255 · Jan 10, 2000

There have been many good suggestions in this thread and I would like to add a quick-and-dirty alternative. Some of you will probably puke when you see this but you have to remember that it's only an alternative for lazy programmers, such as yours truly, who don't like to type a lot or spend a lot of time debugging code or fretting about the API standing up and barking like a good doggie. 
 
Ofile$ = "C:\DUH": SFile$ = "*.TXT" 
Sh$="C:\COMMAND.COM /C DIR /S /B C:\"+Sfile$+" >"+Ofile$ 
x = Shell(Sh$) 
If FileLen(Ofile$) < 1 Then 
MsgBox Sfile$ & " not found." 
Else 
Open Ofile$ For Input As #1 
Do While Not EOF(1) 
Input #1, Fname$ 
List1.AddItem Fname$ 
Loop 
Close #1 
End If 
 
It certainly isn't a remarkable piece of code but it will do the job with virtually no debugging. What? Do we lose our dignity if we stoop to calls to the command interpreter in preference to DLLs? Or are we all aghast because of my severe sloth and inefficiency?

MikeLacey · Jan 11, 2000

pretty much aghast really <grin> the Dir solution is just a bit clearer.... 
 
-ml Mike Lacey <a href=mailto:Mike_Lacey@Cargill.Com>Mike_Lacey@Cargill.Com</a> <a href=

http://www.cargill.com/>

Cargill's Corporate Web Site</a>

Alt255 · Jan 11, 2000

Oh well... just an alternative. It took me about three minutes to write a little sub to search an entire drive for matching files. Anybody had similar luck after pasting blocks of declarations and doing all the formal, proper stuff required to find FileName in the umpteenth layer of subdirectories? 
I wouldn't spend hours writing such a sub from scratch or debugging reusable objects to find a file on a hard drive. Let DOS do the work. 
I guess I'm a hard-case for the ugly but functional solution. LOL Mike, I hope I didn't truly offend anbody's programming sensibilities

MikeLacey · Jan 12, 2000

Oh - I'm immune to you by now... 
 
(Actually - I just used your code in a live application...) Mike Lacey <a href=mailto:Mike_Lacey@Cargill.Com>Mike_Lacey@Cargill.Com</a> <a href=

http://www.cargill.com/>

Cargill's Corporate Web Site</a>

peekay · Jan 12, 2000

Alt255 
Thanks for your part as well. I'll test it and add it to my already rich arsenal of routines for this topic. 
PK PK Odendaal <a href=mailto: pko@mweb.co.za> pko@mweb.co.za</a> <a href= > </a>

edderic · Feb 17, 2000

Another example : 
 
'Insert the following code to your form: 
 
Private Sub Form_Load() 
'Replace 'calc.exe' with the name of the file you want to find. 
'You can put here 'cal*.*' to find file that start with 'cal' 
MsgBox PathTo("calc.exe&quot

End Sub 
Function PathTo(strFile As String) As String 
Dim x As Integer 
Dim strDirs As String 
Dim strDir As String 
Dim strEntry As String 
'Replace 'C:\' with the drive you want to make the search on it. 
strDirs = "C:\" & vbNullChar 
Do While Len(strDirs) 
x = InStr(strDirs, vbNullChar) 
strDir = Left$(strDirs, x - 1) 
strDirs = Mid$(strDirs, x + 1) 
If Len(Dir$(strDir & strFile)) Then 
PathTo = strDir & Dir$(strDir & strFile) 
Exit Function 
End If 
strEntry = Dir$(strDir & "*.*", vbDirectory) 
Do While Len(strEntry) 
If (GetAttr(strDir & strEntry) And vbDirectory) Then 
If strEntry <> "." And strEntry <> ".." Then 
strDirs = strDirs & strDir & strEntry & "\" & vbNullChar 
End If 
End If 
strEntry = Dir$ 
Loop 
Loop 
PathTo = "" 
End Function 
 
Eric De Decker <a href=mailto:vbg.be@vbgroup.nl>vbg.be@vbgroup.nl</a> <a href=

http://members.tripod.lycos.nl/VisualBasicCenter/>

Visual Basic Center</a>

Snaggs · Feb 17, 2000

How about using recursion? It's an elegant solution to solving problems that deal with trees! Grab the following class and test code. Enjoy! 
 
-----<Class Start>----- 
Option Explicit 
 
Private colDirs As Collection 
Private colFiles As Collection 
 
Private sStartDir As String 
Private sFileSpec As String 
Private bCollSet As Boolean 
 
Public Function FindFiles() 
 
Dim i, iFirst, iSecond, iDirCount As Integer 
 
If sStartDir = "" Then 
Err.Raise Number:=5, _ 
Source:="FindFile.Directory", _ 
Description:="Directory Property must be supplied." 
End If 
If sFileSpec = "" Then 
Err.Raise Number:=5, _ 
Source:="FindFile.FileSpec", _ 
Description:="File Specification Property must be supplied." 
End If 
If bCollSet = False Then 
Err.Raise Number:=5, _ 
Source:="FindFile.Collection", _ 
Description:="Collection Property must be supplied." 
End If 
 
RecurseDirs sStartDir, sFileSpec 
 
While colDirs.Count > 0 
iDirCount = colDirs.Count 
RecurseDirs colDirs(1), sFileSpec 
If colDirs.Count = iDirCount Then 
For i = 1 To colDirs.Count 
iFirst = CountChar(colDirs(1), "\&quot

If colDirs.Count > 1 Then 
iSecond = CountChar(colDirs(2), "\&quot

Else 
iSecond = False 
End If 
If iFirst > iSecond And iSecond Then 
colDirs.Remove 1 
End If 
Next 
colDirs.Remove 1 
End If 
Wend 
 
End Function 
 
Private Sub Class_Initialize() 
 
Set colDirs = New Collection 
Set colFiles = New Collection 
 
End Sub 
 
Private Function RecurseDirs(Path, FileSpec) 
 
Dim sFound As String 
Dim sCurrentPath As String 
 
If Mid$(Path, Len(Path)) <> "\" Then 
Path = Path & "\" 
End If 
 
sCurrentPath = CurDir 
ChDir Path 
 
sFound = Dir(Path & FileSpec, vbNormal + vbHidden + vbSystem + vbReadOnly) 
While sFound <> "" 
colFiles.Add Item:=Path & sFound 
sFound = Dir 
Wend 
 
sFound = Dir(Path & "*.*", vbDirectory + vbNormal + vbHidden + vbSystem + vbReadOnly) 
While sFound <> "" 
If (Left(sFound, 1) <> ".&quot

And (GetAttr(Path & sFound) And vbDirectory) Then 
If colDirs.Count = 0 Then 
colDirs.Add Item:=Path & sFound 
Else 
colDirs.Add Item:=Path & sFound, Before:=1 
End If 
End If 
sFound = Dir 
Wend 
 
ChDir sCurrentPath 
 
End Function 
 
Private Function CountChar(sString As String, sChar As String) As Integer 
 
Dim iPos As Integer 
 
iPos = InStr(sString, sChar) 
While iPos <> 0 
CountChar = CountChar + 1 
iPos = InStr(iPos + 1, sString, sChar) 
Wend 
 
End Function 
 
Public Property Let Directory(sDir As String) 
 
Dim sTemp As String 
Dim iOptions As Integer 
 
If sDir = "" Then 
Err.Raise Number:=5, _ 
Source:="FindFile.Directory", _ 
Description:="Directory Property must be supplied." 
Else 
sStartDir = sDir 
End If 
 
End Property 
 
Public Property Let FileSpec(FileSpec As String) 
 
Dim iOptions As Integer 
 
If FileSpec = "" Then 
Err.Raise Number:=5, _ 
Source:="FindFile.FileSpec", _ 
Description:="File Specification Property must be supplied." 
Else 
sFileSpec = FileSpec 
End If 
 
End Property 
 
Public Property Set Collection(vObject As Object) 
 
Set colFiles = vObject 
bCollSet = True 
 
End Property 
 
Private Sub Class_Terminate() 
Set colDirs = Nothing 
Set colFiles = Nothing 
End Sub 
-----<Class End>----- 
 
-----<Test Program Start>----- 
Option Explicit 
 
Public Sub Main() 
Dim objFile As FileFind 
Dim colFiles As Collection 
Dim lIndex As Long 
 
'Create the FileFind Object. 
Set objFile = New FileFind 
 
'Create a collection to hold the list of files it found. 
Set colFiles = New Collection 
 
'Tell it the directory to search. 
objFile.Directory = "C:\TEMP" 
 
'Tell it what to search for. 
objFile.FileSpec = "*.exe" 
 
'Tell it where to put the files that were found. 
Set objFile.Collection = colFiles 
 
'Tell it to get to work! 
objFile.FindFiles 
 
'Display the files it found. 
For lIndex = 1 To colFiles.Count 
Debug.Print colFiles(lIndex) 
Next lIndex 
End Sub 
-----<Test Program End>----- 
 
Steve Meier <a href=mailto:sdmeier@jcn1.com>sdmeier@jcn1.com</a> <a href= > </a>

Alt255 · Jun 21, 2000

The following subroutine is more than 100% faster than Microsoft's VB6 "WinSeek" example and uses less than 1/10th the lines of code.     Anybody who has tried the "WinSeek" sample project has probably found it's flaws: it is slow and buggy. 17 seconds after I directed it to find all "*.COM" files on my C: drive, it reported "157 files found". The GetFiles subroutine found 149 files (the same number reported by the Windows "Find Files" feature) and performed the task in less than 7 seconds.     Portions of this subroutine would work well in a project requiring multiple searches based on different file types. The first portion retrieves the directory structure and requires about 90% of the operating time (it could be performed once and the results retained globally). The second portion retrieves the file names from the directories stored in the Dirs() array (file searches could require less than a second).     Do you see where I am going with this?     Try: Call GetFiles("C:", "*.COM&quot

Private Sub GetFiles(Drive$, FileSpec$) ReDim Dirs(1) As String On Error Resume Next SrchPath = Drive$ + "\": Dirs(1) = SrchPath FirstDir = 1: LastDir = 1         'Get the directory structure Do     For D = FirstDir To LastDir         SrchName = Dir(Dirs(D), vbDirectory)         Do While SrchName <> ""             If SrchName <> "." And SrchName <> ".." Then                 If (GetAttr(Dirs(D) & SrchName) And vbDirectory) = vbDirectory Then                     ReDim Preserve Dirs(UBound(Dirs) + 1)                     Dirs(UBound(Dirs)) = Dirs(D) & SrchName                     If Right$(Dirs(UBound(Dirs)), 1) <> "\" Then                         Dirs(UBound(Dirs)) = Dirs(UBound(Dirs)) + "\"                     End If                 End If             End If             SrchName = Dir         Loop     Next     FirstDir = LastDir + 1     If FirstDir > UBound(Dirs) Then Exit Do     LastDir = UBound(Dirs) Loop         'Place the filenames in the list box For F = 1 To UBound(Dirs)     SrchName = Dir(Dirs(F) & FileSpec$, 7)     Do While SrchName <> ""         List1.AddItem Dirs(F) & SrchName:         SrchName = Dir     Loop Next End Sub <a href=mailto: > </a> <a href=

http://www.vorpalcom.com>A

plain black box</a>

sodakotahusker · Mar 17, 2001

This thread now spans more than a year of posts!! It's a mini time capsule!

I spent about 2 hours trying the various solutions proposed here - with no luck. What I am trying to do is a little different - I know the file name(bookmaster.mdb) I want but don't know the path where it is found(typical of a user install where they can put it where they wanted). I finally wrote the following code which works slick and fast. This uses the filesystemobject and recursion. I thought it might be useful for someone looking for the same functionality as myself - plus help someone learn about filesystemobject and recursion. Personally I have been using the DOS/SHELL routine for years to do something like this - but this is faster and less problematic and even takes less coding.
--------------------------------------------------------

Private Function LookForFile(path As String) As Boolean

Dim fso, f, fc
Dim fld As Folder

Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject&quot

Set f = fso.GetFolder(path)
Set fc = f.SubFolders
For Each fld In f.SubFolders
If fso.FileExists(path & "\" & fld.Name & "\bookmaster.mdb&quot

Then
installPath = path & "\" & fld.Name
LookForFile = True
Exit For
End If
If fld.SubFolders.Count > 1 Then Call LookForFile(path & "\" & fld.Name)
If installPath > " " Then LookForFile = True: Exit Function
Next

End Function

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