Open file in native application

[TJ Dowling]

I have a field that stores the path and filename of a document that is
related to the current record. I'm trying to give the user a button that
when clicked, will open the file in its native application similar to using
Windows Explorer and double-clicking on a filename.

How do I simulate this? I've tried the Shell() function but it expects an
executable and I may be passing an Excel or Word document instead of an exe.
Can SendKeys be used for this?

Thanks,
TJ Dowling

 

[Pete D.]

Create below and make sure you include below. Pete

************ Code Start **********
' This code was originally written by Dev Ashish.
' 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
' Dev Ashish

http://www.mvps.org/access/api/api0018.htm

Private Sub GetSpecs_Click()
On Error GoTo Err_GetSpecs_Click
Dim specsstring As String
Dim mypath As String
Dim strDBPath As String
Dim strDBFile As String
Dim strGoodFile As Integer
Dim CurrentDBDir As String
strDBPath = CurrentDb.Name
strDBFile = Dir(strDBPath)
CurrentDBDir = Left$(strDBPath, Len(strDBPath) - Len(strDBFile))
mypath = CurrentDBDir
specsstring = mypath & "Assetspecs\" & Me.ModelNumber & ".pdf"
Call fHandleFile(specsstring, Win_NORMAL)

Exit_GetSpecs_Click:
Exit Sub
Err_GetSpecs_Click:
MsgBox Err.Description
Resume Exit_GetSpecs_Click
End Sub

 

[Albert D. Kallal]

The code in the buttion on the fomr is:


Application.followHyperlink me!fieldname

It is ONE line of code....

 

[TJ Dowling]

This line worked:

Application.followHyperlink me!fieldname

I was looking at using the Win API ShellExecute() but this is much easier.

Thanks very much,
TJ Dowling

 

[rquintal]

The code in the buttion on the fomr is:

Application.followHyperlink me!fieldname

It is ONE line of code....

Yes, that's much more simple than Dev Ashish's brilliant code.

I used Dev's code before the followHyperlink method appeared.
Sometimes I need to be prodded to upgrade.my mind. Thanks for doing
that, Albert.

Q

 

[David W. Fenton]

m:

I used Dev's code before the followHyperlink method appeared.
Sometimes I need to be prodded to upgrade.my mind.

FollowHyperlink was introduced at least in Access97 (if not in A95),
which was released in 1996. I strongly doubt that Dev's code was
posted on the Access Web before that. Indeed, the earliest
appearance of http://www.mvps.org/access/api/api0018.htm in the
Internet Archive (http://archive.org) is April 2000 (with a
copyright date of 2000). The Internet Archive doesn't post anything
until a site has been up for a year. Now, perhaps the Access web was
at a different location before then, but given that the copyright
date on the code is 1998-2000, it seems likely that Dev didn't set
up the site until 1998, long after FollowHyperlink was already
introduced in A97.

 

[Pete D.]

So, there are many reasons to use different methods depending on the
situation. Are you saying Dev's code was a waste of time? Follow hyperlink
has many problems if your network folks (Think they are gods) have a bug
somewhere!

 

[David W. Fenton]

Are you saying Dev's code was a waste of time?

No. I'm just pointing out that your timeline doesn't make sense.
Dev's code was apparently posted *after* .FollowHyperlink was
introduced. That doesn't mean *you* know about it (I, too, used
ShellExecute for a long time before noticing that .FollowHyperlink
was a useful alternative).