ShowBrowseForFolder

Shows the Browse For Folder dialog and returns the folder that the user chose.

Syntax: object.ShowBrowseForFolder ( ) As String

object: required An object expression that evaluates to a cDialog.

Returns a String, the path of the chosen folder, or an empty string when the user cancelled.

Warning

ShowBrowseForFolder works in 32-bit programs only. In a 64-bit program it ends the program with an access violation (exception 0xC0000005 in KERNELBASE.dll) before any dialog appears, whatever NewDialogStyle holds, and unsaved data is lost. The class declares the handles and pointers of BROWSEINFO, and the item list that SHBrowseForFolder returns, as Long, which is the wrong size in a 64-bit program.

Remarks

ShowBrowseForFolder calls SHBrowseForFolder with a BROWSEINFO structure, then turns the item that the user chose into a path with SHGetPathFromIDListA and frees the item with CoTaskMemFree. Two properties apply:

Property	What ShowBrowseForFolder passes
DialogTitle	`lpszTitle`, which the dialog shows as a line of text above the tree of folders
NewDialogStyle	`BIF_USENEWUI` (`BIF_NEWDIALOGSTYLE Or BIF_EDITBOX`) when True

The method always sets BIF_RETURNONLYFSDIRS, so only a folder of the file system can be chosen. It passes 0 for hwndOwner, so the dialog has no owner window, and it passes no root folder and no callback. No other property is used to set up the dialog. The caption of the dialog is Browse For Folder (Browse for Folder when NewDialogStyle is False), and it is not changed by DialogTitle.

The dialog does not start in the folder that InitialDir holds. In the new style it opens with the folder of the user’s profile selected, and in the old style with This PC selected, with OK disabled until the user selects a folder of the file system.

Note

When the user confirms a folder, ShowBrowseForFolder stores the path in InitialDir. A ShowOpen or ShowSave after it passes that folder to Windows as its starting folder. A path typed into the edit box of the new-style dialog and confirmed is returned and stored in the same way. A cancelled dialog returns an empty string and leaves InitialDir as it was. FileName is not used or changed.

The class reads the path with the ANSI function SHGetPathFromIDListA, into a buffer of 260 characters. An empty string results when the user cancels, and also when Windows cannot turn the chosen item into a path. The method raises no error.

Example

This example asks for a folder and prints its path.

Dim dlg As New cDialog
Dim folder As String

dlg.DialogTitle = "Choose the backup folder"
folder = dlg.ShowBrowseForFolder()

If Len(folder) = 0 Then
    Debug.Print "Cancelled"
Else
    Debug.Print "Chosen: " & folder
    Debug.Print "Stored in InitialDir: " & dlg.InitialDir
End If

ShowBrowseForFolder

Remarks

Example

See Also