Ms Access Get filename with wildcards or loop - vba

Question

I am using MS Access Forms and I am trying to open a file but don't know how to open the file based knowing only part of the name. Example below works
Private Sub Open_Email_Click()
On Error GoTo Err_cmdExplore_Click
Dim x As Long
Dim strFileName As String
strFileName = "C:\data\office\policy num\20180926 S Sales 112.32.msg"
strApp = """C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office15\Outlook.exe"""
If InStr(strFileName, " ") > 0 Then strFileName = """" & strFileName & """"
x = Shell(strApp & " /f " & strFileName)
Exit_cmdExplore_Click:
Exit Sub
Err_cmdExplore_Click:
MsgBox Err.Description
Resume Exit_cmdExplore_Click
End Sub
If I change the strFilename to being
strFileName = "C:\data\" & Me.Office & "\" & Me.nm & " " & Me.pol & "\" & "*"& " S Sales " & Me.amt & "*" & ".msg"
It includes the * rather than using it as a wildcard, the date/numbers can be anything or in another format but always eight numbers. I tried using a while loop on the numbers but I am not sure the best way of doing this sorry.

Answer 1

You can use the Dir function to iterate over all files that match a string pattern.
strApp = """C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office15\Outlook.exe"""
Dim strFilePattern As String
strFilePattern ="C:\data\" & Me.Office & "\" & Me.nm & " " & Me.pol & "\" & "*"& " S Sales " & Me.amt & "*" & ".msg"
Dim strFileName As String
strFileName = Dir(strFilePattern)
Do While Not strFileName = vbNullString
If InStr(strFileName, " ") > 0 Then strFileName = """" & strFileName & """"
x = Shell(strApp & " /f " & strFileName)
strFileName = Dir
Loop
The first call to Dir with the pattern as a parameter will find the first file that matches the pattern supplied. All subsequent calls without the pattern will return the next file that matches the pattern.

Answer 2

So, lets rebuild the question a bit. Imagine that you are having the following 5 files in a given folder:
A:\peter.msg
A:\bstack.msg
A:\coverflow.msg
A:\heter.msg
A:\beter.msg
and you need to find the files, that correspond to "A:\*eter.msg" and print them.
For this, you need to use the keyword Like:
Sub TestMe()
Dim someNames As Variant
someNames = Array("A:\peter.msg", "A:\bstack.msg", _
"A:\coverflow.msg", "A:\heter.msg", "A:\beter.msg")
Dim cnt As Long
For cnt = LBound(someNames) To UBound(someNames)
If someNames(cnt) Like "A:\*eter.msg" Then
Debug.Print someNames(cnt)
End If
Next
End Sub
Loop through files in a folder using VBA?