Wait for sending to printer (shellexecute) before continue - vba

Question

I want to print all emails and attachments of an Outlook folder. I want to print excel, word and pfd files.
This works but not in the right order. Emails en printed attachments get mixed-up. So i want to synchronize the printing. The process has to wait until the print job has been send. The problem is probably that ShellExecute command works asynchronically from the VBA.
So how can I let the VBA wait until the ShellExecute has finished. I've read on the MSDN that I have to use the CreateProcess but I don't know how to use a print command on this. It only runs an application.
I also tried to use the Sleep method in VBA to give the printing some time but it doesn't seems to be the right solution or work very good. Please has anyone an advice?
Private Declare Function ShellExecute Lib "shell32.dll" Alias _
"ShellExecuteA" (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal lpOperation As String, _
ByVal lpFile As String, ByVal lpParameters As String, _
ByVal lpDirectory As String, ByVal nShowCmd As Long) As Long
Public Declare PtrSafe Sub Sleep Lib "kernel32" (ByVal Milliseconds As LongPtr)
Sub SaveBijlageArgumenten()
SaveEmailAttachmentsToFolder "Postvak IN", "Account...", "xlsx", "xls", "pdf", "doc", "docx", "C:\....."
End Sub
Sub SaveEmailAttachmentsToFolder(OutlookInbox As String, OutlookAccount As String, _
ExtString As String, ExtString2 As String, ExtString6 As String, ExtString3 As String, ExtString4 As String, _
ExtString5 As String, DestFolder As String)
Dim ns As NameSpace
Dim Inbox As MAPIFolder
Dim SubFolder As MAPIFolder
Dim Item As Object
Dim Atmt As Attachment
Dim FileName As String
Dim MyDocPath As String
Dim I As Integer
Dim wsh As Object
Dim fs As Object
Dim xlApp As Object
Dim myBook As Object
' Create Excel Application
Set xlApp = CreateObject("Excel.Application")
xlApp.Visible = False 'Visible is False by default, so this isn't necessary
On Error GoTo ThisMacro_err
Set ns = GetNamespace("MAPI")
Set Inbox = ns.Folders(OutlookAccount)
Set SubFolder = Inbox.Folders(OutlookInbox)
I = 0
' Check subfolder for messages and exit of none found
If SubFolder.Items.Count = 0 Then
MsgBox "There are no messages in this folder : " & OutlookFolderInInbox, _
vbInformation, "Nothing Found"
Set SubFolder = Nothing
Set Inbox = Nothing
Set ns = Nothing
Exit Sub
End If
'Create DestFolder if DestFolder = ""
Set fs = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
If DestFolder = "" Then
Set wsh = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Set fs = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
MyDocPath = wsh.SpecialFolders.Item("mydocuments")
DestFolder = MyDocPath & "\" & Format(Now, "dd-mmm-yyyy hh-mm-ss")
If Not fs.FolderExists(DestFolder) Then
fs.CreateFolder DestFolder
End If
Else
DestFolder = DestFolder & "\" & Format(Now, "dd-mmm-yyyy hh-mm-ss")
If Not fs.FolderExists(DestFolder) Then
fs.CreateFolder DestFolder
End If
End If
If Right(DestFolder, 1) <> "\" Then
DestFolder = DestFolder & "\"
End If
'On Error Resume Next
' Check each message for attachments and extensions
For Each Item In SubFolder.Items
Item.PrintOut Background:=False
Item.UnRead = False
Sleep 500
For Each Atmt In Item.Attachments
If LCase(Right(Atmt.FileName, Len(ExtString))) = LCase(ExtString) Or _
LCase(Right(Atmt.FileName, Len(ExtString2))) = LCase(ExtString2) Then
FileName = DestFolder & Item.SenderName & " " & Atmt.FileName
Atmt.SaveAsFile FileName
Set myBook = xlApp.Workbooks.Open(FileName, UpdateLinks:=0)
myBook.PrintOut Background:=False
myBook.Close SaveChanges:=False
I = I + 1
ElseIf LCase(Right(Atmt.FileName, Len(ExtString3))) = LCase(ExtString3) Or LCase(Right(Atmt.FileName, Len(ExtString4))) = LCase(ExtString4) _
Or LCase(Right(Atmt.FileName, Len(ExtString5))) = LCase(ExtString5) Then
FileName = DestFolder & Item.SenderName & " " & Atmt.FileName
Atmt.SaveAsFile FileName
ShellExecute 0, "print", FileName, vbNullString, vbNullString, 0
Sleep 3000
I = I + 1
End If
Next Atmt
Next Item
On Error GoTo ThisMacro_err
' Show this message when Finished
If I > 0 Then
MsgBox "De bestanden in de bijlage zijn opgeslagen op onderstaande locatie: " _
& DestFolder, vbInformation, "Klaar!"
Else
MsgBox "Er bevonden zich geen bijlagen bij de emails", vbInformation, "Klaar!"
End If
' Clear memory
ThisMacro_exit:
Set SubFolder = Nothing
Set Inbox = Nothing
Set ns = Nothing
Set fs = Nothing
Set wsh = Nothing
Set xlApp = Nothing
Set myBook = Nothing
Set AcroExchApp = Nothing
Set AcroExchAVDoc = Nothing
Exit Sub
' Error information
ThisMacro_err:
MsgBox "An unexpected error has occurred." _
& vbCrLf & "Please note and report the following information." _
& vbCrLf & "Macro Name: SaveEmailAttachmentsToFolder" _
& vbCrLf & "Error Number: " & Err.Number _
& vbCrLf & "Error Description: " & Err.Description _
, vbCritical, "Error!"
Resume ThisMacro_exit
End Sub

Answer 1

The WshShell object provides the Run method which has the bWaitOnReturn optional parameter. It indicates whether the script should wait for the program to finish executing before continuing to the next statement in your script. If set to true, script execution halts until the program finishes, and Run returns any error code returned by the program. If set to false (the default), the Run method returns immediately after starting the program, automatically returning 0 (not to be interpreted as an error code).