Setting Directories and the If Len(Dir(... statement in VBA - vba

I have a file exists under this path:
//path/folder1/folder2/datafile.gdp
It is an input to an external program being called from vba in this manner:
Sub RunProgram()
Dim wsh As Object
SetCurrentDirectory "\\path\"
ChDir "\\path\folder1\folder2\" 'Set Directory
Set wsh = VBA.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
check = CurDir
Statusnum = wsh.Run(Command:="program.exe ""\\path\folder1\folder2\datafile.gdp""", WindowStyle:=1, waitonreturn:=True)
But on the final line, including \path\folder1\folder2\ before the input file name appears to cause the external program to want to write some files into a duplicated directory that doesn't exist, causing an error. It used to work in this format before the .exe was updated by an external company. It now wants to write some files here, all prefixed with the name of my input file:
\\path\folder1\folder2\PATH\FOLDER1\FOLDER2\
Hoping to fix this, I changed the final line of the code to this, following some comments on a previous post here on SO:
Statusnum = wsh.Run(Command:="program.exe ""datafile.gdp""", WindowStyle:=1, waitonreturn:=True)
Since the directory is set correctly prior to calling the .exe, I thought removing the path for the input file would solve the issue.
The program now launches, but doesn't appear to load the input file with it and no longer runs calculations automatically in the background as it should. Instead, it launches and the main .exe window pops up to the user as if it had just been launched for setting up a new project, calculations don't occur automatically.
To check which directory the VBA code was try to pull my datafile.gdp from, I created these loops directly before calling the .exe:
If Len(Dir("\\path\folder1\folder2\datafile.gdp")) = 0 Then
FileIsMissing1 = True 'I use Excel-VBA watches to break if true
End If
If Len(Dir("datafile.gdp")) = 0 Then
FileIsMissing2 = True
End If
Bizarrely, neither of these loops causes a break. The file only exists in
\\path\folder1\folder2\datafile.gdp
Not in the duplicated directory... so why are both of these statements satisfied? Does entering the directory make no difference even when the current directory has been set? The current directory seems to be impacting the line:
Statusnum = wsh.Run(Command:="program.exe ""\\path\folder1\folder2\datafile.gdp""", WindowStyle:=1, waitonreturn:=True)
But not these if loops, and I'm not sure why.

Related

What is the difference between Program and Argument directories when calling .exe using Shell in VBA?

My latest attempt to solve my problems when calling a .exe with an input argument from Excel-VBA uses this script:
Sub RunProgram()
Dim wsh As Object
Set wsh = VBA.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
ChDir "\\path\folder1\folder2\"
StartExeWithArgument
......
End Sub
Public Sub StartExeWithArgument()
Dim strProgramName As String
Dim strArgument As String
strProgramName = "program.exe "
strArgument = "datafile.gdp"
Call Shell("""" & strProgramName & """ """ & strArgument & """", vbNormalFocus)
End Sub
The path I set as the working directory is the working directory of the .exe program, and the location of the input file datafile.gdp. However, this current script calls the .exe without loading the argument file and the calculations the .exe is supposed to run do not occur. Instead the .exe launches to its main page as though I clicked a desktop shortcut to start a new project. When loaded correctly, the .gdp file should cause the calculation to initiate and run in the background without ever appearing to the user.
If I change the path of the input file to:
strArgument = "\\path\folder1\folder2\datafile.gdp"
But keep everything else the same, the .exe launches and calculates automatically, but wants to write files in the following duplicated directory, (all prefixed with the name of the input file):
\\path\folder1\folder2\PATH\FOLDER1\FOLDER2\
If I create the file path for it to operate in everything operates as it should, BUT the path is actually 6 folders deep in reality and this is all being duplicated, meaning the files are too deep to be backed up on our system. So I need to launch the program and have it operating without this duplication of the directory. It works fine when not launched from this VBA script, and worked fine before the .exe was updated by an external company.
Why can the Call Shell command find the .exe without a path, but I
need to provide a path for the argument?
strArgument = ... requires a path to find the argument file, despite the file being in the current directory, providing the path seems to pass a duplicated path to the .exe causing it to crash if I don't create the folders representing the duplicated directory so it can operate within them. Is there something very basic I am missing regarding directories?
My previous up-voted but unanswered question here provides more context.

Macro broke after re-boot - Excel unable to locate external text files

As part of a larger macro Excel retrieves .dat files from a folder. After a crash and rebooting, the macro no longer works and seizes up upon trying to refresh.
There was also changes in security upon reboot where I had to enable all macros to be able to step though this current one.
I have double checked to make sure the path is correct and the files are still there.
Updated code and ended up crashing for unrelated memory issue. Fixed the memory problem and now won't run and is giving the same error code and message as before even with updated code. Current code which will run through the first loop but fails on the second.
If I am not mistaken, Dir just returns the filename found within that directory and not the full path to that file. What likely happened is your directory was initially set to F: so the macro used this as the default path when searching for the file. The best way to do this would be to store your directory in a constant string, and then append the two together. Something like this:
Const fPath as String = "F:YourPathHere\"
strFile = fPath & Dir(fPath & "*.dat")
Debug.Print strFile ' Just to make sure it is setting properly.

using environment variables in excel

So I am using this code in excel to read environment parameters on startup:
Dim ExcelArgs As String
Dim arg As String
ExcelArgs = Environ("ExcelArgs")
MsgBox ExcelArgs
If InStr(UCase(ExcelArgs), "CREO") >= 0 Then
Application.DisplayAlerts = False
If Len(ExcelArgs) > Len("CREO") Then
arg = Split(ExcelArgs, ",")(1)
Call Creo.addNewPartToPartslist(arg)
End If
Application.DisplayAlerts = True
End If
and this line in my batch script:
echo "Launch excel"
Set "ExcelArgs=CREO,DXFWITHOUTDRW
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\OFFICE16\Excel.exe" /r "%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Excel\XLSTART\PERSONAL.XLSB"
exit 0
The problem is that if i run the batch file once, keep excel open change the excelargs to CREO,wqhatever in batch file and rerun batch file the excelargs, dos not get updated!!!
So my theory is that excel either caches out the environment variable or that if it is being used by one instance the batch script can not set it
link with some info about passing arguments to excel:
https://superuser.com/questions/640359/bat-file-to-open-excel-with-parameters-spaces
Usually excel sees if there is a previous instance running and let this instance handle the file opening.
Is this important? Yes, in your case both requests to open the file are handled by the same excel process.
How does it make a difference? Environment variables are not shared. Each process has it own environment block that is initialized when the process is created (can be a customized block or a copy of the environment of the parent process) and once the environment is created for a process, only this process can change its environment.
In your case, when you start excel the new process gets a copy of the environment block of the cmd process. Later, when you change the cmd environment, the already running excel instance sees no changes in environment and, as the new request to open excel is converted to a request to the previous process, there is not a new process with a new copy of the cmd environment with the changes.
The only way I see to make it work is to force excel to start a new process (that will inherit the changes in the cmd instance) instead of reusing the previous one.
But this depends on the excel version. As far as I know, the 2013 version includes an /x switch to force separate process usage. For previous versions, maybe this question, or this one could help you.
Excel is open
Then i start the batch script:
The it does not open it as read only by default, but prompt me instead, not a big issue but a bit annoying, and it also make it impossible to loop through to run the batch several times for different input parameters.
A bit unsure how I should post this, couldnt paste images in comments, and to edit the the original question, which was how to start excel with enviroment variable in new instance (/x did the trick), but now /r does not work, Should I post as new question and refer to this one or can I leave it as an answer?

VBA fails to find a file

I have a VBA script used to process Word documents. The first thing the program does is to create an index of the documents in a defined set of folders. It then goes through the list processing each of the indexed documents.
The problem I am having is that it will sometimes decide that a particular document cannot be found, even though it previously indexed the document and a quick spot check shows the document to be in the correct place.
Can anyone shed some light on why VBA should display this behaviour?
The script is using the Dir$ function to index the files, and the Documents.Open function to open each word document for processing.
Sample code:
ChangeFileOpenDirectory (folderName)
inputFileName = Dir$(folderName & "*.doc")
Do While inputFileName <> ""
... call various functions here ...
inputFileName = Dir$
Loop
One of the functions called in the block has the following line:
Set currentDoc = Documents.Open(fileName:=docFileName, AddToRecentFiles:=False, Visible:=False)
This is the point at which the code is failing.
One of the most annoying things I have found is that recent files links are returned as the files themselves with Dir. You can use the FileSystemObject to check the file type.
I copy/paste your code and it works correctly.
However, it leaves all the files open (and hidden), and when you run it in another directory, additional files are opened and added to the open projects (take a look in the VBA editor).
My only guess is that after a while you're hitting the maximum allowable number of open files.
Try adding
currentdoc.Close
just before
inputFileName = Dir$
A few reasons, some duplicated from other answers:
If the path+ filename is long enough ... (you already answered in a comment)
If you are writing new files to same directory, Dir$ may get corrupted (happened to me)
If you have filenames with non-std chars (ex. "#")
Files locked by other processes
Files deleted while the macro is running
You may also try this code ...
Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
If Not fso.FileExists(file) Then ....
First enable the Microsoft Scripting reference in the VBE

How to use Process.Start

I'm using process.Start to run Convert.exe. This program's purpose is to convert all files which are in the exe's folder. So when I normally use it, I copy paste a file into the same folder as Convert.exe and then run Convert.exe. Convert.exe will create a new "converted" file in the same folder.
I'm trying to automate this tedious process. A User selects a file which needs to be converted from FolderA, I copy it to the same folder where Convert.exe is and I'm using process.start(Convert.exe) to run it.
Just to be clear, this "Convert.exe" accepts NO arguments.
The problem: "Convert.exe" is not converting the files in its folder. Instead it's converting all the files in FolderA for some weird reason. I don't know why it picked that folder, I never even try to send it as an argument or nothing.
Here's the code I have:
Dim techInfo As New System.IO.FileInfo(itm.strFilePath)
techInfo.CopyTo(ConverterPath & techInfo.Name)
Dim procInfoConvert As New ProcessStartInfo
procInfoConvert.CreateNoWindow = False
procInfoConvert.Arguments = ""
procInfoConvert.FileName = ConverterPath & "Convert.exe"
Dim procConvert As Process = Process.Start(procInfoConvert)
I did a test where I copy pasted a file into the "Convert.exe" folder and then just run this code:
process.start(ConverterPath & "Convert.exe")
The exe returns nothing, same as if there was no files in the folder.
The only thing I can think of is that when process.Start is run, it copies the file to another location and runs it from there.
Any ideas anyone?
Try this:
procInfoConvert.WorkingDirectory = ConverterPath
That'll set the process up to start in the directory it's contained in, instead of the current directory.