VBScript to open a dialog to select a filepath - vba

Question

At present I am opening a file with my vbscript as follows:
strFile = "C:\Users\test\file.txt"
Set objFile = objFSO.OpenTextFile(strFile)
I would like to change this so that a file can be selected/navigated to by the user and that file is used in the script. How can I add this ability? I have tried to search for how to load a file dialog/prompt the user for a file etc just not sure how to complete in a VBScript.

Answer 1

There is another solution I found interesting from MS TechNet less customization but gets what you wanted to achieve. This returns the full path of the selected file.
Set wShell=CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Set oExec=wShell.Exec("mshta.exe ""about:<input type=file id=FILE><script>FILE.click();new ActiveXObject('Scripting.FileSystemObject').GetStandardStream(1).WriteLine(FILE.value);close();resizeTo(0,0);</script>""")
sFileSelected = oExec.StdOut.ReadLine
wscript.echo sFileSelected

Answer 2

Here you go:
http://www.robvanderwoude.com/vbstech_ui_fileopen.php
strFile = GetFileName("C:\Users\test\", "Text files|*.txt")
Set objFile = objFSO.OpenTextFile(strFile)
Function GetFileName( myDir, myFilter )
' Written by Rob van der Woude
' http://www.robvanderwoude.com
' Standard housekeeping
Dim objDialog
' Create a dialog object
Set objDialog = CreateObject( "UserAccounts.CommonDialog" )
' Check arguments and use defaults when necessary
If myDir = "" Then
' Default initial folder is "My Documents"
objDialog.InitialDir = CreateObject( "WScript.Shell" ).SpecialFolders( "MyDocuments" )
Else
' Use the specified initial folder
objDialog.InitialDir = myDir
End If
If myFilter = "" Then
' Default file filter is "All files"
objDialog.Filter = "All files|*.*"
Else
' Use the specified file filter
objDialog.Filter = myFilter
End If
' Open the dialog and return the selected file name
If objDialog.ShowOpen Then
GetFileName = objDialog.FileName
Else
GetFileName = ""
End If
End Function

Answer 3

The currently chosen answer doesn't support filters, but hta can be manipulated to support them.
Here's an answer based on this tek-tips.com post (which is also mentioned in
How to add filter to a file chooser in batch?), but I added a full function structure plus support for relative folders:
Function GetFileDlgEx(sIniDir,sFilter)
sTitle = "Choose File"
set objShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
if instr(sIniDir, ":") <= 0 then
sIniDir = objShell.CurrentDirectory & "\" & sIniDir
end if
sIniDir = Replace(sIniDir,"\","\\")
Set oDlg = objShell.Exec("mshta.exe ""about:<object id=d classid=clsid:3050f4e1-98b5-11cf-bb82-00aa00bdce0b></object><script>moveTo(0,-9999);eval(new ActiveXObject('Scripting.FileSystemObject').GetStandardStream(0).Read("&Len(sIniDir)+Len(sFilter)+Len(sTitle)+41&"));function window.onload(){var p=/[^\0]*/;new ActiveXObject('Scripting.FileSystemObject').GetStandardStream(1).Write(p.exec(d.object.openfiledlg(iniDir,null,filter,title)));close();}</script><hta:application showintaskbar=no />""")
oDlg.StdIn.Write "var iniDir='" & sIniDir & "';var filter='" & sFilter & "';var title='" & sTitle & "';"
GetFileDlgEx = oDlg.StdOut.ReadAll
End Function
sIniDir = "*.*pdf" ' will look in current folder - note extension must be preceded by an asterisk *.
'sIniDir = "docs\*.*pdf" ' will look in a relative folder
'sIniDir = "C:\Windows\*.*pdf" ' will look in an absolute folder
sFilter = "Adobe pdf (*.pdf)|*.pdf|All files (*.*)|*.*|Microsoft Word (*.doc;*.docx)|*.doc;*.docx|Image files (*.gif;*.png;*jpg;*.bmp)|*.gif;*.png;*jpg;*.bmp|Html files (*.htm;*.html;*.mht)|*.htm;*.html;*.mht|"
rep = GetFileDlgEx(sIniDir,sFilter)
MsgBox rep

Answer 4

VBSEdit program installs a COM library VBSEdit Toolkit, which allows Open File dialogs.
From VBSEdit help:
Dialog boxes
OpenFileDialog method
Prompt the user to open a file
toolkit.OpenFileDialog ([initialFolder,[filters,[multiselect,[title]]]])
'Opens a single file
Set toolkit = CreateObject("VbsEdit.Toolkit")
files=toolkit.OpenFileDialog("c:\scripts\","Text Files (*.txt)|*.txt",False,"Open a text file")
If UBound(files)>=0 Then
WScript.Echo files(0)
Else
Wscript.Quit
End If
'Opens multiple files
Set toolkit = CreateObject("VbsEdit.Toolkit")
files=toolkit.OpenFileDialog("c:\scripts\","Text Files (*.txt)|*.txt",True,"Open a text file")
If UBound(files)>=0 Then
For Each filepath In files
WScript.Echo filepath
Next
Else
Wscript.Quit
End If
SaveFileDialog method
Prompt the user to save a file
toolkit.SaveFileDialog ([initialFolder,[initialFilename,[filters,[title]]]])
Set toolkit = CreateObject("VbsEdit.Toolkit")
filepath = toolkit.SaveFileDialog("c:\scripts","test.txt","Text Files (*.txt)|*.txt")
If Not(IsNull(filepath)) Then
Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set objFile = objFSO.CreateTextFile(filepath,True)
objFile.WriteLine Date
objFile.Close
Else
Wscript.Quit
End If
SelectFolder method
Prompt the user to select a folder
toolkit.SelectFolder ([initialDir,[title]])
Set toolkit = CreateObject("VbsEdit.Toolkit")
myfolder=toolkit.SelectFolder("c:\scripts\","Please select a folder")
If Not(IsNull(myfolder)) Then
WScript.Echo myfolder
Else
Wscript.Quit
End If
…
(Actually, folder selection dialogs can be opened without VBSEdit toolkit, with BrowseForFolder method of Shell.Application object.)

Answer 5

Found this answer HERE
Set WshShell=CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")
WshShell.BrowseForFolder(0, "Please select the folder.", 1, "")