Getting An Absolute Image Path - ms-access-2007

Question

I want to get an absolute path to images folder with the image name (e.g \image1.jpg) at the end of the path, where ImagePath is the name of the image path field in the table. I am just not sure how to correctly format it.
How would I do this?
Here is what I have tried already:
=IIf(IsNull([ImagePath]),Null,GetPath() & "C:\Criminal Records Database\Persons_Images\" & [ImagePath])

Answer 1

GetUNCPath is a method to translate any path into the a Universal Naming Convention path, across network drives. It will return a local drive as an absolute path if not networked. I use this function to guarantee I have a full absolute path.
I wrote the code below (with some assistance from #GSerg) to make it easy to convert a path into a full absolute UNC path.
Usage
Dim fullPath as string
fullPath = GetUNCPath("T:\SomeDir\SomeFile.Txt")
It will convert T:\SomeDir\SomeFile.Txt into \\SomeServer\SomeShare\SomeDir\SomeFile.Txt
This has been tested on Access 2003 and Access 2010. It is 32-bit and 64-bit compatible.
Module: GetUNC
Option Compare Database
Option Explicit
#If VBA7 Then
Private Declare PtrSafe Function WNetGetConnection Lib "mpr.dll" Alias "WNetGetConnectionW" (ByVal lpLocalName As LongPtr, ByVal lpRemoteName As Long, lpnLength As Long) As Long
Private Declare PtrSafe Function PathIsUNC Lib "shlwapi.dll" Alias "PathIsUNCW" (ByVal pszPath As LongPtr) As Long
Private Declare PtrSafe Function PathIsNetworkPath Lib "shlwapi.dll" Alias "PathIsNetworkPathW" (ByVal pszPath As LongPtr) As Long
Private Declare PtrSafe Function PathStripToRoot Lib "shlwapi.dll" Alias "PathStripToRootW" (ByVal pPath As LongPtr) As LongPtr
Private Declare PtrSafe Function PathSkipRoot Lib "shlwapi.dll" Alias "PathSkipRootW" (ByVal pPath As LongPtr) As Long
Private Declare PtrSafe Function PathRemoveBackslash Lib "shlwapi.dll" Alias "PathRemoveBackslashW" (ByVal strPath As LongPtr) As LongPtr
#Else
Private Declare Function WNetGetConnection Lib "mpr.dll" Alias "WNetGetConnectionW" (ByVal lpLocalName As Long, ByVal lpRemoteName As Long, lpnLength As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function PathIsUNC Lib "shlwapi.dll" Alias "PathIsUNCW" (ByVal pszPath As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function PathIsNetworkPath Lib "shlwapi.dll" Alias "PathIsNetworkPathW" (ByVal pszPath As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function PathStripToRoot Lib "shlwapi.dll" Alias "PathStripToRootW" (ByVal pPath As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function PathSkipRoot Lib "shlwapi.dll" Alias "PathSkipRootW" (ByVal pPath As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function PathRemoveBackslash Lib "shlwapi.dll" Alias "PathRemoveBackslashW" (ByVal strPath As Long) As Long
#End If
Public Function GetUNCPath(sLocalPath As String) As String
Dim lResult As Long
#If VBA7 Then
Dim lpResult As LongPtr
#Else
Dim lpResult As Long
#End If
Dim ASLocal As APIString
Dim ASPath As APIString
Dim ASRoot As APIString
Dim ASRemoteRoot As APIString
Dim ASTemp As APIString
Set ASLocal = New APIString
ASLocal.Value = sLocalPath
If ASLocal.Pointer > 0 Then
lResult = PathIsUNC(ASLocal.Pointer)
End If
If lResult <> 0 Then
GetUNCPath = ASLocal.Value
Exit Function
End If
If ASLocal.Pointer > 0 Then
lResult = PathIsNetworkPath(ASLocal.Pointer)
End If
If lResult = 0 Then
GetUNCPath = ASLocal.Value
Exit Function
End If
' Extract Root
Set ASRoot = New APIString
ASRoot.Value = sLocalPath
If ASRoot.Length = 2 And Mid(ASRoot.Value, 2, 1) = ":" Then
' We have a Root with no Path
Set ASPath = New APIString
ASPath.Value = ""
Else
If ASRoot.Pointer > 0 Then
lpResult = PathStripToRoot(ASRoot.Pointer)
End If
ASRoot.TruncToNull
If ASRoot.Pointer > 0 And Mid(ASRoot.Value, ASRoot.Length) = "\" Then
lpResult = PathRemoveBackslash(ASRoot.Pointer)
ASRoot.TruncToPointer lpResult
End If
' Extract Path
Set ASPath = New APIString
ASPath.Value = sLocalPath
lpResult = PathSkipRoot(ASPath.Pointer)
ASPath.TruncFromPointer lpResult
If ASPath.Length > 0 Then
If ASPath.Pointer > 0 And Mid(ASPath.Value, ASPath.Length) = "\" Then
lpResult = PathRemoveBackslash(ASPath.Pointer)
ASPath.TruncToPointer lpResult
End If
End If
End If
' Resolve Local Root into Remote Root
Set ASRemoteRoot = New APIString
ASRemoteRoot.Init 255
If ASRoot.Pointer > 0 And ASRemoteRoot.Pointer > 0 Then
lResult = WNetGetConnection(ASRoot.Pointer, ASRemoteRoot.Pointer, LenB(ASRemoteRoot.Value))
End If
ASRemoteRoot.TruncToNull
GetUNCPath = ASRemoteRoot.Value & ASPath.Value
End Function
Class Module: APIString
Option Compare Database
Option Explicit
Private sBuffer As String
Private Sub Class_Initialize()
sBuffer = vbNullChar
End Sub
Private Sub Class_Terminate()
sBuffer = ""
End Sub
Public Property Get Value() As String
Value = sBuffer
End Property
Public Property Let Value(ByVal sNewStr As String)
sBuffer = sNewStr
End Property
' Truncates Length
#If VBA7 Then
Public Sub TruncToPointer(ByVal lpNewUBound As LongPtr)
#Else
Public Sub TruncToPointer(ByVal lpNewUBound As Long)
#End If
Dim lpDiff As Long
If lpNewUBound <= StrPtr(sBuffer) Then Exit Sub
lpDiff = (lpNewUBound - StrPtr(sBuffer)) \ 2
sBuffer = Mid(sBuffer, 1, lpDiff)
End Sub
' Shifts Starting Point forward
#If VBA7 Then
Public Sub TruncFromPointer(ByVal lpNewLBound As LongPtr)
#Else
Public Sub TruncFromPointer(ByVal lpNewLBound As Long)
#End If
Dim lDiff As Long
If lpNewLBound <= StrPtr(sBuffer) Then Exit Sub
If lpNewLBound >= (StrPtr(sBuffer) + LenB(sBuffer)) Then
sBuffer = ""
Exit Sub
End If
lDiff = (lpNewLBound - StrPtr(sBuffer)) \ 2
sBuffer = Mid(sBuffer, lDiff)
End Sub
Public Sub Init(Size As Long)
sBuffer = String(Size, vbNullChar)
End Sub
Public Sub TruncToNull()
Dim lPos As Long
lPos = InStr(sBuffer, vbNullChar)
If lPos = 0 Then Exit Sub
sBuffer = Mid(sBuffer, 1, lPos - 1)
End Sub
Public Property Get Length() As Long
Length = Len(sBuffer)
End Property
#If VBA7 Then
Public Property Get Pointer() As LongPtr
#Else
Public Property Get Pointer() As Long
#End If
Pointer = StrPtr(sBuffer)
End Property