Article ID: 210158 - Last Review: October 11, 2006 - Revision: 3.2

ACC2000: How to Find the Windows and System Paths

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This article was previously published under Q210158

Advanced: Requires expert coding, interoperability, and multiuser skills.

SUMMARY

This article describes how to create a Visual Basic for Applications module that uses the 32-bit versions of the GetWindowsDirectory() and GetSystemDirectory() Windows API functions to return the Windows and Windows System directory (folder) paths.

Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied. This includes, but is not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language that is being demonstrated and with the tools that are used to create and to debug procedures. Microsoft support engineers can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific requirements.

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MORE INFORMATION

The following example demonstrates how to use the 32-bit versions of the GetWindowsDirectory() and GetSystemDirectory() Windows API functions:

NOTE: You may have some Microsoft Windows API functions defined in an existing Microsoft Access library; therefore, your declarations may be duplicates. If you receive a duplicate procedure name error message, remove or comment out the declarations statement in your code.

Create a module and type the following line in the Declarations section:

Option Compare Database
Option Explicit

Declare Function apiGetWindowsDirectory& Lib "kernel32" Alias _
   "GetWindowsDirectoryA" (ByVal lpBuffer As String, ByVal nSize As Long)
Declare Function apiGetSystemDirectory Lib "kernel32" Alias _
   "GetSystemDirectoryA" (ByVal lpBuffer As String, ByVal nSize _
   As Long) As Long

Type the following procedures:

' This function returns the path to the Windows directory
' as a string.

Function GetWinDir () As String
   Dim lpbuffer As String * 255
   Dim Length as Long
   Length = apiGetWindowsDirectory(lpbuffer, Len(lpbuffer))
   GetWinDir = Left(lpbuffer, Length)
End Function

' This function returns the path to the Windows System folder
' as a string.

Function GetSysDir () As String
   Dim lpbuffer As String * 255
   Dim Length as Long
   Length = apiGetSystemDirectory(lpbuffer, Len(lpbuffer))
   GetSysDir = Left(lpbuffer, Length)
End Function

To test the GetWinDir() function, type the following line in the Immediate window, and then press ENTER:
? GetWinDir()
Note that the Windows folder path is displayed in the Immediate window.
To test the GetSysDir() function, type the following line in the Immediate window, and then press ENTER.
? GetSysDir()
Note that the Windows System folder path is displayed in the Immediate window.

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REFERENCES

For more information about API functions, in the Visual Basic Editor, click Microsoft Visual Basic Help on the Help menu, type Application Programming Interface in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topic.

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