How can I get file details in subfolders recursively? - vbscript

Question

I'm trying to compile a list of specific details about the music files on my computer, but my knowledge of VBS is limited. (Actually, I've done some VBA, but no VBS before.) I found two scripts online: one gets the file details in a folder and the other lists the names of subfolders and files recursively. I'm trying to combine the two but I'm running into problems because the first script starts with CreateObject("Shell.Application") and the second starts with CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject"). This (i.e., Shell vs. FSO) is one of the areas of VBS scripting about which my knowledge is lacking, to put it mildly.
The incompatibility in my script appears in the For Each objFile in colFiles loop, which I inserted from the "Shell script" I referred to above. What can I do to make this script work?
Const ForReading = 1, ForWriting = 2, ForAppending = 8
Dim StartFolder, FileName, fso, MyFile, Tabs, arrDetails(4)
Tabs = ""
arrDetails(0) = 0
arrDetails(1) = 1
arrDetails(2) = 27
arrDetails(3) = 28
StartFolder = "C:\Users\user\Music\MP3s"
Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set objFolder = objFSO.GetFolder(StartFolder)
FileName = "C:\Users\user\Documents\MP3 File Details.txt"
Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set MyFile = fso.OpenTextFile(FileName, ForAppending, True, True)
MyFile.WriteLine objFolder.Path
ShowSubfolders objFSO.GetFolder(StartFolder), Tabs, arrDetails
Sub ShowSubFolders(Folder, ByVal Tabs, arrDetails)
Dim TabsFolder, TabsFiles, FileLine, arrText(4), i, d
TabsFolder = Tabs & "" & vbtab & ""
For Each Subfolder in Folder.SubFolders
MyFile.WriteLine
MyFile.WriteLine TabsFolder & Subfolder.Name
TabsFiles = TabsFolder & "" & vbtab & ""
Set objSubFolder = objFSO.GetFolder(Subfolder.Path)
Set colFiles = objSubFolder.Files
'Original inserted code for getting file details
' For Each strFileName in objFolder.Items
' For i = 0 to 3
' d = arrDetails(i)
' arrText(i) = objFolder.GetDetailsOf(strFileName, d)
' Next
'
' FileLine = arrText(0)
' For i = 1 to 3
' FileLine = FileLine & vbtab & arrText(i)
' Next
' MyFile.WriteLine FileLine
' Next
'Attempt to make code compatible with rest of script
For Each objFile in colFiles
If LCase(InStr(1, objFile.Name, ".mp3")) > 1 then
For i = 0 to 3
d = arrDetails(i)
arrText(i) = colFiles.GetDetailsOf(objFile, d)
Next
FileLine = arrText(0)
For i = 1 to 3
FileLine = FileLine & vbtab & arrText(i)
Next
MyFile.WriteLine TabsFiles & FileLine
End If
Next
ShowSubFolders Subfolder, TabsFolder, arrDetails
Next
End Sub
MyFile.Close

Answer 1

You do need both the FileSystemObject and the Windows Shell object in this case. You use the FileSystemObject to loop through the folders. In each folder, you then use the Windows Shell object to get the file details.
Here's a modified ShowSubFolders Sub that will work as expected:
Sub ShowSubFolders(Folder, Tabs, arrDetails)
Dim TabsFolder, TabsFiles, FileLine, arrText(4), i, d
Dim objShell
Dim objFolder
Dim objSubfolder
Dim objFiles
Dim objFile
Dim sFileName
Set objShell = CreateObject("Shell.Application")
TabsFolder = Tabs & "" & vbTab & ""
For Each objSubfolder In Folder.SubFolders
' Write subfolder to file
MyFile.WriteLine
MyFile.WriteLine TabsFolder & objSubfolder.Name
' Increment tab position
TabsFiles = TabsFolder & "" & vbTab & ""
Set objFolder = objShell.Namespace(objSubfolder.Path)
Set objFiles = objSubfolder.Files
For Each sFileName In objFolder.Items
' Check if file is MP3
If InStr(1, LCase(sFileName), ".mp3") > 0 Then
' Get file details
For i = 0 To 3
d = arrDetails(i)
arrText(i) = objFolder.GetDetailsOf(sFileName, d)
Next
' Build file information line
FileLine = arrText(0)
For i = 1 To 3
FileLine = FileLine & vbTab & arrText(i)
Next
' Write file information to file
MyFile.WriteLine TabsFiles & FileLine
End If
Next
' Call recursively to handle subfolders
ShowSubFolders objSubfolder, TabsFolder, arrDetails
Next
End Sub
The code you had commented out was good and made accessing extended file properties (like length and bitrate in your case) possible using the arrDetails you have.
Also included in this revised sub is the fix Arno Van Boven mentioned in the comments regarding flipping InStr and LCase.