I use:
retVal = Shell("program.EXE " & filename, vbNormalFocus)
To execute a program need for my excel spreadsheet.
Is it possible to embed the EXE file in the excel file itself?
And how would I execute it then?
Ideias:
1 - Some kind of a bin2str function to turn binary to string (so I can store it in the program as a variable and a str2bin (the oposite)
2 - I read something about OLE Control (that you can embed it there), but I really don't know where to start on this one
Here's an outline solution that avoids OLE:
Create a hidden worksheet.
Use a base 64 encoded to convert the exe to text.
Store that text in worksheet cells on the hidden worksheet. Since there is a limit on the number of characters in a cell (32,767) you will need to break the string into chunks.
Obviously you'll need to reverse this procedure when you want to save and execute the exe file.
You can do this by using: Insert > Object and then selecting 'Create from File'.
To add it to your sheet using VBA:
Dim o As OLEObject
Set o = ActiveSheet.OLEObjects.Add(Filename:="C:\program.exe")
Then this is the command to execute program.exe:
o.Verb Verb:=xlPrimary
Not sure how to pass arguments to it, however (e.g. your filename).
Note: Untrusted applications prompt a warning when you run them.
Related
I'm trying to get Word to fill in cells in a table. The script works when run as a macro from within Word, but fails when saved as a .vbs file and double-clicked, or run with wscript. This is a part of it.
set obj = GetObject(,"Word.Application)
With obj
With .Selection
MsgBox .text
If (.Information(wdWithInTable) = True) Then
.Collapse Direction:=wdCollapseStart
tCols = .Tables(1).Columns.Count
tRow = .Information(wdStartOfRangeRowNumber)
tCol = .Information(wdStartOfRangeColumnNumber)
For I = 2 To 5
.Tables(1).Cell(tRow, I).Range.Text = "fred" & Str(I)
Next
` now make new row
For I = 1 To tCols - tCol + 1
.MoveRight unit:=wdCell
Next
End If
End With
End With
I have three problems. First, it won't compile unless I comment out the .Collapse and .MoveRight lines. Second, although the MsgBox .text displays the selected text, I get "out of range" errors if I try to access any .Information property.
I'm sure I'm missing something very simple: I usually write software for Macs, and I'd do this using AppleScript. This is my first attempt at getting anything done under Windows.
VBScript and VBA are different languages.
They are a bit similar, but not very. Moreover, VBScript is not like AppleScript; it doesn't let you easily interface with running programs.
The interfaces you'll get from VBScript can behave subtly differently in VBA and VBScript. However, I think you've got two problems here:
:= is invalid syntax in VBScript; you'll need to find an alternative way of calling the function. Try just using positional arguments.
You've no guarantee that this will open the expected file; there could be another instance of Word that it's interacting with instead.
Since your code is not running within the Word environment it would require a reference to the Word object library in order to use enumeration constants (those things that start with wd).
VBScript, however, cannot work with references, which means the only possibility is to use the long value equivalents of the enumerations. You'll find these in the Word Language References. Simplest to use is probably the Object Browser in Word's VBA Editor. (In Word: Alt+F11 to open the VBA Editor; F2 to start the Object Browser; type in the term in the "Search" box, click on the term, then look in the bottom bar.)
The code in the question uses, for example:
wdWithInTable
wdCollapseStart
wdStartOfRangeRowNumber
wdStartOfRangeColumnNumber
wdCell
The reason you get various kinds of errors depends on where these are used.
Also, VBScript can't used named parameters such as Unit:=. Any parameters must be passed in comma-delimited format, if there's more than one, in the order specified by the method or property. If there are optional parameters you don't want to use these should be left "blank":
MethodName parameter, parameter, , , parameter
I need to loop over all databases in a certain directory, where the database name is ACPwxyz.mdb, where wxyz is the equivalent to an MMYY value for the period that database was used for.
E.g., the database for July 2017 would be ACP0717.mdb.
I've never written in VB6 before and I totally hate it, but it's an extension to an existing project so I'm stuck with it!
Is there a way of looping over all files in a directory, checking if the file name follows the format of ACPwxyz.mdb or not, and if it does, then opening a connection to it?
I've looked around a bit and see Dir(x, y), but I'm not sure if I can use this in this situation?
Any tips would be appreciated.
You can use Dir, yes.
If you use something like this:
Dim strFile As String
strFile = Dir(yourDBPath, "ACP????.mdb") ' mdb for MS-Access files
Do Until strFile = ""
If Len(strFile) = 11 Then ' Ensure the DB file name is 11 characters, which yours are
'Do something // You can also check the file name doesn't = a certain name if needed
End If
strFile = Dir
Loop
Dir accepts either an asterisk (*), or a question mark (?) as wildcards in file names, so this will look for any database in the set path that is called ACP followed by 4 characters.
I am looking for a way to easily copy the file details that appear in a Windows Explorer (details view) and paste it as tabular text.
Ideally, the procedure would be to select some files in an Explorer, make a choice in the context menu (or use a shortcut key), and the list would be copied to the clipboard. When pasting, the tabular format would be preserved so that Excel would recognize the columns or Word keep tabs (or create a table).
I would like to have a solution that transfers the available columns, and not just a predefined set a details such as name + size + date.
Do you think that there is an easy way to achieve this functionality ? I am ready to program in any language if necessary but I need a path to follow. I also need a procedure to integrate it in Windows (Vista and later) so that a few clicks suffice.
1) Create context menu shell extension. It must implement IShellExtInit, IContextMenu(2,3) and IObjectWithSite. Register your shell extension on HKCR\AllFilesystemObjects key.
2) Before Explorer calls IContextMenu.InvokeCommand it calls IObjectWithSite.SetSite. Save Site value.
3) Inside IContextMenu.InvokeCommand:
Site.QueryInterface(IServiceProvider, ServiceProvider)
ServiceProvider.QueryService(SID_SFolderView, IColumnManager, ColumnManager)
ColumnManager.GetColumnCount(CM_ENUM_VISIBLE, Count)
GetMem(Keys, SizeOf(PPropertyKey) * Count)
ColumnManager.GetColumns(CM_ENUM_VISIBLE, Keys, Count)
Now you have array of all visible columns.
4) Extract IShellFolder of current folder from IDataObject passed to your handler in IShellExtInit.Initialize.
5) Extract PItemIDList of every file in IDataObject.
6) For every PItemIDList:
6.1) Call ShellFolder.BindToObject(Child, nil, IPropertyStore, PropertyStore) to get PropertyStore of item.
6.2) For every PropertyKey in Keys array:
6.2.1) Call PropertyStore.GetValue(PropertyKey, Value);
6.2.2) Convert Value to string with PropVariantToStringAlloc function.
6.2.3) Store string representation of Value in you internal txt storage.
7) Copy your txt storage to clipboard.
8) Free all resources.
Update 1
Also you can try to use IShellFolder2.GetDetailsEx instead of using IPropertyStore.
Update 2
In case of using IPropertyStore you can additionally call IPropertySystem.FormatForDisplayAlloc to format the value. For example for PKEY_Size PropertyStore.GetValue return "100000" but PropertySystem.FormatForDisplayAlloc will format value to "100 KB".
Update 3
It was quite interesting task so I created my own shell extension which copies details to clipboard. It can be downloaded via link http://www.shellace.com/bin/CopyDetails.zip
I have a variable called random number that needs to be stored when the application has be shutdown or the computer has been shutdown. Every time this number is used I also need to +1 to it.
I have a few variables in my current vb6 application that need to be saved when the app is closed and loaded when the app is launched. Is this possible? I could use a text file or a config file to store the variables?
EDIT -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I managed to fix this problem had just using a simple input and output text file. Please read my answer below if you have the same problem and need assistance.
The standard way to save values in VB6 apps was to use INI files. If I remember there are a couple of Win32 functions to read/write them.
They are GetPrivateProfileString and WritePrivateProfileString.
Using the registry is the correct way to do it.
VB has built in functions SaveSetting and GetSetting for writing to and reading from the registry.
See registry tutorial or Stack Overflow question to help you out.
I managed to complete the task by creating a file in my C Drive and putting in the number "123" to the top line of the text file. I then wrote the following code:
Function GetPOIRandomNum()
Dim LineA As String
'Collect stored variables
Open "C:\TestPartner\Config\POIRandomNum.txt" For Input As #1
While Not EOF(1)
Line Input #1, LineA 'Read the first line in the file
POIRandomNum = LineA + 1 'Give POIRandomNum the integer from line 1 and add 1 to it
Wend
Close #1
'Save the new random number variable to the file
Open "C:\TestPartner\Config\POIRandomNum.txt" For Output As #1 'Open for output to replace the old number
Write #1, POIRandomNum 'Input the new number to the text file
Close #1
End Function
Now whenever the Random number Variable is needed I call the above function.
At work we make pretty extensive use of Visio drawing as support for documentation. Unfortunately vsd files don't play nicely with our wiki or documentation extraction tools like javadoc, doxygen or naturaldocs. While it is possible to convert Visio files to images manually, it's just a hassle to keep the image current and the image files are bound to get out of date. And let's face it: Having generated files in revision control feels so wrong.
So I'm looking for a command line tool that can convert a vsd file to jpeg, png, gif or any image that can be converted to an image that a browser can display. Preferably it will run under unix, but windows only is also fine. I can handle the rest of the automation chain, cron job, image to image conversion and ssh, scp, multiple files, etc.
And that's why I'm turning to you: I can't find such a tool. I don't think I can even pay for such a tool. Is my Google-fu completely off? Can you help me?
I mean, it has got to be possible. There has to be a way to hook into Visio with COM and get it to save as image. I'm using Visio 2007 by the way.
Thanks in advance.
I slapped something together quickly using VB6, and you can download it at:
http://fournier.jonathan.googlepages.com/Vis2Img.exe
You just pass in the input visio file path, then the output file path (visio exports based on file extension) and optionally the page number to export.
Also here is the source code I used, if you want to mess with it or turn it into a VBScript or something, it should work, though you'd need to finish converting it to late-bound code.
hope that helps,
Jon
Dim TheCmd As String
Const visOpenRO = 2
Const visOpenMinimized = 16
Const visOpenHidden = 64
Const visOpenMacrosDisabled = 128
Const visOpenNoWorkspace = 256
Sub Main()
' interpret command line arguments - separated by spaces outside of double quotes
TheCmd = Command
Dim TheCmds() As String
If SplitCommandArg(TheCmds) Then
If UBound(TheCmds) > 1 Then
Dim PageNum As Long
If UBound(TheCmds) >= 3 Then
PageNum = Val(TheCmds(3))
Else
PageNum = 1
End If
' if the input or output file doesn't contain a file path, then assume the same
If InStr(1, TheCmds(1), "\") = 0 Then
TheCmds(1) = App.Path & "\" & TheCmds(1)
End If
If InStr(1, TheCmds(2), "\") = 0 Then
TheCmds(2) = App.Path & "\" & TheCmds(2)
End If
ConvertVisToImg TheCmds(1), TheCmds(2), PageNum
Else
' no good - need an in and out file
End If
End If
End Sub
Function ConvertVisToImg(ByVal InVisPath As String, ByVal OutImgPath As String, PageNum As Long) As Boolean
ConvertVisToImg = True
On Error GoTo PROC_ERR
' create a new visio instance
Dim VisApp As Visio.Application
Set VisApp = CreateObject("Visio.Application")
' open invispath
Dim ConvDoc As Visio.Document
Set ConvDoc = VisApp.Documents.OpenEx(InVisPath, visOpenRO + visOpenMinimized + visOpenHidden + visOpenMacrosDisabled + visOpenNoWorkspace)
' export to outimgpath
If Not ConvDoc.Pages(PageNum) Is Nothing Then
ConvDoc.Pages(PageNum).Export OutImgPath
Else
MsgBox "Invalid export page"
ConvertVisToImg = False
GoTo PROC_END
End If
' close it off
PROC_END:
On Error Resume Next
VisApp.Quit
Set VisApp = Nothing
Exit Function
PROC_ERR:
MsgBox Err.Description & vbCr & "Num:" & Err.Number
GoTo PROC_END
End Function
Function SplitCommandArg(ByRef Commands() As String) As Boolean
SplitCommandArg = True
'read through command and break it into an array delimited by space characters only when we're not inside double quotes
Dim InDblQts As Boolean
Dim CmdToSplit As String
CmdToSplit = TheCmd 'for debugging command line parser
'CmdToSplit = Command
Dim CharIdx As Integer
ReDim Commands(1 To 1)
For CharIdx = 1 To Len(CmdToSplit)
Dim CurrChar As String
CurrChar = Mid(CmdToSplit, CharIdx, 1)
If CurrChar = " " And Not InDblQts Then
'add another element to the commands array if InDblQts is false
If Commands(UBound(Commands)) <> "" Then ReDim Preserve Commands(LBound(Commands) To UBound(Commands) + 1)
ElseIf CurrChar = Chr(34) Then
'set InDblQts = true
If Not InDblQts Then InDblQts = True Else InDblQts = False
Else
Commands(UBound(Commands)) = Commands(UBound(Commands)) & CurrChar
End If
Next CharIdx
End Function
F# 2.0 script:
//Description:
// Generates images for all Visio diagrams in folder were run according to pages names
//Tools:
// Visio 2010 32bit is needed to open diagrams (I also installed VisioSDK32bit.exe on my Windows 7 64bit)
#r "C:/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0/Visual Studio Tools for Office/PIA/Office14/Microsoft.Office.Interop.Visio.dll"
open System
open System.IO
open Microsoft.Office.Interop.Visio
let visOpenRO = 2
let visOpenMinimized = 16
let visOpenHidden = 64
let visOpenMacrosDisabled = 128
let visOpenNoWorkspace = 256
let baseDir = Environment.CurrentDirectory;
let getAllDiagramFiles = Directory.GetFiles(baseDir,"*.vsd")
let drawImage fullPathToDiagramFile =
let diagrammingApplication = new ApplicationClass()
let flags = Convert.ToInt16(visOpenRO + visOpenMinimized + visOpenHidden + visOpenMacrosDisabled + visOpenNoWorkspace)
let document = diagrammingApplication.Documents.OpenEx(fullPathToDiagramFile,flags)
for page in document.Pages do
let imagePath = Path.Combine(baseDir, page.Name + ".png")
page.Export (imagePath)
document.Close()
diagrammingApplication.Quit()
let doItAll =
Array.iter drawImage getAllDiagramFiles
doItAll
You can try "Visio to image" converter
http://soft.postpdm.com/visio2image.html
Tested with MS Visio 2007 and 2010
There has to be a way to hook into Visio with COM and get it to save as image.
Why not try writing something yourself, then, if you know how to use COM stuff? After all, if you can't find anything already made to do it, and you know you can figure out how to do it yourself, why not write something to do it yourself?
EDIT: Elaborating a bit on what I stated in my comment: writing a script of some sort does seem to be your best option in this situation, and Python, at least, would be quite useful for that, using the comtypes library found here: http://starship.python.net/crew/theller/comtypes/ Of course, as I said, if you prefer to use a different scripting language, then you could try using that; the thing is, I've only really used COM with VBA and Python at this point (As an aside, Microsoft tends to refer to "Automation" these days rather than specifically referencing COM, I believe.) The nice thing about Python is that it's an interpreted language, and thus you just need a version of the interpreter for the different OSes you're using, with versions for Windows, OSX, Linux, Unix, etc. On the other hand, I doubt you can use COM on non-Windows systems without some sort of hack, so you may very well have to parse the data in the source files directly (and even though Visio's default formats appear to use some form of XML, it's probably one of those proprietary formats Microsoft seems to love).
If you haven't used Python before, the Python documentation has a good tutorial to get people started: http://docs.python.org/3.1/tutorial/index.html
And, of course, you'll want the Python interpreter itself: http://python.org/download/releases/3.1/ (Note that you may have to manually add the Python directory to the PATH environment variable after installation.)
When you write the script, you could probably have the syntax for running the script be something like "python visioexport.py <source/original file[ with path]>[ <new file[ with path]>]" (assuming the script file is in your Python directory), with the new file defaulting to a file of the same name and in the same folder/directory as the original (albeit with a different extension; in fact, if you wish, you could set it up to export to multiple formats, with the format defaulting to that of whatever default extension you choose and being specified by an alternate extension of you specify one in the file name. As well, you could likely set it up so that if you only have the new file name after the source file, no path specified, it'll save with that new file name to the source file's directory. And, of course, if you don't specify a path for the source file, just a file name, you could set it up to get the file from the current directory).
On the topic of file formats: it seems to me that converting to SVG might be the best thing to do, as it would be more space-efficient and would better reflect the original images' status as vectored images. On the other hand, the conversion from a Visio format to SVG is not perfect (or, at least, it wasn't in Visio 2003; I can't find a source of info similar to this one for Visio 2007), and as seen here, you may have to modify the resultant XML file (though that could be done using the script, after the file is exported, via parts of the Python standard library). If you don't mind the additional file size of bitmaps, and you'd rather not have to include additional code to fix resultant SVG files, then you probably should just go with a bitmap format such as PNG.