Steve its ok worked it out

ID = Shell(Root & strDsk & "\Compiler.exe", vbNormalFocus)

thanks for your help

Arnie

"Steve Yandl" wrote:

Arnie,

If you know that the file 'Compiler.exe" is on the user's desktop, you can
make the path string retrieval much more efficient. Try something like what
I have between the lines below.

'----------------------------------------------------

Sub FindDesktopFile()

Dim objFSO
Dim objShell
Dim strDsk As String

' Get the path to current user desktop
Set objShell = CreateObject("Shell.Application")
Set objFolderDsk = objShell.Namespace(&H10&)
strDsk = objFolderDsk.Self.Path

' Use file system object to confirm file's presence
Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
If objFSO.FileExists(strDsk & "\Compiler.exe") Then
MsgBox strDsk & "\Compiler.exe"
End If

Set objFSO = Nothing
Set objFolderDsk = Nothing
Set objShell = Nothing

End Sub


'---------------------------------------------------

Steve Yandl



"Arnie" wrote in message
...
Hi Joel thank you for being so helpful

the code brings up the message box but does not tell you where it is

i was wondering if i could use this but replacing C:\Documents and
Settings\UserName with a wild card as the program will always be on the
Desktop but UserName will always be different

ID = Shell(Root & "C:\Documents and
Settings\UserName\Desktop\Compiler.exe",
vbNormalFocus)

"Joel" wrote:

Here is a pair of macros that will recursively find a file on the C:
drive.
You could also use FileSearch but it doesn't work in Excel 2007.


Public file_loc As String
Sub findfile()
'set MyFilename and strfold as required

'file to search for
Const MyFileName = "Compiler.exe"
'directory to start searching
strFolder = "c:\"
file_loc = ""
Set fso = CreateObject _
("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set folder = _
fso.GetFolder(strFolder)

Call GetWorksheetsSubFolder(strFolder + "\", MyFileName)

MsgBox ("File found in folder: " & file_loc)
End Sub

Sub GetWorksheetsSubFolder(strFolder, MyFileName)
Set fso = CreateObject _
("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

Set folder = _
fso.GetFolder(strFolder)

If folder.subfolders.Count 0 Then
For Each sf In folder.subfolders
On Error GoTo 100
Call GetWorksheetsSubFolder(strFolder + sf.Name + "\",
MyFileName)
If file_loc < "" Then Exit For
100 Next sf
End If
'folder size in bytes
On Error GoTo 200
If file_loc = "" Then
For Each fl In folder.Files
If fl.Name = MyFileName Then
file_loc = folder.Name
End If
Next fl
End If
200 On Error GoTo 0

End Sub


"Arnie" wrote:

Hi all i am trying to use a portable bit of code to run "Compiler.exe"
ie
could be anywhere on users PC so i need code to find the program and
run it

any help would be appreciated

Code running from command Button

cheers Arnie