On 8/16/2010 3:23 PM, Chris wrote:
On Mon, 16 Aug 2010 01:06:52 +0100, "RB Smissaert"
wrote:

RetVal = Shell("G:\From G Data\Data Files& Test Programs\Work
Data\zipbatch.bat", 1)
Is this a valid file path. I am thinking of the& here.
Otherwise try with code like this:
Thanks very much for taking the trouble to reply. Actually it turns
out that the '&' *was* causing the failure. I tried on a folder with
no ampersand in its name, and everything worked perfectly.
I never expected that, as the batch file itself was quite happy with
the ampersand in the path name.
This shouldn't be a problem in practice, as I don't think any of the
folders I will actually be using (as opposed to the one I tried for
testing - bad choice!!) have ampersands in their name.
But, is there a way of using a path with an ampersand in it?
Anyway, thanks again for your help - it was invaluable!
Chris.

I hope nobody minds me jumping in, you might try using VB to change to
the folder where the batch file reside, then running it, maybe something
like this (but I don't know about the other arguments to ExecCmd so make
sure you use values you like):

CurDir "C:\From G Data\Data Files & Test Programs\Work Data\"
ExecCmd "zipbatch.bat", 15, True, ""

On 8/16/2010 4:45 PM, Mike S wrote:
On 8/16/2010 3:23 PM, Chris wrote:
On Mon, 16 Aug 2010 01:06:52 +0100, "RB Smissaert"
wrote:

RetVal = Shell("G:\From G Data\Data Files& Test Programs\Work
Data\zipbatch.bat", 1)
Is this a valid file path. I am thinking of the& here.
Otherwise try with code like this:
Thanks very much for taking the trouble to reply. Actually it turns
out that the '&' *was* causing the failure. I tried on a folder with
no ampersand in its name, and everything worked perfectly.
I never expected that, as the batch file itself was quite happy with
the ampersand in the path name.
This shouldn't be a problem in practice, as I don't think any of the
folders I will actually be using (as opposed to the one I tried for
testing - bad choice!!) have ampersands in their name.
But, is there a way of using a path with an ampersand in it?
Anyway, thanks again for your help - it was invaluable!
Chris.

I hope nobody minds me jumping in, you might try using VB to change to
the folder where the batch file reside, then running it, maybe something
like this (but I don't know about the other arguments to ExecCmd so make
sure you use values you like):

CurDir "C:\From G Data\Data Files & Test Programs\Work Data\"
ExecCmd "zipbatch.bat", 15, True, ""

Apologies, CurDir works in VB6 but not VBA I test this in an Excel 2000
macro and it worked, so I think this may work for you:

Public Sub doin()
Dim path As String
ChDir "C:\From G Data\Data Files & Test Programs\Work Data"
path = CurDir
MsgBox path
End Sub

ChDir "G:\From G Data\Data Files & Test Programs\Work Data\"
ExecCmd "zipbatch.bat", 15, True, ""

Sorry for not testing before posting, I need to remember that there are
some differences between VB6 and VBA.

On Mon, 16 Aug 2010 19:20:02 -0700, Mike S wrote:



Apologies, CurDir works in VB6 but not VBA I test this in an Excel 2000
macro and it worked, so I think this may work for you:

Public Sub doin()
Dim path As String
ChDir "C:\From G Data\Data Files & Test Programs\Work Data"
path = CurDir
MsgBox path
End Sub

ChDir "G:\From G Data\Data Files & Test Programs\Work Data\"
ExecCmd "zipbatch.bat", 15, True, ""

Sorry for not testing before posting, I need to remember that there are
some differences between VB6 and VBA.


Mike - thanks for your trouble. I did say you were dealing with a
novice, and, to be honest, simply not using ampersands in folder names
is a much simpler solution for me!

But I do appreciate your time. Thanks again.

Chris.