Loop through folders with shell object.

[dglienna]

dir *.txt /s

[vb5prgrmr]

Look for recursive or recursion at that link... as there are several different examples on how to search an entire drive or a subset of folders and sub folders for files...

(Yeah D, I've used that one before but I do something like dir C:\a *.txt /b /s >c:\output.txt)



Good Luck

[Derend]

Hello again,

I have spent a little time to check some examples on that link http://vbnet.mvps.org/index.html?cod...api/index.html
I have tested this examples, but it seems like none of them search subfolders.

FindFirstFile: Recursive File Search for Single or Multiple File Types (minimal code)
FindFirstFile: Recursive File Search Including/Excluding Single or Multiple File Types (minimal code)
FindFirstFile: Recursive Search for Folders Using a Folder Mask (minimal code)
FindFirstFile: Recursive File Search (minimal code)
FindFirstFile: Recursive Search for Folders (minimal code)

Is it me that see it wrong or it really is like this?

Can anybody help with this?

[DataMiser]

Have you considered that you may need to combine 2 of these to get your results?

Keep in mind I have not looked through these but if as you say they search for files in a single folder then you may need to use one to search for sub directories and then another to search for files in each of those sub directories.

[DataMiser]

btw that little method shown by vb5prgrmr is fairly quick and not to difficult to use. It will generate a file that has all the results in it. You would just need to parse out that file when it completes.

[WoF]

I don't know what you actually want, Derend.
If you look at my sample project, it shows three methods to RECURSIVELY list all contents of a folder and its subfolders.
For easy comprehension I have snapped together the API code to a short and rather fast procedure. It assumes a ListBox named lstFiles to accept and display the entries.

Private Declare Function FindFirstFile Lib "kernel32" Alias "FindFirstFileA" (ByVal lpFileName As String, lpFindFileData As WIN32_FIND_DATA) As Long
Private Declare Function FindNextFile Lib "kernel32" Alias "FindNextFileA" (ByVal hFindFile As Long, lpFindFileData As WIN32_FIND_DATA) As Long
Private Declare Function GetFileAttributes Lib "kernel32" Alias "GetFileAttributesA" (ByVal lpFileName As String) As Long
Private Declare Function FindClose Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hFindFile As Long) As Long

Const FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY = &H10

Private Type WIN32_FIND_DATA
    dwFileAttributes As Long
    ftCreationTime As FILETIME
    ftLastAccessTime As FILETIME
    ftLastWriteTime As FILETIME
    nFileSizeHigh As Long
    nFileSizeLow As Long
    dwReserved0 As Long
    dwReserved1 As Long
    cFileName As String * MAX_PATH
    cAlternate As String * 14
End Type

Private Sub ListFilesAPI(ByVal StartingPath As String, ByVal Pattern As String)
  Dim CurName As String, CurFull As String
  Dim Dirs As New Collection
  Dim hSearch As Long
  Dim WFD As WIN32_FIND_DATA
  Dim i%, cont%
  
  If Right$(StartingPath, 1) <> "\" Then StartingPath = StartingPath + "\"
  
  'walk through all entries to find the folders
  cont = 1
  hSearch = FindFirstFile(StartingPath + "*", WFD)
  If hSearch <> INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE Then
     Do While cont
        CurName = StripNulls(WFD.cFileName)
        If CurName <> "." And CurName <> ".." Then
           CurFull = StartingPath + CurName
           If GetFileAttributes(CurFull) And FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY Then Dirs.Add CurName
        End If
        cont = FindNextFile(hSearch, WFD)
     Loop
     cont = FindClose(hSearch)
  End If
  
  'now walk again through all entries finding files that match the search pattern
  cont = 1
  hSearch = FindFirstFile(StartingPath + Pattern, WFD)
  If hSearch <> INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE Then
     Do While cont
        CurName = StripNulls(WFD.cFileName)
        If CurName <> "." And CurName <> ".." Then lstFiles.AddItem StartingPath + CurName
        cont = FindNextFile(hSearch, WFD)
     Loop
     cont = FindClose(hSearch)
  End If
  
  'now recursively call self for all subfolders
  For i = 1 To Dirs.Count
      ListFilesAPI StartingPath + Dirs(i), Pattern
  Next
End Sub

[WoF]

If you like variations on a theme, here is another little example I worked out.
It seems to be even faster than API code using Dir$(), although it does not feature pattern matching.
It simply lists all files in the folder and its subfolders.

Private Sub ListAllFilesDIR(ByVal StartingFolder As String)
  Dim CurDir As String
  Dim CurName As String
  Dim Dirs As New Collection
  Dim FullName As String
  
  If Right$(StartingFolder, 1) <> "\" Then StartingFolder = StartingFolder + "\"
  
  Dirs.Add StartingFolder
  
  While Dirs.Count
    CurDir = Dirs(1)
    Dirs.Remove 1
    CurName = Dir$(CurDir, vbDirectory)
    While CurName <> ""
       If CurName <> "." And CurName <> ".." Then
          FullName = CurDir + CurName
          If GetAttr(FullName) And vbDirectory Then Dirs.Add FullName + "\"
          lstFiles.AddItem FullName
       End If
       CurName = Dir$
    Wend
  Wend
End Sub

Again it will list files in a ListBox named lstFiles.
This is a rather short, comprehensive and elegant way which does not even do recursive calling, although it still walks through all subfolders.
For pattern matching we'd have to do it a little different.

[DataMiser]

Would be a bit faster if you set the lstfiles.visible=false at the top and true at the bottom

[dglienna]

Powershell

# PowerShell script to find executable in the Windows folder
$Path = "C:\windows"
$wind =get-Childitem $Path -recurse | where{$_.Extension -match "exe"}
$wind

[WoF]

@DataMiser: that's true. It will be a leeettle faster then.

@David: Hem, hem... Ys thys VB6 code? You seem to be yn the wrong forum.

BTW.: I'm a little amazed that the Dir$() version is almost as fast as the API calls. I say almost, since if I'd have to modify the routine for pattern matching we'd have to make double passes through the folders and thus being a little slower than API, I guess.

[DataMiser]

I don't think you would need additional passes just need to compare the text of the fullname to your search pattern before adding it to the list

[Derend]

Where should I give search path and search file type in your codes WOF?

[dglienna]

Powershell 2.0 is the new DOS. All the new Microsoft programs understand it.
It also utilizes the Net framework, under the covers.

Why NOT use it?

How to access the Registry:

c:\Powershell
PS C:\Users\David> cd hklm:
PS HKLM:\software> cd \software
PS HKLM:\software> dir


Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\software


SKC VC Name Property
--- -- ---- --------
1 0 Acronis {}
1 0 ASUS {}
1 0 ATI Technologies {}
1 0 Audible {}
1 0 Business Objects {}
447 0 Classes {}
7 0 Clients {}
3 0 Diskeeper Corporation {}
1 0 Dolby {}
1 0 Hauppauge {}
1 0 InstalledOptions {}
2 0 Intel {}
2 0 JavaSoft {}
1 0 Khronos {}
1 0 MainConceptMCE {}
4 0 MCCI {}
188 1 Microsoft
[removed]
PS HKLM:\software>

[DataMiser]

I think the intention was to do this in a vb6 project, I haven't used powershell for anything as of yet but I would be surprised if it intergrated with VB6. Also I find it hard to believe that it would be any faster or even as fast as doing it through VB code directly. There is a lot of overhead in the .net framework

[DataMiser]

Where should I give search path and search file type in your codes WOF?

In the first example it would be "StartingPath" and "Pattern"
The second example "StartingFolder" there is no code there for pattern but could be added with ease.