asked on

Need Function to Validate File/Dir Name

Hello Experts

I need a function to validate a fully qualified file name I send to it.

The function should return one of 3 values:
- File name is valid
- File name is not valid but the directory is valid
- Invalid directory

I thought someone might have a function that does something like this.

This is for VB6. The function must work in all Windows (Win 95 thru XP).

Thanks in advance.

TimCottee

Hi GeneM,

Well you can do it like this:

Private Enum FilePathStatus
FileAndPathOK = 0
PathOK = 1
FileAndPathBad = 2
End Enum

Private Sub Command1_Click()
Select Case ValidatePathAndFile(Text1.Text)
Case FileAndPathOK
MsgBox "OK"
Case PathOK
MsgBox "Bad File"
Case FileAndPathBad
MsgBox "Completely stuffed"
End Select
End Sub

Private Function ValidatePathAndFile(ByVal What As String) As FilePathStatus
If Dir(What) <> "" Then
ValidatePathAndFile = FileAndPathOK
Else
strPath = Left(What, InStr(What & "\", "\"))
If GetAttr(strPath) And vbDirectory = vbDirectory Then
ValidatePathAndFile = PathOK
Else
ValidatePathAndFile = FileAndPathBad
End If
End If
End Function

Tim Cottee MCSD, MCDBA, CPIM
http://www.timcottee.tk

Brainbench MVP for Visual Basic
http://www.brainbench.com

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

bobbit31

membership

This solution is only available to members.

To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.

Start Free Trial

rspahitz

FYI
And don't forget error-trapping or the routine will fail if you put in a filename containing certain characters (like maybe / , [] % = |)

The key, as seen in the above comments, is to use the Dir (or Dir$) function to check the path.

supunr

' return values
' 0 - both path and file name is invalid
' 1 - only the path is valid
' 2 - only the file is valid ???
' 3 - both path and filename is valid
Private Function CheckPathNFile(PathNFile As String) As Integer
Dim LBSlash As Long
Dim PathName As String

LBSlash = InStrRev(PathNFile, "\")

If (LBSlash > 0) Then
PathName = Left(PathNFile, LBSlash)
Else
PathName = PathNFile
End If

CheckPathNFile = 0
If (Dir(PathName) <> "") Then ' path valid
CheckPathNFile = CheckPathNFile Or 1
End If
If (Dir(PathNFile) <> "") Then ' file valid
CheckPathNFile = CheckPathNFile Or 2
End If

End Function

Good Luck!

GeneM

ASKER

Hi all,

I am going with Bobbit's solution.

Tim, your solution wasn't quite correct. In the section where you were checking the directory, you looked for the leftmost "\" instead of the rightmost. But then you used the getattr function, which created an error if the dir was invalid.

Supunr's solution was very similar to Bobbits.

Thanks to all.

GeneM