Detecting File That Initiated VB Application 1

[dpatrickcollins]

I wish to write a VB application that supports its own file types, i.e. when a file is double-clicked in Windows, the application will start and display the file. I have successfully configured the file association in Windows, no problem. But question for the geniuses out there: once the file initiates the application, how do I make sure the file is opened?

 

[Hypetia]

The path of the file that initiated the program is passed to the application as command line argument.

This also needs that you have specified the correct command line when creating your file association. This is done by appending command line with a %1 or %L.

The command line data in the registry will look like this.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
yourfiletype\Shell\Open\command
(default)="Your application path" %L

After the application has started, you can check the value of Command$ function. This function contains the path of the document that started the application. If the application is started directly in standalone mode, this function returns vbNullString.

 

[dpatrickcollins]

Thanks, Hypetia. That was it perfectly.