ShellExecute

ShellExecute is normally used for opening/running "files".

This includes documents, audio files, pictures, URL links, etc...

Declaration

Declare Function ShellExecute Lib "shell32.dll" Alias "ShellExecuteA" (ByVal hWnd As Long,
 ByVal lpOperation As String, ByVal lpFile As String, ByVal lpParameters As String,
 ByVal lpDirectory As String, ByVal nShowCmd As Long) As Long

Parameters

The only parameter you really need to use is the lpFile parameter and maybe the lpOperation and the rest can be left at the default.
You can pass the path to the file or the URL you would like to open and what you want to do with it.

Sample usage

Open a URL in the default web browser:

ShellExecute 0, "open", "http://www.earlsoft.co.uk/", "", "", 0

Print licence.rtf from the application directory:

ShellExecute 0, "print", App.Path & "\licence.rtf", "", "", 0

See also

• Earlsoft API page