Filepath from editable textbox with spaces

Question

I have a textbox where they are supposed to fill in a filepath as for example:

C:\Data\Project X\

And then we have standard sub folders as project phases, for example:

...\Design\CAD Drawings

The \Design\CAD Drawings\ dir is fixed, the parent folder is variable, as it depends if it is on server, local, etc.

In some cases, a button is supposed to open an excel sheet with information about specific part of a machine, e.g. a list of bolts, washers and nuts.

I use the shell command as:

Shell "excel.exe ""C:\Data\Project X\Design\CAD Drawings\Bolts.xlsx""", vbNormalFocus

This works perfectly well if I manually fill in the filepath. The problem occurs when I want to create the path as a combination of variables/strings. I want something like:

Shell "excel.exe [ProjectPath]\Bolts.xlsx", vbNormalFocus

Where [ProjecPath] is the string from the textbox.

Excel opens as intended but then it says that it can not find the file at path C:\Data\Project. Then I press OK, then next sign comes:

Cant find file at: "X\Design\CAD"

And so on - i.e. it chops the filepath whenever a space occurs.

When I do a message box as:

MsgBox [ProjectPath]

It writes the path perfectly as is with spaces and everything, BUT when I fill it in the shell command, it cuts it at the spaces. When I put "" "" around I get that it just searches for the name [ProjectPath] instead of the string in the textbox field.

Answer 1

You need to quote the full file spec:

>> pth = "C:\Data\Project X"
>> inp = "Design\CAD Drawings"
>> fil = "bolts.xls"
>> fsp = goFS.BuildPath(pth, goFS.BuildPath(inp, fil))
>> cmd = "excel.exe """ & fsp & """"
>> WScript.Echo cmd
>>
excel.exe "C:\Data\Project X\Design\CAD Drawings\bolts.xls"