How To Select a Directory Without the Common Dialog Control

This article demonstrates how to display the directory structure of a computer and allow a user to select a directory without using the Common Dialog control.

The sample project uses the following API functions to display the directory structure of a computer:

• SHBrowseForFolder - displays a dialog box that enables the user to select a shell folder.
• SHGetPathFromIDList - converts an item identifier list to a file system path.

Create the Sample Project

1. Start a new Standard EXE project in Visual Basic. Form1 is created by default.
2. Add a CommandButton to Form1.
3. Copy the following code to the Code window of Form1:
   

         Option Explicit
   
         Private Const BIF_RETURNONLYFSDIRS = 1
         Private Const BIF_DONTGOBELOWDOMAIN = 2
         Private Const MAX_PATH = 260
   
         Private Declare Function SHBrowseForFolder Lib "shell32" _
                                           (lpbi As BrowseInfo) As Long
   
         Private Declare Function SHGetPathFromIDList Lib "shell32" _
                                           (ByVal pidList As Long, _
                                           ByVal lpBuffer As String) As Long
   
         Private Declare Function lstrcat Lib "kernel32" Alias "lstrcatA" _
                                           (ByVal lpString1 As String, ByVal _
                                           lpString2 As String) As Long
   
         Private Type BrowseInfo
            hWndOwner      As Long
            pIDLRoot       As Long
            pszDisplayName As Long
            lpszTitle      As Long
            ulFlags        As Long
            lpfnCallback   As Long
            lParam         As Long
            iImage         As Long
         End Type
   
         Private Sub Command1_Click()
         'Opens a Treeview control that displays the directories in a computer
   
            Dim lpIDList As Long
            Dim sBuffer As String
            Dim szTitle As String
            Dim tBrowseInfo As BrowseInfo
   
            szTitle = "This is the title"
            With tBrowseInfo
               .hWndOwner = Me.hWnd
               .lpszTitle = lstrcat(szTitle, "")
               .ulFlags = BIF_RETURNONLYFSDIRS + BIF_DONTGOBELOWDOMAIN
            End With
   
            lpIDList = SHBrowseForFolder(tBrowseInfo)
   
            If (lpIDList) Then
               sBuffer = Space(MAX_PATH)
               SHGetPathFromIDList lpIDList, sBuffer
               sBuffer = Left(sBuffer, InStr(sBuffer, vbNullChar) - 1)
               MsgBox sBuffer
            End If
         End Sub
   
   						

4. On the Run menu, click Start or press the F5 key to start the program. Click the CommandButton to display the directory structure of the computer. Select a directory and click the OK button to display the directory you selected in a message box.