How to get the names of all the folders in the folder tree, starting from a specified folder
For instance, in order put the results into a document, or to print them
Article contributed by Thomas Gahler
The following procedures read the entire folder tree, starting from any folder you specify, into an array, and put the results into a document; or you could have it print the results, or whatever you want it to do with them.
Copy the functions below into a module in your VB Editor (press Alt+F11). You will need to delete the horizontal lines that have been used here to separate the functions.
You can call the functions with the following macro (or modify it as required)):
Sub Demo()
Dim FoldersArray As Variant
Dim i As Integer
'Read all subfolders of the specified folder into an array
'by calling the funcGetSubfolders function
FoldersArray = funcGetSubfolders("C:\Windows")
'Put the results (the array values) into the current
document if it is blank,
'or else into a new document
If Len(ActiveDocument.Range.Text) > 1
Then
Documents.Add
End If
For i = LBound(FoldersArray)
To UBound(FoldersArray)
ActiveDocument.Range.InsertAfter FoldersArray(i) & vbCr
Next i
ActiveDocument.Saved = True
End Sub
Or you could allow the user to type in a path for themselves, by displaying an input box or a UserForm. For instance, instead of the line:
FoldersArray = funcGetSubfolders("C:\Windows")
you could use:
Dim FolderToRead
As String
Do
FolderToRead = InputBox("Type path to folder you want to
check")
If Len(FolderToRead) = 0
Then
Exit Sub
End If
If Len(Dir$(FolderToRead,
vbDirectory)) = 0 Then
MsgBox "Invalid folder name; please
try again, or press Cancel to quit"
End If
Loop Until Len(Dir$(FolderToRead, vbDirectory)) > 0
FoldersArray = funcGetSubfolders(FolderToRead)
Or see How to allow the user to browse to and select a folder, if you want to be really swish.
These are the functions you need. See also the Notes at the end.
Public Function
funcGetSubfolders(ByVal FolderToRead As String)
As Variant
'This function uses a string as a parameter and not an
array.
'It translates this string to an array and then starts the main function,
'funcGetAllSubfolders'
Dim AllSubFolders(0) As
Variant
On Error Resume Next
System.Cursor = wdCursorWait
'Add a backslash to the end of the path, if not
there already
If (Right$(FolderToRead, 1) <> "\")
Then
FolderToRead = FolderToRead & "\"
End If
'Set the path as the first entry in the array and pas the
array to the main function
AllSubFolders(0) = FolderToRead
funcGetSubfolders = funcGetAllSubfolders(AllSubFolders)
System.Cursor = wdCursorNormal
StatusBar = ""
On Error GoTo 0
End Function
Private Function
funcGetAllSubfolders(ByVal AllSubFoldersArray As Variant)
As Variant
'This is a recursive function, that is, it keeps calling
itself -
'which makes it a nightmare to step through!
Dim Counter As Integer
'The following string will contain the path of the folder
which is currently being looked in
Dim CurFolderName As
String
'The following string will contain the current value
returned by Dir$().
Dim SubFolderName As
String
'The following array will contain of the subfolders (if
any) of 'CurFolderName'
Dim SubFolderList() As
String
On Error Resume Next
'Get the last value we put into the AllSubFoldersArray
Array variant,
'and convert it to a string so that we can assign it to the string
'variable CurFolderName
CurFolderName = CStr(AllSubFoldersArray(UBound(AllSubFoldersArray)))
'Read all subfolders of 'CurFolderName' and add them to 'SubFolderList'.
ReDim SubFolderList(0)
SubFolderName = Dir$(CurFolderName, vbDirectory)
Do While Len(SubFolderName) <> 0
'Ignore the current directory and the
encompassing directory.
If SubFolderName <> "."
And SubFolderName <> ".." Then
'Unfortunately,
calling Dir with the vbDirectory attribute
'does not continually return
subdirectories (only the first time);
'so you have to use the GetAttr
function (which is covered in Help)
'to test, each time, that this is a
folder and not a file
If
(GetAttr(CurFolderName & SubFolderName) _
And vbDirectory) = vbDirectory
Then
'Up the array size by one
ReDim Preserve SubFolderList(UBound(SubFolderList)
+ 1)
'Add the new folder to the array
SubFolderList(UBound(SubFolderList)) =
SubFolderName
StatusBar =
"Reading Subfolders... (" _
& CurFolderName & ": -> " & SubFolderName & ")"
End If
End If
'Get the next directory
SubFolderName = Dir$()
Loop
'Sort the list with the subfolders.
If UBound(SubFolderList) > 0
Then
WordBasic.SortArray SubFolderList()
End If
'Now get all the subfolders of the current folder, then
all the subfolders
'of each of those subfolders, and so on, up the directory tree,
'until there are no more subfolders. By recursively
'(repeatedly applying the procedure to successive results)
'calling the current function.
'If the current folder contains no subfolders, the following For .. Next loop
gets skipped
For Counter = 1 To
UBound(SubFolderList)
'Up the size of the AllSubFoldersArray
array by one
ReDim Preserve
AllSubFoldersArray(UBound(AllSubFoldersArray) + 1)
'Set the next item in the
AllSubFoldersArray to be
'the next subfolder of the current folder
AllSubFoldersArray(UBound(AllSubFoldersArray))
= _
CurFolderName
& SubFolderList(Counter) & "\"
'Now run the this function recursively
on that subfolder,
'to get its subfolders, if it has any
AllSubFoldersArray =
funcGetAllSubfolders(AllSubFoldersArray)
Next Counter
'Set the complete directory structure as the function's
return value.
funcGetAllSubfolders = AllSubFoldersArray
On Error GoTo 0
End Function
Notes
|
1. |
The funcGetAllSubfolders function is recursive; (recursive means repeatedly applying the same procedure to successive results). So it reads the names of all the folders in the folder you specify; then for each of these folders in turn, it calls itself in order to read their subfolders, and while it's in the process of doing that, it repeatedly calls itself in order to read the subfolders of those subfolders, and so on. Therefore, many instances of the function run simultaneously, and in each instance of the function, all the variables have different values from every other instance. Somehow, the code manages to keep track of all this, but it's more or less impossible to keep track of them when stepping through the code; which makes recursive procedures a nightmare to debug Luckily, you don't need to, because the function works! Partly for his reason, and partly because recursive procedures can easily run out of memory, if not very well coded they are usually best avoided. But in this case, to do it any other way would be much more complicated, so it's justified. And the macro runs very fast! |
|
2. |
Usually it's best to define array variables as a data type other than a Variant (such as a String), as this can save a lot of memory. However, when passing arrays to functions, it's much simpler to define them as a Variant. |