[VB6] Browse Button (Common Dialog) Error

[HellSpawn]

I'm trying to make a Browse Button in my VB6 project so that a window pops up asking people to find a pic on their computer, which will then be loaded into a picture box and resized. I got the resizing part working but the problem I'm running into is this: when I run my program, hit the Browse Button, select an image from my Pictures folder in My Docs, and click ok, it makes my program think it's in the "Pictures" folder and everything fails at the same time.

Here's my code:

CommonDialog1.ShowOpen

'The following lines just let me know that I now have a file patch to work with so I can load the picture with the picturebox

If IsNull(CommonDialog1.FileName) Then 
Else
	MsgBox "File selected is " & CommonDialog1.FileName
End If

The program seems to run great the first time, with the message "File selected is (actual_filename_and_path)" displayed after I choose a file, and gets no errors, but as soon as I shut it off and run it again, all the databases that I have in the same folder as the program (MS Access Databases) start complaining that they aren't found and the pictures in the relative path of \pics\*.jpg of my program also can't be found. I copied one of the databases (an .mdb file) from the program's folder where it's supposed to be to the "Pictures" folder in my Docs (The folder that I chose the image in while working with my browse button) and it found the database. Even in development mode (not in runtime) the properties box doesn't recognize a database in the same folder as the program anymore unless I put the file into the "Pictures" folder. Why does the program think it's in whatever folder I choose with the browse button and how do I fix this? My only way to get my program running again is to use an older version of the program that I have saved in a different folder that doesn't have a browse button (it's a very recent version so I didn't loose any of my work).

Actually, if I close VB and don't save, I can open the project up again and it will run without the Browse Button just fine. I had to revert to an earlier project once because to test what would happen, I changed the code to what I mentioned above and saved to see what would happen. It ran once, failed the second time, and when I closed and reopened VB it wouldn't run anymore...

Edited May 10, 2008 by HellSpawn

[ultraviolet7]

Browsing from the CommonDialog causes the working path to be reset to where the user browsed to. If you are not specifying a path to your databases and pictures and you are just assuming that it is relative to you application then these are being loaded with the working path. This working path is persisted over separate runs of the application so closing it and reopening won't necessarily fix your problem.

You need to change the code to find where the application is located and append onto that the locations of your relative databases and pictures instead of inadvertently using the working path.

[MMaster23]

  ultraviolet7 said:

Browsing from the CommonDialog causes the working path to be reset to where the user browsed to. If you are not specifying a path to your databases and pictures and you are just assuming that it is relative to you application then these are being loaded with the working path. This working path is persisted over separate runs of the application so closing it and reopening won't necessarily fix your problem.

You need to change the code to find where the application is located and append onto that the locations of your relative databases and pictures instead of inadvertently using the working path.

Also .. you could try storing the CWD in a special variable when launching the app.

But still .. try and avoid working with the CWD for programming end as apps can run with different CWD's

[HellSpawn]

Thanks for the hints guys. Now at least I know what to look for.

  ultraviolet7 said:

You need to change the code to find where the application is located and append onto that the locations of your relative databases and pictures instead of inadvertently using the working path.

Sounds interesting. Do you know the code to find out what directory your program is in?

  MMaster23 said:

Also .. you could try storing the CWD in a special variable when launching the app.

But still .. try and avoid working with the CWD for programming end as apps can run with different CWD's

Since when the program launches, it's location is the same as the Current Working Directory, how would I write down this variable?

As a guess I tried

Dim a as String
a = CWD
MsgBox a

but that didn't work... What's the actual code?

[WhiteBox]

Can you attach here the problem code in separate project?

[HellSpawn]

  Abaiko said:

Can you attach here the problem code in separate project?

Here's an example of what I'm talking about.

Problem_Code.zipFetching info...

[WhiteBox]

Use this:

  Quote

Picture1.Picture = LoadPicture(App.Path & "\" & "smiley.jpg")

[HellSpawn]

  Abaiko said:

Use this:

Picture1.Picture = LoadPicture(App.Path & "\" & "smiley.jpg")

Just found out about App.Path yesterday while searching the net, but couldn't think of a good way to use it, this helps a lot. Thanks.

It looks like the browse button is finally working :)