All I want to do is open a .pdf in Acrobat

[oakleaf]

So I tried this: Dim objWSH As Object : objWSH = CreateObject("WScript.Shell") Call objWSH.Run("'" & Application.StartupPath & "\help_files\Potato_Traceability_User_Guide.pdf" & "'") 'objWSH = Nothing Which works fine while in debug mode. But when the install is compiled and then installed to c:\Program Files\asdf The file cannot be found. (but other files in the same directory of RTF format can be loaded into a rich text box control?) So I tried: Dim objWSH As Object : objWSH = CreateObject("WScript.Shell") mypath = Application.StartupPath.Replace("\", "\\") mypath = mypath.Replace(" ", "%20") Call objWSH.Run("'" & mypath & "\\help_files\\Potato_Traceability_User_Guide.pdf" & "'") 'objWSH = Nothing and a couple of other variations.... what should have taken 10 minutes, I am now 2 hours on...can someone help or let me know what it is that I am doing wrong?

[Onderack]

Try this; MyPath = Application.StartupPath.ToString Shell(MyPath + "\Potato_Traceability_User_Guide.pdf")

[Dave Kreskowiak]

I'm assuming you're using VB.NET, and not VB6. That being said, :omg: :wtf: Why are you starting an outside app using Windows Scripting Host? The Process class gives you much more control and information. Also, path handling is MUCH easier if you use the Path class.

Imports System.Io
.
.
.
Dim cmdLine As String = Path.Combine(Application.StartupPath, "\help_files\Potato.pdf")
Dim newProcess As New Process()
newProcess.StartInfo.Filename = cmdLine
newProcess.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = True
newProcess.Start()

RageInTheMachine9532 "...a pungent, ghastly, stinky piece of cheese!" -- The Roaming Gnome

[Dave Kreskowiak]

Onderack wrote:

Application.StartupPath.ToString

Why are you calling .ToString on something that is already a String??? And path handling is better left up to the Path class. Concantenating strings together can be problematic. RageInTheMachine9532 "...a pungent, ghastly, stinky piece of cheese!" -- The Roaming Gnome

[oakleaf]

I was basically trying anything at that point. Yes, VB.net 2003... The code I was using was something that I had jotted down somewhere...sometime ago.. So I used the code you provided with one exception. Dim newProcess As New Process newProcess.StartInfo.FileName = Application.StartupPath & "\help_files\Potato_Traceability_User_Guide.pdf" newProcess.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = True newProcess.Start() The Path.Combine(Application.StartupPath, "\help_files\Potato_Traceability_User_Guide.pdf") did not seem to work. It only sent "\help_files\Potato_Traceability_User_Guide.pdf" ? Thanks.

[Dave Kreskowiak]

Actually, it should be

Dim filePath As String
filePath = Path.Combine(Application.StartupPath, "help_files")
filePath = Path.Combine(filePath, "Potato_Traceability_User_Guide.pdf")

This is, of course, assuming that help_files is a subdirectory of the StartupPath. Use Debug.WriteLine statements to figure out what StartUp path is returning. RageInTheMachine9532 "...a pungent, ghastly, stinky piece of cheese!" -- The Roaming Gnome