ACC2000: How to Create Shortcuts from a Field of Hyperlinks

• Microsoft Access 2000

SUMMARY

This article shows you how to create sample Visual Basic for Applications code that creates Internet shortcuts from a Microsoft Access table that has a Hyperlink field with one or many records. The shortcuts are then placed in a folder on your hard disk.

MORE INFORMATION

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1. In Windows Explorer, create the following folder:




C:\MyShortcuts

2. Start Access 2000, open a database, and create the following table:




   Table: tblHyperlinks
   -----------------------
   Field Name: fldLink
   Data Type: Hyperlink 

3. Save the table as tblHyperlinks. When prompted to create a primary key, click Yes.



4. Switch to Datasheet View, and type a valid Internet address into the fldLink field of the first record.



5. Right-click the address, point to Hyperlink, and type a descriptive name in the Display Text box. Although the displaytext portion of the Hyperlink data type is optional, you can hide the URL address and display a more user-friendly name for the hyperlink if you specify display text.



6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until you have added several records with different Internet addresses.



7. Create a new module and type or paste the following code:




Sub ProcessHyperlinkTable(strTableName As String, _
   strFieldName As String)

   ' Declare variables.
   Dim DBS As DAO.Database
   Dim RST As DAO.Recordset
   Dim strSQL As String
   Dim strAddress As String
   Dim strDisplayText As String
   Dim strDirectoryPath As String
   Dim varLink As Variant

   ' Set error trapping.
   On Error GoTo Error_handler

   ' Assign the current database to the database variable.
   Set DBS = CurrentDb

   ' Set the path to the existing directory
   ' where the shortcuts will be created.
   ' Note: the path should end with a backslash ("\").
   strDirectoryPath = "c:\MyShortcuts\"

   ' Set the SQL string to return the field
   ' containing the hyperlinks from the
   ' table you have specified.
   strSQL = "SELECT " & strFieldName _
      & " FROM " & strTableName

   ' Open the Recordset.
   Set RST = DBS.OpenRecordset(strSQL)

   ' Move to the first record.
   RST.MoveFirst

   ' Loop until reaching the end of the table.
   Do Until RST.EOF
      ' Check to see if the HomePage field contains a link.
      If Not IsNull(RST!fldLink) Then

         ' Set varLink equal to the current Hypertext link field.
         varLink = RST!fldLink

         ' Pull the Address from varLink.
         strAddress = HyperlinkPart(varLink, acAddress)

         ' Pull the display text, if any, from varLink.
         strDisplayText = HyperlinkPart(varLink, acDisplayText)

         ' If there is no display text, set strDisplayText to
         ' be the same as the URL.
         If strDisplayText = "" Then

            ' If strAddress starts with "Http://",
            ' or "Ftp://", leave that out of strDisplayText.
            If Left(strAddress, 7) = "Http://" Or _
               Left(strAddress, 6) = "Ftp://" Then

                  strDisplayText = Right(strAddress, _
                     Len(strAddress) _
                     - (InStr(1, strAddress, "/") + 1))
            Else
            ' Otherwise, simply set strDisplayText
            ' equal to strAddress.
               strDisplayText = strAddress
            End If

         End If

         ' Pass the URL, the link name, and the directory path to
         ' the function.
         Create_Hyperlink_Shortcut strAddress, strDisplayText, _
            strDirectoryPath

      End If

      ' Move to the next record.
      RST.MoveNext

   Loop

' Error handling section

ProcessHyperlinkTable_Exit:

   DBS.Close

   ' Exit the Procedure.
   Exit Sub

Error_handler:
   MsgBox Err.Description
   Resume ProcessHyperlinkTable_Exit

End Sub

Function Create_Hyperlink_Shortcut(strAddress As String, _
   LinkFileName As String, LinkFilePath As String)

   ' Declare output file variable.
   Dim fileNum As Integer
   ' Declare counter variable.
   Dim i As Integer

   ' Set error trapping.
   On Error GoTo Error_handler

   ' Set fileNum to the next available file number.
   fileNum = FreeFile

   ' Create the new shortcut file.
   Open LinkFilePath & LinkFileName & ".url" For Output _
      As #fileNum
   Print #fileNum, "[InternetShortcut]"
   Print #fileNum, "URL=" & strAddress
   Close #fileNum

   ' Exit the function when done.
   Exit Function

   ' Error handling section
Error_handler:

   ' Trap for errors caused by a bad file name
   ' and prompt the user to correct it.
   Select Case Err
      ' "Bad file name or number" error caused by
      ' invalid characters in file name.
      Case 52
         LinkFileName = InputBox("Cannot create file for " _
            & strAddress & Chr(13) _
            & "The Internet Shortcut Name shown below is invalid." _
            & Chr(13) & Chr(13) _
            & "It contains one or more of the following: " _
            & "\ / : * ? " & """" & " < > |" & Chr(13) & Chr(13) _
            & Chr(13) & "Please enter a valid Shortcut name.", _
            "Invalid Shortcut Name", LinkFileName)

      ' "Path not found" error caused by slashes
      ' in the file name.
      Case 76
         LinkFileName = InputBox("Cannot create file for " _
            & strAddress & Chr(13) & Chr(13) _
            & "The shortcut name shown below is invalid. " _
            & "It may contain one or more slashes." _
            & Chr(13) & Chr(13) _
            & "Please remove any slashes from the Shortcut name.", _
            "Path not found", LinkFileName)

      ' If it is any other error, exit the function
      ' without creating the shortcut file.
      Case Else
         MsgBox "Error Number: " & Err & " while attempting to " _
            & "create" & "shortcut for " & strAddress
         Exit Function
   End Select

   ' If the user entered a blank shortcut name in the error dialog,
   ' prompt for a correct one, allowing for three tries.
   For i = 1 To 3
      If Len(LinkFileName) = 0 Then
         LinkFileName = InputBox("Cannot create file for " _
            & strAddress & Chr(13) _
            & "The Internet Shortcut Name is blank" _
            & Chr(13) & Chr(13) _
            & "Please enter a valid Shortcut name.", _
            "Invalid Shortcut Name", LinkFileName)
      End If
   Next i

   ' If the user has still left the name blank, let the user know
   ' the shortcut will not be created and then exit the function.
   If Len(LinkFileName) = 0 Then
      MsgBox ("A shortcut will not be created for " _
         & strAddress & ".")
      Exit Function
   End If

   ' Resume at the line that generated the error.
   Resume

End Function 

8. On the Tools menu, click References, find the following reference, and make sure it is selected (checked):




Microsoft DAO 3.6 Object Library

9. Click OK in the References dialog box.



10. Save the Module as HyperlinkCode.



11. Press CTRL+G to display the Immediate window.



12. To test the code, type the following line in the Immediate window, and then press ENTER:




ProcessHyperLinkTable "tblHyperlinks", "fldLink" 

13. Check the C:\MyShortcuts folder and note the new Internet shortcuts.



14. Double-click any Internet shortcut to run your browser and move to the selected URL.

REFERENCES

For more information about Hyperlink fields, click Microsoft Access Help on the Help menu, type "hyperlinks" in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topics returned.

Additional query words: inf favorites browser

Keywords : kbdta AccCon PgmHowto IntLink KbVBA
Version : WINDOWS:2000
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbhowto