FIX: Application Error When Calling the Documents.Open Automation Method

ID: Q216853

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Visual C++, 32-bit Editions, versions 5.0, 6.0

SYMPTOMS

A VBScript macro causes an application error in Msdev.exe when calling the Documents.Open method on a file that does not exist. This problem may occur, for example, if the file is managed by a source management system such as SourceSafe.

CAUSE

The file specified in the first Documents.Open parameter does not exist. The file may have been deleted or renamed on the local drive.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a bug in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article.

This bug was corrected in Visual Studio 6.0 Service Pack 3. For more information about Visual Studio service packs, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q194022 INFO: Visual Studio 6.0 Service Packs, What, Where, Why

Q194295 HOWTO: Tell That Visual Studio 6.0 Service Packs Are Installed

MORE INFORMATION

The Documents.Open method takes three parameters:

The path of the file to open.

The editor to use for the file.

A flag to open the file in read-only instead of read-write mode.

If the latter two parameters are unspecified, the method opens the file with the default editor in read-write mode.

If the file to be opened does not exist, VBScript throws a run-time exception error. The exception is normal and expected under this condition; however, Developer Studio does not handle it properly and faults internally.

Steps to Reproduce Behavior

Create a new macro containing these lines:
```
Sub DelAFile()
   Documents.Open "MyFile.cpp",,False
End Sub 
```
In this example, the macro is named "DelAFile".

Create a new empty project.

Run the "DelAFile" macro repeatedly until an application error occurs.

REFERENCES

For additional information about macros crashing Developer Studio, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q193478 Run-time Macro Errors Cause Developer Studio to Crash

Additional query words:

Keywords : kbservicepack kbAutomation kbVC500bug kbVC600bug kbVCObj kbVS600sp2 kbVS600SP1 kbVS600sp3fix
Version : winnt:5.0,6.0
Platform : winnt
Issue type : kbbug