Date: Tue, 1 Jun 2010 19:56:33 -0700
Reply-To: Jack Hamilton <jfh@STANFORDALUMNI.ORG>
Sender: "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From: Jack Hamilton <jfh@STANFORDALUMNI.ORG>
Subject: Re: Finding the desktop without knowledge of the path structure
In-Reply-To: <AANLkTikDZBV5l7fh9MdVGzAkeGPteO7iH-XOtgDNdgi5@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252
Interesting. But I don't see how I'd use "start shell:personal" to get the name of the Personal folder - it opens the folder, but doesn't seem to return the name of the folder.
--
Jack Hamilton
jfh@alumni.stanford.org
Caelum non animum mutant qui trans mare currunt.
On Jun 1, 2010, at 19:37 , Mark Miller wrote:
> It does seem that CSIDL variables are only accessible as such from API calls
>
> althougn many non-MS languages include such facilities.
>
> Apparently to use them at prompts, you need to use the *shell: *command
> which essentially is
> a prefix to the Special Folder name.
> see for example
> http://www.winhelponline.com/blog/shell-commands-to-access-the-special-folders/
>
>
> The *shell:* command can be used to open a special folder directly from the
> Start, Search menu or from the Run dialog. For example, the command *
> shell:sendto* opens the SendTo folder (%userprofile%\sendto) of your user
> profile. To launch the Documents folder of your user profile, you’d type *
> shell:Personal*. Below is a complete *shell:* commands listing for Windows
> 7/XP/Vista. The entire listing is stored in the following registry key in
> Windows 7 & Vista:
> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \
> explorer \ FolderDescriptions
>
> ... Mark Miller
>
>
> On Tue, Jun 1, 2010 at 9:27 PM, Jack Hamilton <jfh@stanfordalumni.org>wrote:
>
>
>> That's a list of possible values, but where can I use them besides in
>> Windows API calls and the FILENAME statement (and maybe the LIBNAME
>> statement)?
>>
>> The shell command
>>
>> cd ?CSIDL_DESKTOPDIRECTORY
>>
>> doesn't switch to the desktop directory, so it doesn't appear that the
>> CSIDL "variables" can occur anywhere a directory name can occur.
>>
>>
>> --
>> Jack Hamilton
>> jfh@alumni.stanford.org
>> Caelum non animum mutant qui trans mare currunt.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Jun 1, 2010, at 17:50 , Arthur Tabachneck wrote:
>>
>>> Jack,
>>>
>>> I obviously don't know where data_null_ discovered it, but you can get
>> all
>>> of the relevant info at:
>>> http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb762494(VS.85).aspx
>>>
>>> HTH,
>>> Art
>>> ---------
>>> On Tue, 1 Jun 2010 17:10:44 -0700, Jack Hamilton <jfh@STANFORDALUMNI.ORG
>>>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Indeed, and very interesting. How did you find this? It's not
>>> documented anywhere I can find, although there a few examples in the
>> usage
>>> notes.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Jack Hamilton
>>>> jfh@alumni.stanford.org
>>>> Caelum non animum mutant qui trans mare currunt.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Jun 1, 2010, at 9:33 , Data _null_; wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> You can also use the CSIDL variables in a FILENAME/LIBNAME statement.
>>>>>
>>>>> filename FT55F001 '?CSIDL_DESKTOPDIRECTORY';
>>>>> filename FT55F001 list;
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> %let DESKTOP=%sysfunc(pathname(FT55F001));
>>>>> %put NOTE: DESKTOP=&desktop;
>>>>>
>>>>> On 6/1/10, Jack Hamilton <jfh@stanfordalumni.org> wrote:
>>>>>> It appears from the pathname that you're running under Windows (though
>>> you should get into the habit of including that information when you ask
>> a
>>> question).
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I'd use the MODULEN and MODULEC functions to get that information from
>>> the Windows registry (GetFolderPath API with the CSIDL_DESKTOPDIRECTORY
>>> parameter). See:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> http://www.devenezia.com/downloads/sas/sascbtbl/
>>>>>>
>>>>>> http://www.perlmonks.org/?node_id=343554
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Google will find other references to the MODULEx functions and the
>>> Windows API.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The second reference says that the Desktop location is contained in
>>> the environment variable USERPROFILE. In another message, Michael
>> Raithel
>>> suggests using a fixed path with the &SYSUSERID macro variable. Either
>> of
>>> those suggestions will work (perhaps best in combination) in many cases.
>>> They won't work if you have changed your Desktop location, which is easy
>>> to do if you know how to do it (Microsoft provides a utility). Given
>> that
>>> your users can't even type in path names, they probably haven't changed
>>> their desktop locations, but keep in mind that if you give your program
>> to
>>> enough people it will eventually reach someone who knows how to customize
>>> Windows.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> --
>>>>>> Jack Hamilton
>>>>>> jfh@alumni.stanford.org
>>>>>> Caelum non animum mutant qui trans mare currunt.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Jun 1, 2010, at 6:14 , Michael A McDaniel/AC/VCU wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I have a SAS macro that reads data from a file with a specific path
>>> and writes output to a file with a specific path. Different users of the
>>> macro have different path structures. For example, Manny?s desktop might
>>> be ?C:\Users\Manny\Desktop? while Bob?s desktop might be ?C:\Users\Bob
>>> Smith\Desktop?. I currently require the user to specify the path to a
>>> folder where files reside. This often causes errors because users don?t
>>> know how to specify a path. Is there a way to specify the computer
>> desktop
>>> as the directory without knowing the path?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Mike McDaniel
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>
>>
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