ACC: How to Retrieve the Path or the File Name from the Name Property

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Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied. This includes, but is not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language that is being demonstrated and with the tools that are used to create and to debug procedures. Microsoft support engineers can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific requirements. The following Visual Basic for Applications procedure loops backward through the string returned by the Name property and determines the position of the first slash. If you want only the name of the file without the path, the function returns the portion of the string to the right of the slash. If you want only the path of the folder in which the current database is located, the function returns the portion of the string to the left of the slash.

1. Start Microsoft Access and open any database.
2. Open a new module and type the following procedure:

         Function RetrievePathFile(Optional vComponent As Variant)
   
            ' This function takes an optional argument that specifies
            ' whether you want to return the directory portion of
            ' the path or the file portion of the path.
            ' Usage: If you want to return only the name of the file
            ' without the path, use the syntax:
            '    RetrievePathFile("FName")
            ' If you supply a different argument or no argument at all
            ' the function returns only the folder in which the file is
            ' located.
            Dim strCurDBName As String
            Dim i As Integer  ' loop counter.
            strCurDBName = CurrentDb.Name
            ' Loop backward through string to find last "\"
            For i = Len(strCurDBName) To 1 Step -1
               If Mid(strCurDBName, i, 1) = "\" Then
                  If IsMissing(vComponent) Then
                     RetrievePathFile = Mid(strCurDBName, 1, i - 1)
                  ElseIf vComponent = "FName" Then
                     RetrievePathFile = Mid(strCurDBName, i + 1)
                  Else
                     RetrievePathFile = Mid(strCurDBName, 1, i - 1)
                  End If
               Exit For
               End If
            Next i
         End Function
   					

3. On the Debug menu, click Compile And Save All Modules.
4. Press CRTL+G to open the Debug window.
5. Type the following line in the Debug window, and then press ENTER:

   ?RetrievePathFile("FName")
   						

   The function returns the name of the current database without the complete path.
6. Type the following line in the Debug window, and then press ENTER:

   ?RetrievePathFile()
   						

   The function returns the path of the folder in which the current database is located.