Escape double quote in VB string

Question

I have used following piece of code to execute schtasks command from VB6. While executing it, ignores folder if they contains spaces. For example, "C:\program files\test\test.exe" will be converted to "c:\program ". How do I solve this issue?

MyAppname =  Chr(34) & App.Path & "\" & App.EXEName & ".exe" & Chr(34)
StrCommand = "schtasks /create /sc ONLOGON /RL HIGHEST  /tn myapp  /tr " & MyAppname  
Shell StrCommand, vbHide   

New task added as "c:\program" instead of "C:\program files\test\test.exe"

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Escaping quotes in VB6 or VBScript strings is simple in theory although often frightening when viewed. You escape a double quote with another double quote.

An example:

"c:\program files\my app\app.exe"

If I want to escape the double quotes so I could pass this to the shell execute function listed by Joe or the VB6 Shell function I would write it:

escapedString = """c:\program files\my app\app.exe""" 

How does this work? The first and last quotes wrap the string and let VB know this is a string. Then each quote that is displayed literally in the string has another double quote added in front of it to escape it.

It gets crazier when you are trying to pass a string with multiple quoted sections. Remember, every quote you want to pass has to be escaped.

If I want to pass these two quoted phrases as a single string separated by a space (which is not uncommon):

"c:\program files\my app\app.exe" "c:\documents and settings\steve"

I would enter this:

escapedQuoteHell = """c:\program files\my app\app.exe"" ""c:\documents and settings\steve""" 

I've helped my sysadmins with some VBScripts that have had even more quotes.

It's not pretty, but that's how it works.

Answer 2

Another example:

Dim myPath As String = """" & Path.Combine(part1, part2) & """" 

Good luck!

Answer 3

Did you try using double-quotes? Regardless, no one in 2011 should be limited by the native VB6 shell command. Here's a function that uses ShellExecuteEx, much more versatile.

Option Explicit

Private Const SEE_MASK_DEFAULT = &H0

Public Enum EShellShowConstants
        essSW_HIDE = 0
        essSW_SHOWNORMAL = 1
        essSW_SHOWMINIMIZED = 2
        essSW_MAXIMIZE = 3
        essSW_SHOWMAXIMIZED = 3
        essSW_SHOWNOACTIVATE = 4
        essSW_SHOW = 5
        essSW_MINIMIZE = 6
        essSW_SHOWMINNOACTIVE = 7
        essSW_SHOWNA = 8
        essSW_RESTORE = 9
        essSW_SHOWDEFAULT = 10
End Enum

Private Type SHELLEXECUTEINFO
        cbSize        As Long
        fMask         As Long
        hwnd          As Long
        lpVerb        As String
        lpFile        As String
        lpParameters  As String
        lpDirectory   As String
        nShow         As Long
        hInstApp      As Long
        lpIDList      As Long     'Optional
        lpClass       As String   'Optional
        hkeyClass     As Long     'Optional
        dwHotKey      As Long     'Optional
        hIcon         As Long     'Optional
        hProcess      As Long     'Optional
End Type

Private Declare Function ShellExecuteEx Lib "shell32.dll" Alias "ShellExecuteExA" (lpSEI As SHELLEXECUTEINFO) As Long

Public Function ExecuteProcess(ByVal FilePath As String, ByVal hWndOwner As Long, ShellShowType As EShellShowConstants, Optional EXEParameters As String = "", Optional LaunchElevated As Boolean = False) As Boolean
    Dim SEI As SHELLEXECUTEINFO

    On Error GoTo Err

    'Fill the SEI structure
    With SEI
        .cbSize = Len(SEI)                  ' Bytes of the structure
        .fMask = SEE_MASK_DEFAULT           ' Check MSDN for more info on Mask
        .lpFile = FilePath                  ' Program Path
        .nShow = ShellShowType              ' How the program will be displayed
        .lpDirectory = PathGetFolder(FilePath)
        .lpParameters = EXEParameters       ' Each parameter must be separated by space. If the lpFile member specifies a document file, lpParameters should be NULL.
        .hwnd = hWndOwner                   ' Owner window handle

        ' Determine launch type (would recommend checking for Vista or greater here also)
        If LaunchElevated = True Then ' And m_OpSys.IsVistaOrGreater = True
            .lpVerb = "runas"
        Else
            .lpVerb = "Open"
        End If
    End With

     ExecuteProcess = ShellExecuteEx(SEI)   ' Execute the program, return success or failure

    Exit Function
Err:
    ' TODO: Log Error
    ExecuteProcess = False
End Function

Private Function PathGetFolder(psPath As String) As String
    On Error Resume Next
    Dim lPos As Long
    lPos = InStrRev(psPath, "\")
    PathGetFolder = Left$(psPath, lPos - 1)
End Function