I tried using the old VB way with an API call (see below),
but this does not seem to work.

Private Declare Function GetShortPathNameA Lib "kernel32" _
   (ByVal lpszLongPath As String, ByVal lpszShortPath _
   As String, ByVal cchBuffer As Long) As Long

Public Function GetShortPathName(LongPath As String) As
String
  Dim s As String
  Dim i As Long

  i = Len(LongPath) + 1
  s = String(i, 0)
  GetShortPathNameA LongPath, s, i

  GetShortPathName = Left$(s, InStr(s, Chr$(0)) - 1)
End Function

        You have to change the longs to integers in vb.net.  Here is how
declare the api now.

Declare Function GetShortPathName Lib "kernel32" Alias "GetShortPathNameA" _

(ByVal lpszLongPath As String, ByVal lpszShortPath As String, _

ByVal cchBuffer As Integer) As Integer

How to use it.

Dim strPath As String = Application.StartupPath

Dim strShortPath As String = Space(100)

GetShortPathName(strPath, strShortPath, 100)

TextBox1.Text = strShortPath

Ken

--------------

Ken - thanks but it still didn't work :o(

I'm gettnig a value of 0 returned and an empty string
instead of teh short path name

Ken
------------

e.g.  
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\WINWORD.EXE

D'OH!

Just realised I had somehow got ByRef in the function
declaration rather than ByVal

...not sure where I go this from though as I copied it
from an article somewhere on the net.

thanks anyways

Regards,
Herfried K. Wagner
--
MVP VB Classic, VB .NET
http://www.mvps.org/dotnet

Nick.

        It will only work with a Directory not a file.  C:\Program
Files\Microsoft Office\Office works not C:\Program Files\Microsoft
Office\Office\WINWORD.EXE

Ken
---------

Declare Auto Function GetShortPathName Lib "kernel32" _
    (ByVal lpszLongPath As String,
     ByVal lpszShortPath As System.Text.StringBuilder, _
     ByVal ccBuffer As Integer) As Integer

Dim strPath As String = Application.StartupPath
Dim strShortPath As New System.Text.StringBuilder(260) ' make it MAX_PATH
long...

GetShortPath(strPath, strShortPath, strShortPath.Capacity)
TextBox1.Text = strShortPath.ToString()

By the way, you should probably check the return value... If the function is
successful, the return value is the number of characters, not including the
null terminator, written to the buffer.  If the function fails because your
buffer is to small, it returns the size of the needed buffer, so if the
return value is greater then strShortPath.Capacity, then you need to
increase the size of the StringBuilder.  If the function fails for anyother
reason, it returns 0.

Tom Shelton