Question:
How can I create a “browse” facility in my application&#151something which throws up a dialog box that allows the user to view folders and select one, as in Microsoft Explorer, without selecting a specific file within it?

Answer:
This is not a built-in feature of PowerBuilder; it requires the use of the Windows API. To begin with, create a new non-visual object and create the following local structures:

 structure shitemid unsignedint        cbcharacter        abidstructure itemidlistshitemid        mkidstructure browseinfounsignedlong        hownerunsignedlong        pidlrootstring        pszdisplaynamestring        lpsztitleunsignedint        ulflagsunsignedlong        lpfnlong        lparaminteger        iimage

Add the following API calls to the local external functions:

 Function unsignedlong &   SHGetPathFromIDListA( unsignedlong pidl, ref string pszPath) Library 'shell32'Function unsignedlong &   SHBrowseForFolderA( browseinfo lpbrowseinfo ) Library 'shell32'Subroutine CoTaskMemFree( ulong idlist ) Library 'ole32'

Create a function with the following arguments and return value:

 string browseforfolder (window awi_parent, string as_caption)

In this function add the following code:

 browseinfo lstr_biitemidlist lstr_idlunsignedlong ll_pidlunsignedlong ll_rInteger li_posString ls_Pathunsignedlong ll_NullSetNull( ll_Null )lstr_bi.hOwner = Handle( awi_Parent )lstr_bi.pidlRoot = 0lstr_bi.lpszTitle = as_captionlstr_bi.ulFlags = 1lstr_bi.pszDisplayName = Space( 255 )lstr_bi.lpfn = ll_Nullll_pidl = SHBrowseForFolderA( lstr_bi )ls_Path = Space( 255 )ll_R = SHGetPathFromIDListA( ll_pidl, ls_Path )CoTaskMemFree( ll_pidl )RETURN ls_Path

Save the object and in your script, create the object call the browseforfolder function, and then destroy the object.