Microsoft KB Archive/138904

= ACC: Connecting to the First Available Network Drive (95/97) =

Article ID: 138904

Article Last Modified on 1/19/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Access 95 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Access 97 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q138904



SUMMARY
Advanced: Requires expert coding, interoperability, and multiuser skills.

To make a network connection with the Windows application programming interface (API), you can use an unused logical drive letter or a Universal Naming Convention (UNC) name, such as \\Servername\Sharename. You can call the Windows API function, GetDriveType, from a Visual Basic for Applications module to find the first available drive letter, and then make a network connection to this available drive.

This article assumes that you are familiar with Visual Basic for Applications and with creating Microsoft Access applications using the programming tools provided with Microsoft Access. For more information about Visual Basic for Applications, please refer to your version of the "Building Applications with Microsoft Access" manual.



MORE INFORMATION
To find the first free drive and make a network connection, follow these steps:

  Create a module and type the following lines in the Declarations section: Option Explicit Declare Function GetDriveType Lib "kernel32" Alias "GetDriveTypeA" _ (ByVal nDrive As String) As Long Declare Function WNetAddConnection Lib "mpr.dll" Alias _ "WNetAddConnectionA" (ByVal lpszNetPath As String, _         ByVal lpszPassword As String, ByVal lpszLocalName _          As String) As Long

  Type the following procedure: Public Function FreeDrive(MyShareName$, MyPWD$) As Integer On Local Error GoTo FreeDrive_Err Dim DriveNum As Long, FirstFreeDrive As String Dim FirstDrive As Long, Results As Long DriveNum = 2 Do           DriveNum = DriveNum + 1 FirstFreeDrive = Chr$(DriveNum + 65) + ":\" FirstDrive = GetDriveType(FirstFreeDrive) Loop Until FirstDrive = 1 FirstFreeDrive = Left(FirstFreeDrive, 2) FreeDrive = WNetAddConnection(MyShareName$, MyPWD$, _         FirstFreeDrive) FreeDrive_End: Exit Function FreeDrive_Err: FreeDrive = Err MsgBox Error$ Resume FreeDrive_End End Function  To test this function, type the following line in the Debug window, and then press ENTER

?FreeDrive(<"\\servername\sharename">, <"MyPwd">)

where <\\servername\sharename> is a valid server and sharename in your network organization and  is your password that provides permission to the resource.

NOTE: Some of the possible return values for the FreeDrive function include WN_SUCCESS, WN_NET_ERROR, and WN_BAD_PASSWORD. Other run-time errors could be returned from the function; therefore, error trapping should be implemented to handle any problems.

