'thanks to  Rick Ratayczak of Future Works 
media
 (rickr@execpc.com)
'save file and rename them to [name].BAS
'
'thanks to Martin Lansler  who wrote:
'I'd just like to suggest that you 
pass
 the VB5.0 predefined 
constant
 vbNullString in the ShellExecute
'function in your VB5.0 Shell and URL examples, instead of the empty VB string "". Since API's 
are
 written
'in c, they 
are
 expecting a null-terminated string, otherwise strange things might occur.

Attribute VB_Name = "Shell_Execute"
Declare Function GetActiveWindow Lib "user32" () As Long
Declare Function ShellExecute Lib "shell32.dll" 
alias
 "ShellExecuteA" (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal lpOperation As String, ByVal lpFile As String, ByVal lpParameters As String, ByVal lpDirectory As String, ByVal nShowCmd As Long) As Long

Sub RunFile(ByVal File$, FilePath$, RunStyle)
' SW_HIDE = 0
' SW_SHOWNORMAL = 1
' SW_NORMAL = 1
' SW_SHOWMINIMIZED = 2
' SW_SHOWMAXIMIZED = 3
' SW_MAXIMIZE = 3
' SW_SHOWNOACTIVATE = 4
' SW_SHOW = 5
' SW_MINIMIZE = 6
' SW_SHOWMINNOACTIVE = 7
' SW_SHOWNA = 8
' SW_RESTORE = 9
    Const MB_ICONSTOP = 16
    
dim
 temp, Msg As String
    
dim
 x
    
    temp = GetActiveWindow()
    x = ShellExecute(temp, "Open", File$, vbNullString, FilePath$, RunStyle)
    
    If x < 32 Then
        Select Case x
            Case 0
                Msg = "The file could not be run due to insufficient system memory or a corrupt program file"
            Case 2
                Msg = "File Not Found"
            Case 3
                Msg = "Invalid Path"
            Case 5
                Msg = "Sharing or protection error"
            Case 6
                Msg = "Separate data segments 
are
 required for each task "
            Case 8
                Msg = "Insufficient memory to run the program"
            Case 10
                Msg = "Incorrect Windows version"
            Case 11
                Msg = "Invalid Program File"
            Case 12
                Msg = "Program file requires a different operating System "
            Case 13
                Msg = "Program requires MS-DOS 4.0"
            Case 14
                Msg = "Unknown program file type"
            Case 15
                Msg = "Windows prgram does not support protected memory mode"
            Case 16
                Msg = "Invalid use of data segments when loading a second instance of a program"
            Case 19
                Msg = "Attempt to run a compressed program file"
            Case 20
                Msg = "Invalid dynamic link library"
            Case 21
                Msg = "Program requires Windows 32-bit extensions"
            Case 31
                Msg = "No application found for this file"
        End Select
    End If
    
End Sub