Thread: Shell invalid procedure call or argument

hey VB gurus,
I got the error Invalid Procedure Call or argument whenever i tried to execute a .exe.

example of my code

Code:

mypath = "C:\notepad.exe"

Shell mypath, vbMinimizedNoFocus

thanks

check the references in project and make sure Project Should Not Miss any Dependencies if it found any just remove that and reopen project ,if it doesnt solve use shellEx Api to achieve Same Functionality may be you using some dll which have same function Shell which accepts different arguments
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Private 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

notepad is in windows directory, also.. never use drive letters in your code..

dim pid as integer
pid = shell( environ("systemroot") & "\notepad.exe", vbnoobfocus)

Code:

Private 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

Private Declare Function ShellExecuteForExplore Lib "shell32.dll" Alias "ShellExecuteA" _
**(ByVal hWnd As Long, ByVal lpOperation As String, _ * ByVal lpFile As String, lpParameters As Any, _
**lpDirectory As Any, ByVal nShowCmd As Long) As Long

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

Private Const ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND = 2&
Private Const ERROR_PATH_NOT_FOUND = 3&
Private Const ERROR_BAD_FORMAT = 11&
Private Const SE_ERR_ACCESSDENIED = 5 * * * *' access denied
Private Const SE_ERR_ASSOCINCOMPLETE = 27
Private Const SE_ERR_DDEBUSY = 30
Private Const SE_ERR_DDEFAIL = 29
Private Const SE_ERR_DDETIMEOUT = 28
Private Const SE_ERR_DLLNOTFOUND = 32
Private Const SE_ERR_FNF = 2 * * * * * * * *' file not found
Private Const SE_ERR_NOASSOC = 31
Private Const SE_ERR_PNF = 3 * * * * * * * *' path not found
Private Const SE_ERR_OOM = 8 * * * * * * * *' out of memory
Private Const SE_ERR_SHARE = 26


Public Function ShellEx( _
** * * *ByVal sFIle As String, _
** * * *Optional ByVal eShowCmd As EShellShowConstants = essSW_SHOWDEFAULT, _
** * * *Optional ByVal sParameters As String = "", _
** * * *Optional ByVal sDefaultDir As String = "", _
** * * *Optional sOperation As String = "open", _
** * * *Optional Owner As Long = 0 _
** *) As Boolean
Dim lR As Long
Dim lErr As Long, sErr As Long
** *If (InStr(UCase$(sFIle), ".EXE") *Spam*0) Then
** * * *eShowCmd = 0
** *End If
** *On Error Resume Next
** *If (sParameters = "") And (sDefaultDir = "") Then
** * * *lR = ShellExecuteForExplore(Owner, sOperation, sFIle, 0, 0, essSW_SHOWNORMAL)
** *Else
** * * *lR = ShellExecute(Owner, sOperation, sFIle, sParameters, sDefaultDir, eShowCmd)
** *End If
** *If (lR < 0) Or (lR > 32) Then
** * * *ShellEx = True
** *Else
** * * *' raise an appropriate error:
** * * *lErr = vbObjectError + 1048 + lR
** * * *Select Case lR
** * * *Case 0
** * * * * *lErr = 7: sErr = "Out of memory"
** * * *Case ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND
** * * * * *lErr = 53: sErr = "File not found"
** * * *Case ERROR_PATH_NOT_FOUND
** * * * * *lErr = 76: sErr = "Path not found"
** * * *Case ERROR_BAD_FORMAT
** * * * * *sErr = "The executable file is invalid or corrupt"
** * * *Case SE_ERR_ACCESSDENIED
** * * * * *lErr = 75: sErr = "Path/file access error"
** * * *Case SE_ERR_ASSOCINCOMPLETE
** * * * * *sErr = "This file type does not have a valid file association."
** * * *Case SE_ERR_DDEBUSY
** * * * * *lErr = 285: sErr = "The file could not be opened because the target application is busy. Please try again in a moment."
** * * *Case SE_ERR_DDEFAIL
** * * * * *lErr = 285: sErr = "The file could not be opened because the DDE transaction failed. Please try again in a moment."
** * * *Case SE_ERR_DDETIMEOUT
** * * * * *lErr = 286: sErr = "The file could not be opened due to time out. Please try again in a moment."
** * * *Case SE_ERR_DLLNOTFOUND
** * * * * *lErr = 48: sErr = "The specified dynamic-link library was not found."
** * * *Case SE_ERR_FNF
** * * * * *lErr = 53: sErr = "File not found"
** * * *Case SE_ERR_NOASSOC
** * * * * *sErr = "No application is associated with this file type."
** * * *Case SE_ERR_OOM
** * * * * *lErr = 7: sErr = "Out of memory"
** * * *Case SE_ERR_PNF
** * * * * *lErr = 76: sErr = "Path not found"
** * * *Case SE_ERR_SHARE
** * * * * *lErr = 75: sErr = "A sharing violation occurred."
** * * *Case Else
** * * * * *sErr = "An error occurred occurred whilst trying to open or print the selected file."
** * * *End Select
** * * * * * * 
** * * *Err.Raise lErr, , App.EXEName & ".GShell", sErr
** * * *ShellEx = False
** *End If

End Function


Here are a few samples of using the ShellEx function:

To open a the user's browser at a particular internet site
** *ShellEx "http://www.dogma.demon.co.uk", , , , , Me.hWnd

To print a document
** *ShellEx "C:\My Documents\Music\Brown Paper Bag.doc", , , , "print", Me.hWnd

To explore from a folder
** *ShellEx "C:\My Documents\Music", , , , "explore", Me.hWnd

This is a complete use of ShellExecute Functions =)

not working.