'** ShellExecute will open a file using the registered file association on the computer.
'** If it returns a value of greater than 32 then the call was successful; otherwise
'** it should return one of the error codes below. The parameters are:
'**		hwnd = an active window handle, or 0
'**		operation = "edit", "explore", "find", "open", or "print"
'**		fileName = a file or directory name
'**		parameters = if fileName is an executable file, the command line parameters
'**							to pass when launching the application, or "" if no parameters
'**							are necessary
'**		directory = the default directory to use, or "" if you don't care
'**		displayType = one of the displayType constants listed below
Declare Function ShellExecute Lib "shell32" Alias "ShellExecuteA" _
(Byval hwnd As Long, Byval operation As String, Byval fileName As String, _
Byval parameters As String, Byval directory As String, Byval displayType As Long) As Long

'** FindExecutable will determine the executable file that is set up to open a particular
'** file based on the file associations on this computer. If it returns a value of greater than
'** 32 then the call was successful; otherwise it should return one of the error codes 
'** below. The parameters are:
'**		fileName = the full path to the file you are trying to find the association for
'**		directory = the default directory to use, or "" if you don't care
'**		retAssociation = the associated executable will be returned as this parameter,
'**							with a maximum string length of 255 characters (you will want
'**							to pass a String that's 256 characters long and trim the 
'**							null-terminated result)
Declare Function FindExecutable Lib "shell32" Alias "FindExecutableA" _
(Byval fileName As String, Byval directory As String, Byval retAssociation As String) As Long

'** constants for the displayType parameter
Const SW_HIDE = 0
Const SW_SHOWNORMAL = 1
Const SW_NORMAL = 1
Const SW_SHOWMINIMIZED = 2
Const SW_SHOWMAXIMIZED = 3
Const SW_MAXIMIZE = 3
Const SW_SHOWNOACTIVATE = 4
Const SW_SHOW = 5
Const SW_MINIMIZE = 6
Const SW_SHOWMINNOACTIVE = 7
Const SW_SHOWNA = 8
Const SW_RESTORE = 9
Const SW_SHOWDEFAULT = 10
Const SW_MAX = 10

'** possible errors returned by ShellExecute
Const ERROR_OUT_OF_MEMORY = 0		'The operating system is out of memory or resources.
Const ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND = 2		'The specified file was not found. 
Const ERROR_PATH_NOT_FOUND = 3	'The specified path was not found. 
Const ERROR_BAD_FORMAT = 11			'The .exe file is invalid (non-Microsoft Win32® .exe or error in .exe image). 
Const SE_ERR_FNF = 2							'The specified file was not found. 
Const SE_ERR_PNF = 3						'The specified path was not found. 
Const SE_ERR_ACCESSDENIED = 5		'The operating system denied access to the specified file. 
Const SE_ERR_OOM = 8						'There was not enough memory to complete the operation. 
Const SE_ERR_SHARE = 26					'A sharing violation occurred. 
Const SE_ERR_ASSOCINCOMPLETE = 27	'The file name association is incomplete or invalid. 
Const SE_ERR_DDETIMEOUT = 28			'The DDE transaction could not be completed because the request timed out. 
Const SE_ERR_DDEFAIL = 29				'The DDE transaction failed. 
Const SE_ERR_DDEBUSY = 30				'The Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) transaction could not be completed because other DDE transactions were being processed. 
Const SE_ERR_NOASSOC = 31				'There is no application associated with the given file name extension. This error will also be returned if you attempt to print a file that is not printable. 
Const SE_ERR_DLLNOTFOUND = 32		'The specified dynamic-link library (DLL) was not found. 


Sub Initialize
	fileName$ = "c:\boot.ini"
	result& = ShellExecute(0, "open", fileName$, "", "", SW_SHOW)
	exe$ = Space$(256)
	result& = FindExecutable(fileName$, "", exe$)
	exe$ = Left$(exe$, Instr(exe$, Chr(0)) - 1)
	Print fileName$ & " opens with " & exe$
End Sub