Wednesday, January 30, 2013

VBScript to Delete Folder and all SubFolders with files


Here is the VBScript which will delete all Folders and Subfolders with even have files in it.
It took me so many hours to find this perfect script and all credits go to Rob van der Woude and the original script is here: http://www.robvanderwoude.com/vbstech_folders_deltree.php
I just want to keep this for my reference and for everyone so that we all can save some time.


Option Explicit

Dim objFSO, objTempFolder, strTempFolder

Const TEMP_FOLDER = 2

Set objFSO        = CreateObject( "Scripting.FileSystemObject" )
Set objTempFolder = objFSO.GetSpecialFolder( TEMP_FOLDER )
strTempFolder     = objTempFolder.Path

DelTree strTempFolder, True


Sub DelTree( myFolder, blnKeepRoot )
' With this subroutine you can delete folders and their content,
' including subfolders.
' You can specify if you only want to empty the folder, and thus
' keep the folder itself, or to delete the folder itself as well.
' Root directories and some (not all) vital system folders are
' protected: if you try to delete them you'll get a message that
' deleting these folders is not allowed.
'
' Arguments:
' myFolder     [string]   the folder to be emptied or deleted
' blnKeepRoot  [boolean]  if True, the folder is emptied only,
'                         otherwise it will be deleted itself too
'
' Written by Rob van der Woude
' http://www.robvanderwoude.com
'
    Dim arrSpecialFolders(3)
    Dim objMyFSO, objMyFile, objMyFolder, objMyShell
    Dim objPrgFolder, objPrgFolderItem, objSubFolder, wshMyShell
    Dim strPath, strSpecialFolder

    Const WINDOWS_FOLDER =  0
    Const SYSTEM_FOLDER  =  1
    Const PROGRAM_FILES  = 38

    ' Use custom error handling
    On Error Resume Next

    ' List the paths of system folders that should NOT be deleted
    Set wshMyShell       = CreateObject( "WScript.Shell" )
    Set objMyFSO         = CreateObject( "Scripting.FileSystemObject" )
    Set objMyShell       = CreateObject( "Shell.Application" )
    Set objPrgFolder     = objMyShell.Namespace( PROGRAM_FILES )
    Set objPrgFolderItem = objPrgFolder.Self

    arrSpecialFolders(0) = wshMyShell.SpecialFolders( "MyDocuments" )
    arrSpecialFolders(1) = objPrgFolderItem.Path
    arrSpecialFolders(2) = objMyFSO.GetSpecialFolder( SYSTEM_FOLDER  ).Path
    arrSpecialFolders(3) = objMyFSO.GetSpecialFolder( WINDOWS_FOLDER ).Path

    Set objPrgFolderItem = Nothing
    Set objPrgFolder     = Nothing
    Set objMyShell       = Nothing
    Set wshMyShell       = Nothing

    ' Check if a valid folder was specified
    If Not objMyFSO.FolderExists( myFolder ) Then
        WScript.Echo "Error: path not found (" & myFolder & ")"
        WScript.Quit 1
    End If
    Set objMyFolder = objMyFSO.GetFolder( myFolder )

    ' Protect vital system folders and root directories from being deleted
    For Each strSpecialFolder In arrSpecialFolders
        If UCase( strSpecialFolder ) = UCase( objMyFolder.Path ) Then
            WScript.Echo "Error: deleting """ _
                       & objMyFolder.Path & """ is not allowed"
            WScript.Quit 1
        End If
    Next

    ' Protect root directories from being deleted
    If Len( objMyFolder.Path ) < 4 Then
        WScript.Echo "Error: deleting root directories is not allowed"
        WScript.Quit 1
    End If

    ' First delete the files in the directory specified
    For Each objMyFile In objMyFolder.Files
        strPath = objMyFile.Path
        objMyFSO.DeleteFile strPath, True
        If Err Then
            WScript.Echo "Error # " & Err.Number & vbCrLf _
                       & Err.Description         & vbCrLf _
                       & "(" & strPath & ")"     & vbCrLf
        End If
    Next

    ' Next recurse through the subfolders
    For Each objSubFolder In objMyFolder.SubFolders
        DelTree objSubFolder, False
    Next

    ' Finally, remove the "root" directory unless it should be preserved
    If Not blnKeepRoot Then
        strPath = objMyFolder.Path
        objMyFSO.DeleteFolder strPath, True
        If Err Then
            WScript.Echo "Error # " & Err.Number & vbCrLf _
                       & Err.Description         & vbCrLf _
                       & "(" & strPath & ")"     & vbCrLf
        End If
    End If

    ' Cleaning up the mess
    On Error Goto 0
    Set objMyFolder = Nothing
    Set objMyFSO    = Nothing
End Sub

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

since i am a beginner in App-Packaging. In which way this vb script will be useful for application packaging.

Piyush Nasa said...

If your msi is leaving behind a folder with multiple sub folders and multiple files, then you can run this vbscript at uninstall time in your msi for clean uninstall.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Unknown said...

This is right way to identify that how we can use application compatibility toolkit