How to read an Excel "~$" Lock File in VBA?

Question

When Excel opens a Workbook for possible updating it creates a temporary hidden file in the same folder as the document being opened:  its file-name is the same as the workbook but with the special characters "~$" in front.
This Excel "Lock File" contains the name of the person who has the Excel Workbook document open.
If another User attempts to open the (already open) Excel workbook they get a warning message advising opening it as read-only and nominating the current user of the file.
An Excel "Lock File" can be copied using Windows Explorer and that copy can be subsequently opened in the NotePad application.
The "Lock file" is automatically deleted by Excel when the workbook is closed.
Whilst it is possible in VBA to confirm the existence of an Excel "Lock File" (indicating that the workbook you want to open is presently in use for possible updating) - but HOW CAN YOU USE VBA TO READ IT'S CONTENTS?
All help and advise will be very gratefully accepted.
Paul J

Answer 1

Hi Paul J,
We can't open the temp file to read when the Excel file is opened. It is locked by the Excel process. But it's possible to make a copy of the temp file, then read it in VBA code. But why do you want to read this file? It's not supposed to be opened by other
applications actually.
If you just want to check which user is using this Excel file, you could try this method(not tested, from net):
Function GetFileOwner(fileName As String) As String
Dim secUtil As Object
Dim secDesc As Object
Dim File_Shortname As String
Dim fileDir As String
File_Shortname = Dir(fileName)
fileDir = Left(fileName, InStr(1, fileName, File_Shortname) - 1)
Set secUtil = CreateObject("ADsSecurityUtility")
Set secDesc = secUtil.GetSecurityDescriptor(fileDir & File_Shortname, 1, 1)
GetFileOwner = secDesc.owner
End Function
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