How to add a shapefile programmatically

This sample code adds a shapefile to the focus map.

How to use

  1. Paste the code into VBA.
  2. Modify the code to point to a shapefile on your system.
  3. Run the routine from the Macros dialog.
[VBA] 
Public Sub AddShapeFile()
    Dim pWorkspaceFactory As IWorkspaceFactory
    Dim pFeatureWorkspace As IFeatureWorkspace
    Dim pFeatureLayer As IFeatureLayer
    Dim pMxDocument As IMxDocument
    Dim pMap As IMap
    
    'Create a new ShapefileWorkspaceFactory object and open a shapefile folder
    Set pWorkspaceFactory = New ShapefileWorkspaceFactory
    Set pFeatureWorkspace = pWorkspaceFactory.OpenFromFile("C:\Program Files\ArcGIS\DeveloperKit10.0\Samples\Data\World", 0)
    'Create a new FeatureLayer and assign a shapefile to it
    Set pFeatureLayer = New FeatureLayer
    Set pFeatureLayer.FeatureClass = pFeatureWorkspace.OpenFeatureClass("Country")
    pFeatureLayer.Name = pFeatureLayer.FeatureClass.AliasName
    'Add the FeatureLayer to the focus map
    Set pMxDocument = Application.Document
    Set pMap = pMxDocument.FocusMap
    pMap.AddLayer pFeatureLayer
End Sub