HowTo:  Create a new empty shapefile programmatically

Sub CreateNewEmptyShapefile_Point()



  Const strFolder As String = "C:\temp"

  Const strName As String = "NewShapeFile" ' Edit as needed. Don't include .shp extension

  Const strShapeFieldName As String = "Shape"

  

  ' Open the folder to contain the shapefile as a workspace

  Dim pFWS As IFeatureWorkspace

  Dim pWorkspaceFactory As IWorkspaceFactory

  Set pWorkspaceFactory = New ShapefileWorkspaceFactory

  Set pFWS = pWorkspaceFactory.OpenFromFile(strFolder, 0)

  

  ' Set up a simple fields collection

  Dim pFields As IFields

  Dim pFieldsEdit As IFieldsEdit

  Set pFields = New Fields

  Set pFieldsEdit = pFields

  

  Dim pField As IField

  Dim pFieldEdit As IFieldEdit

  

  ' Make the shape field

  ' it will need a geometry definition, with a spatial reference

  Set pField = New Field

  Set pFieldEdit = pField

  pFieldEdit.Name = strShapeFieldName

  pFieldEdit.Type = esriFieldTypeGeometry

  

  Dim pGeomDef As IGeometryDef

  Dim pGeomDefEdit As IGeometryDefEdit

  Set pGeomDef = New GeometryDef

  Set pGeomDefEdit = pGeomDef

  With pGeomDefEdit

  

    'Uncomment one line and comment the other two depending on type of geometry

    'to be created -- default is point

    

    .GeometryType = esriGeometryPoint     'Creates point shapefile

    '.GeometryType = esriGeometryPolyline 'Creates polyline shapefile

    '.GeometryType = esriGeometryPolygon  'Creates polygon shapefile

    

    Set .SpatialReference = New UnknownCoordinateSystem

    'or comment line above and uncomment 5 lines below (and modify accordingly) to

    'set spatial reference

    

    ''Set spatial reference for the new shapefile

'    Dim pSpatRefFact As ISpatialReferenceFactory2

'    Set pSpatRefFact = New SpatialReferenceEnvironment

'

'    Dim pGeoCoordSys As IProjectedCoordinateSystem

'    Set pGeoCoordSys = pSpatRefFact.CreateProjectedCoordinateSystem(esriSRProjCS_NAD1983N_AmericaLambert)

'

'    Set .SpatialReference = pGeoCoordSys

    

  End With

  Set pFieldEdit.GeometryDef = pGeomDef

  pFieldsEdit.AddField pField



  ' Add another miscellaneous text field

  Set pField = New Field

  Set pFieldEdit = pField

  With pFieldEdit

      .Length = 25

      .Name = "TextField"

      .Type = esriFieldTypeString

  End With

  pFieldsEdit.AddField pField

  

  ' Create the shapefile

  Dim pFeatClass As IFeatureClass

  Set pFeatClass = pFWS.CreateFeatureClass(strName, pFields, Nothing, _

                                           Nothing, esriFTSimple, strShapeFieldName, "")

End Sub