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This issue was designed for VB 4.0 and up. It is compatible with 16 bit and 32 bit versions of Visual Basic. Questions? Email us at questions@codeoftheweek.com.
The complete source code appears near the end of this issue. Be sure not to miss it!
The class in this issue provides a very easy to use interface to the PrivateProfile API calls (the calls which allow you to read and write INI files). We know that many applications write information to the registry instead of INI files nowadays, but we feel INI files are still much easier to manage and can be modifed much easier with a text editor (if necessary).
There are several functions and properties in this class. There are three groups are properties to define what INI file and section to use, functions to read INI files and functions to write INI files.
Property Filename - Read/Write - Specifies the INI filename to use, for example: Ini.Filename = App.Path & "\TEST.INI"
Property Section - Read/Write - Specifies the section within a filename to use, for example: Ini.Section = "Paths"
There are 16-bit versions and 32-bit versions of the following functions. The only difference is that the 32-bit versions use Long values instead of Integers. We will show the 32-bit versions here. The full source code contains both versions.
Public Function ReadInt(sKey As String, iValue As Long, iDefault As Long) As Long Public Function ReadString(sKey As String, sValue As String, sDefault As String) As Long Public Function WriteInt(sKey As String, iValue As Long) As Long Public Function WriteString(sKey As String, sValue As String) As Long
All functions return True upon success and False upon failure.
Example 1 - How to retrieve a string from the INI file
Dim Ini As New cIniFile
Ini.Filename = App.Path & "\MYAPP.INI"
' get database path
Ini.Section = "Paths"
If Not Ini.ReadString("DatabasePath", gsDBPath, App.Path) Then
MsgBox "Can not determine the DatabasePath, can not continue application."
Exit Sub
End If
Example 2 - How you can use INI files to save and restore the window position. The first routine should appear in the Form_Load event and the second should appear in the Form_Unload event
Private Sub Form_Load()
Dim Ini As New cIniFile
Dim lValue As Long
Ini.Filename = App.Path & "\MYAPP.INI"
Ini.Section = "Options"
' restore window position - force to upper left if no position exists
Ini.ReadInt "WindowTop", lValue, 0
Me.Top = lValue
Ini.ReadInt "WindowLeft", lValue, 0
Me.Left = lValue
Set Ini = Nothing
End Sub
Private Sub Form_Unload(Cancel As Integer)
Dim Ini As New cIniFile
Ini.Filename = App.Path & "\MYAPP.INI"
Ini.Section = "Options"
' save window position
Ini.Section = "Options"
Ini.WriteInt "WindowTop", Me.Top
Ini.WriteInt "WindowLeft", Me.Left
Set Ini = Nothing
End Sub
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