Reading INI file problem...

[Fursten]

Hi,

I´m reading some information from a INI file. I´m using this declare:

Declare Function GetPrivateProfileSection Lib "kernel32" Alias "GetPrivateProfileSectionA" (ByVal lpAppName As String, ByVal lpReturnedString As String, ByVal nSize As Long, ByVal lpFileName As String) As Long

Then I make:

Dim lcl_strini As String
Dim nc As Long

nc = GetPrivateProfileString("est", "DataSource", "Default", lcl_strini, 255, App.Path & "\initapp.ini&quot


The problem is that when I use it, my vb crashes! To solve the problem, I needed to define the lcl_strini variable with a fixed length! Like: Dim lcl_strini as string * 100 (for instance)

Why does I need to declare a variable in that way? Why can´t it be a nor mal string?

Then, another problem that arises is that my return string will have a lot of junk inside it... How can I take it away?

Thank you in advance,

Sergio Oliveira

 

[jmarler]

You can use a normal nonfixed length string, but the API call does expect a buffer in which to insert its results. Almost all APIs dealing with strings work this way. If you use a normal string, then you need to allocate space for the answer using the Space$ command. For example . . .


dim strData as string


strData = Space$(1024)
nc = GetPrivateProfileStrin("est", "DataSource", "Default", strData , 255, App.Path & "\initapp.ini&quot

As for the junk you see after the answer, that is because the API retuns the entire buffer it was given even if the space was not used. The API also returns the length of the "real" answer. You can trim the garbage off by using th left$ command with the number returned by the API. - Jeff Marler B-)

 

[WilMead]

Save yourself some headaches in the future. Either copy or develop an INI class. FAQ222-1198 has a start.

Wil Mead
wmead@optonline.net