Ini Read and Ini Write

You will find a very good writeup here.. along with Source code that you can use.

http://www.thescarms.com/vbasic/registry.htm

Be sure to save the web page.. as the documentation for the module is on it.

Here's a bit of code you can use:

WriteProfile is straight forward. GetProfile is a bit more coded. Hope this helps.

-start-
Declare Function GetPrivateProfileString Lib "kernel32" Alias "GetPrivateProfileStringA" (ByVal lpApplicationName As String, ByVal lpKeyName As Any, ByVal lpDefault As String, ByVal lpReturnedString As String, ByVal nSize As Long, ByVal lpFileName As String) As Long
Declare Function WritePrivateProfileString Lib "kernel32" Alias "WritePrivateProfileStringA" (ByVal lpApplicationName As String, ByVal lpKeyName As Any, ByVal lpString As Any, ByVal lpFileName As String) As Long

Private Const ENUM_BUF_SIZE As Integer = 80

Private Function GetProfile(sSection As String, sKey As String, sIniPath) As String
    Dim retLen As Long
    Dim buf As String * ENUM_BUF_SIZE
   
    If sKey <> "" Then
        retLen = GetPrivateProfileString(sSection, sKey, "", buf, ENUM_BUF_SIZE, sIniPath)
    Else
        retLen = GetPrivateProfileString(sSection, 0&, "", buf, ENUM_BUF_SIZE, sIniPath)
    End If
    If retLen = 0 Then
        GetProfile = ""
    Else
        GetProfile = Left$(buf, retLen)
    End If
End Function


Sub SomeSub()
    Dim nResult As Integer
    nResult = WritePrivateProfileString(sSection, sEntry, sValue, sIniPath)
    If nResult = 0 Then
        'Some error - Use GetLastError
    End If
End Sub

The answer to your problem is to NOT write calls to the functions all the time - rather cxreate a wrapper so you can make a call to something that you know works; all the time..

Here it is - these two functions,
ReadIni and WriteIni are wrappers that I have used for the last four years - upgrading as I went - they work...

Copy all this code to a code module, and then just make calls to the wrappers...


Public Declare Function GetPrivateProfileString Lib "kernel32" Alias "GetPrivateProfileStringA" (ByVal lpApplicationName As String, ByVal lpKeyName As Any, ByVal lpDefault As String, ByVal lpReturnedString As String, ByVal nSize As Long, ByVal lpFileName As String) As Long
Public Declare Function WritePrivateProfileString Lib "kernel32" Alias "WritePrivateProfileStringA" (ByVal lpApplicationName As String, ByVal lpKeyName As Any, ByVal lpString As Any, ByVal lpFileName As String) As Long
Public Declare Function GetPrivateProfileInt Lib "kernel32" Alias "GetPrivateProfileIntA" (ByVal lpApplicationName As String, ByVal lpKeyName As String, ByVal nDefault As Long, ByVal lpFileName As String) As Long


Public Function ReadIni(ByVal fileName As String, ByVal Section As String, ByVal KeyName As String, Optional bInteger As Variant, Optional vDefault As Variant) As Variant
'=================================================
'    Copyright © 1998 Australian Custom Software Pty Ltd
'-------------------------------------------------
'Author     : Tony Harris

'Created    :
'Precis     : Wrapper around the ini file API to read
'             in from a a private ini file.
'           Boolean declares whether it is an Integer or not
'           vDefault as the default value
'-------------------------------------------------

'Modified   :
'=================================================
    Dim bValid As Boolean
    Dim bFileFound As Boolean
    Dim BString As Variant
    Dim sReturn As String
    Dim sDefault As String
    Dim nReturn As Long
    Dim nDefault As Long
    Dim nSize As Long
    On Error GoTo ReadErr
    bValid = True
    bFileFound = True
    BString = True
    If Len(Trim(fileName)) = 0 Then bValid = False
    If Len(Dir(fileName)) = 0 Then
        bValid = False
        bFileFound = False
    End If
    If Len(Trim(Section)) = 0 Then bValid = False
    If Len(Trim(KeyName)) = 0 Then bValid = False
    If IsMissing(bInteger) Then
        BString = True
    Else
        BString = Not (CBool(bInteger))
    End If

StartRead:
    If bValid Then
        If Not BString Then
            If IsMissing(vDefault) Then
                nDefault = 0
            Else
                nDefault = CInt(vDefault)
            End If
            nReturn = GetPrivateProfileInt(Section, KeyName, nDefault, fileName)
            ReadIni = nReturn
        Else
            If IsMissing(vDefault) Then
                sDefault = ""
            Else
                sDefault = CStr(vDefault)
            End If
            sReturn = Space(255)
            nSize = Len(sReturn)
            nReturn = GetPrivateProfileString(Section, KeyName, sDefault, sReturn, nSize, fileName)
            If nReturn > 0 Then
                sReturn = Left(sReturn, nReturn)
            Else
                sReturn = sDefault
            End If
            ReadIni = sReturn
        End If
    Else
        If bFileFound Then
            MsgBox " some appropriate message"
            ReadIni = "Error"
        Else
            MsgBox "some other appropriate message"
            ReadIni = "Error"
        End If
    End If
    On Error GoTo 0
    Exit Function

ReadErr:
    Select Case Err.Number
    Case 71 'Disk Not ready
        bFileFound = False
        bValid = False
        Resume StartRead
    Case Else
        MsgBox Err, vbOKOnly, "Error in Reading INI File"
    End Select
End Function


Public Sub WriteIni(ByVal fileName As String, ByVal Section As String, ByVal KeyName As String, ByVal sEntry As String)
'=================================================
'    Copyright © 1998 Australian Custom Software Pty Ltd
'-------------------------------------------------
'Author     : Tony Harris

'Created    :
'Precis     : Wrapper around the ini file API to write
'             out to a private ini file.
'-------------------------------------------------

'Modified   :
'=================================================
    Dim bValid As Boolean
    Dim nReturnLen As Long
    bValid = True
    If Len(Trim(fileName)) = 0 Then bValid = False
    If Len(Trim(Section)) = 0 Then bValid = False
    If Len(Trim(KeyName)) = 0 Then bValid = False
    If Len(Trim(sEntry)) = 0 Then sEntry = ""
    If bValid Then
        nReturnLen = WritePrivateProfileString(Section, KeyName, sEntry, fileName)
    Else
        MsgBox "some appropriate error message"
    End If
End Sub

One more question regarding your code implementation.  I copied over your examples, and ran the 'getprivateprofilestring'.  And each time I altered the section and key names at different runs. All of my runs, the return value is allways zero(0).  The only thing I altered was to make 'sinipath' to say:  sinipath as string.  

 What haven't I set right within my VB V5.0 environment? Within VC++, have used this function and it has worked.  

 Can you shed any light on my problem(s)??

  Thanks,

 Midnightexpress

make sure you have "option explicit" at the beginning of the module...

also make the call using the defined structure - don't change anything...

Thanks for your expertise.

Does anyone know how to read more that 255 characters of an entry in an INI file?
 
          Bob