how to rebuild an Ini file using WritePrivateProfileString

Please note, although this deals with PDF995, the question is generic and could apply to any application that needs to restore an INI file to its original values.

I have a PDF995 ini file that starts out with 4 lines looking like this.
   [Parameters]
    clearInstall=1
    Quiet=0
    Use GPL Ghostcript=1

When my macro is done I want to the inifile to look exactly the same.  (My macro adds many parameter, but they are all temporary in nature.)

The code at the end of this post seems to work in windows 7, but I get weird results in windows xp: when the application is done running, an undesired Explorer window pops up displaying a PDF995 subfolder.

I noticed that lines 16 to 20 are not using kernel32 API whereas the rest of the macro does use an API. I think this inconsistency led to the weird behavior.

My theory led to a successful workaround. I replaced lines 16 to 20 with the following.  

    desired = ""
    desired = desired & "AutoLaunch=,"
    desired = desired & "Autostamp=,"
    desired = desired & "Diagonal Stamp=,"
    desired = desired & "Output File=,"
    desired = desired & "Stamp Text=,"
    desired = desired & "Stamp Text=,"
    desired = desired & "Stamp Text=,"
    desired = desired & "X Position Stamp=,"
    desired = desired & "Y Position Stamp=,"
    desired = desired & "User File=,"
    desired = desired & "Launch=,"
    desired = desired & "Document Name=,"

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But, I do not like that workaround because it does not return the ini file to its exact initial setting.  Also, any time a higher level subroutine starts to use a different parameter, I have to remember to add the parameter to the workaround.


Here is the original code, before the workaround.

Sub ChangeIni(ByVal desired As String, iniFilename As String, Optional delim As String = ",")


' windows xp first and windows 7 second
If InStr(1, Environ("Appdata"), "Roaming", 1) = 0 Then
    iniFilename = "c:\pdf995\res\pdf995.ini"
    Pdf995syncFilename = "C:\pdf995\res\pdfsync.ini"
Else
   iniFilename = "C:\Program Files (x86)\pdf995\res\pdf995.ini"
   Pdf995syncFilename = "C:\ProgramData\pdf995\pdfsync.ini"
End If

' to restore all values to PDF995 defaults        call changeini("clear",infilename)
Dim intFileNum As Long
If LCase(desired) = "clear" Then
    intFileNum = FreeFile()
    Open iniFilename For Output As intFileNum
        
    Print #intFileNum, "[Parameters]"
    Close intFileNum
    desired = desired & "Install=1,"     ' from Ini file after fresh install
    desired = desired & "Quiet=0,"     ' from Ini file after fresh install
    desired = desired & "Use GPL Ghostcript=1,"     ' from Ini file after fresh install
End If
        
If Len(delim) > 1 Then Stop
If Right(desired, 1) = "," Then
    desired = Left(desired, Len(desired) - 1)
End If

Dim ary
Dim I As Long
Dim ub As Long
    Dim paramFull As String
    Dim paramName As String
    Dim paramDesiredValue As String

    Dim ix As Long
ary = Split(desired, delim)

ub = UBound(ary)
If Len(ary(ub)) = 0 Then ub = ub - 1
For I = 0 To ub

    paramFull = ary(I)
    ix = InStr(paramFull, "=")
    paramName = Left(paramFull, ix - 1)
    paramDesiredValue = Mid(paramFull, ix + 1)
    Dim x
    If InStr(paramDesiredValue, ",") Then Stop
    x = WritePrivateProfileString("PARAMETERS", paramName, paramDesiredValue, iniFilename)
    ' x = WritePrivateProfileString("PARAMETERS", "AutoLaunch", "0", inifilename)
Next I
End Sub

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