C# Signature:

[DllImport("kernel32.dll")]
static extern uint GetPrivateProfileSection(string lpAppName,
   IntPtr lpReturnedString, uint nSize, string lpFileName);

User-Defined Types:

None.

Notes:

None.

Tips & Tricks:

In using this function, I discovered that the subsequent call to Marshal.PtrToStringAnsi(lpReturnedString) would only return the first Name=Value pair. I used the following wrapper around this function to convert lpReturnedString into a string[]

public static bool GetPrivateProfileSection(string appName, string fileName, out string[] section)
{
    section = null;

    if (!System.IO.File.Exists(fileName))
        return false;

    uint MAX_BUFFER = 32767;

    IntPtr pReturnedString = Marshal.AllocCoTaskMem((int)MAX_BUFFER);

    uint bytesReturned = GetPrivateProfileSection(appName, pReturnedString, MAX_BUFFER, fileName);

    if ((bytesReturned == MAX_BUFFER - 2) ||(bytesReturned == 0))
        return false;

    System.Text.StringBuilder returnedString = new System.Text.StringBuilder((int)bytesReturned);

    //bytesReturned -1 to remove trailing \0
    for (int i = 0; i < bytesReturned-1; i++)
        returnedString.Append((char)Marshal.ReadByte(new IntPtr((uint)pReturnedString + (uint)i)));

    Marshal.FreeCoTaskMem(pReturnedString);

    section = returnedString.ToString().Split('\0');

    return true;
}

Questions? mailto:ShawnVi@gmail.com

Sample Code:

Please add some!

Alternative Managed API:

Do you know one? Please contribute it!

Please edit this page!

Do you have...

• helpful tips or sample code to share for using this API in managed code?
• corrections to the existing content?
• variations of the signature you want to share?
• additional languages you want to include?

Select "Edit This Page" on the right hand toolbar and edit it! Or add new pages containing supporting types needed for this API (structures, delegates, and more).