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? ShawnVi@gmail.com

Sample Code:

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Alternative Managed API:

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VB.NET Signature:

<DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError:=True)> _
Private Shared Function GetPrivateProfileSection(ByVal lpAppName As String, _
                          ByVal lpReturnedString As IntPtr, _
                          ByVal nSize As Integer, _
                          ByVal lpFileName As String) As Byte

End Function

User-Defined Types:

None.

Notes:

Based on the C# version above - returns the section as a System.Collections.Specialized.NameValueCollection or Nothing if theres an error.

Tips & Tricks:

Public Shared Function ReadSection(ByVal filename As String, ByVal section As String) As System.Collections.Specialized.NameValueCollection

    Dim pBuffer As IntPtr
    Dim bytesRead As Byte
    Dim sectionData As New System.Text.StringBuilder(MaxIniBuffer)

    Dim values As New System.Collections.Specialized.NameValueCollection
    Dim pos As Integer ' seperator position
    Dim name, value As String

    If (Not System.IO.File.Exists(filename)) Then
    Return Nothing
    End If

    ' get a pointer to the unmanaged memory
    pBuffer = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(MaxIniBuffer)

    bytesRead = GetPrivateProfileSection(section, pBuffer, MaxIniBuffer, filename)

    If (bytesRead > 0) Then

    For i As Integer = 0 To bytesRead - 1
        sectionData.Append(Convert.ToChar(Marshal.ReadByte(pBuffer, i)))
    Next

    sectionData.Remove(sectionData.Length - 1, 1)

    For Each line As String In sectionData.ToString().Split(Convert.ToChar(0))

        ' locate the seperator
        pos = line.IndexOf("=")

        If (pos > -1) Then

        ' get values
        name = line.Substring(0, pos)
        value = line.Substring(pos + 1)

        ' add to collection
        values.Add(name, value)

        End If

    Next
    Else
    values = Nothing
    End If

    ' release the unmanaged memory
    Marshal.FreeHGlobal(pBuffer)

    ' return collection or Nothing if we weren't able to get anything
    Return values

End Function

Questions? nramsbottom@hotmail.com

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