API Problems

[BillCrawley]

Hi All,

I have a couple of problems trying to use the API in .NET

I have declared the following API:

<DllImport("Kernel32", BestFitMapping:=False, CallingConvention:=CallingConvention.StdCall, _
CharSet:=CharSet.Unicode, EntryPoint:="GetPrivateProfileStringA", ExactSpelling:=True)> _
Public Function GetPrivateProfileString(ByVal lpApplicationName As String, ByVal lpKeyName As String, ByVal lpDefault As String, ByVal lpReturnedString As String, ByVal nSize As Integer, ByVal lpFileName As String) As Integer
End Function

When I run my code and call the above function. Where I have checked the filename/path is correct and similarly the section and key, I am returned an empty string in lpReturnString??


The next one relates to ODBC.

<DllImport("odbc32.dll", BestFitMapping:=False, CallingConvention:=CallingConvention.StdCall, _
CharSet:=CharSet.Unicode, EntryPoint:="SQLAllocEnv", ExactSpelling:=True)> _
Public Shared Function SQLAllocEnv(ByVal phenv As Integer) As Short
'leave this function empty
End Function

again when I call this, I have -1 being returned and I do not know why.

Any help would be appreciated.

[Guvnor]

Not sure exactly whats going on, I am C# more than VB but have done a lot of this kind of stuff.

I notice that all args to the GetPrivateProfileString are "ByVal", doesnt this actually preclude any possibility of the caller modifying them?

Also make sure you understand the need for StringBuilder when calling Win32 functions, this is the only way to ensure that the called code actually gets passed a buffer of sufficient length.

Passing a "String" for an arg that the caller will modify is bad.

If you pass a String that contains "hello" then (in C/C++) the called code gets a pointer to a buffer that is just about large enough to hold five characters.

If that code then modifies the string buffer to set it to "goodbye from me" then it will overwrite memory that it doesnt own and cause runtime problems/crashes.

StringBuilder lets you create a string object but one that has a fixed buffer whose size you determine when you craete it: StringBuilder data = new StringBuilder(128);

In this example "data" is to all intents and purposes a "String" but the buffer is fixed length of 128 bytes, so if you then code: data = "hello" and call tthe same func, and that func writes "goodbye from me" no harm is done, because the buffer is 128 bytes long.

This is possibly something you need tp look into, but as I say I am not too expert on VB or VB.NET.

Hugh

[pclement]

For GetPrivateProfileString you probably need to properly initialize a string parameter. It would help to see the code you used when calling the API function call.

The following code works for me when using the SQLAllocEnv API function call:

    Private Declare Function SQLAllocEnv Lib "ODBC32.DLL" (ByRef env As Integer) As Short

    Private Declare Function SQLDataSources Lib "ODBC32.DLL" (ByVal henv As Integer, ByVal fDirection As Short, ByVal szDSN As String, ByVal cbDSNMax As Short, ByRef pcbDSN As Short, ByVal szDescription As String, ByVal cbDescriptionMax As Short, ByRef pcbDescription As Short) As Short

    Const SQL_FETCH_NEXT As Integer = 1
    Const SQL_SUCCESS As Integer = 0

    Public Sub FetchDSNs()

        Dim ReturnValue As Short
        Dim DSNName As String
        Dim DriverName As String
        Dim DSNNameLen As Short
        Dim DriverNameLen As Short
        Dim SQLEnv As Integer 'handle to the environment


        If SQLAllocEnv(SQLEnv) <> -1 Then
            Do Until ReturnValue <> SQL_SUCCESS
                DSNName = Space(1024)
                DriverName = Space(1024)
                ReturnValue = SQLDataSources(SQLEnv, SQL_FETCH_NEXT, DSNName, 1024, DSNNameLen, DriverName, 1024, DriverNameLen)
                DSNName = Left(DSNName, DSNNameLen)
                DriverName = Left(DriverName, DriverNameLen)

                If DSNName <> Space(DSNNameLen) Then
                    System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(DSNName)
                    System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(DriverName)
                End If
            Loop
        End If

    End Sub