WritePrivateProfileString, WritePrivateProfileSection, GetPrivateProfileString, Get..

Can these functions be used on Non-Ini files??
I store a lot of my information for programs in some unrecognizable format(well it is Text inside, but with an extension of something like .zxy) so it will be harder for computer illiterate people to modify and possibly screw up the program.
I usually store in this format

[sect]
text
[sect2]
text

I dont really want to use an INI File, but I really like using this format, so far I have been using InStr and Mid, I really dont like doing this. could I use these to write/read sections from any file??

Public Declare Function WritePrivateProfileSection Lib "kernel32" Alias "WritePrivateProfileSectionA" (ByVal lpAppName As String, ByVal lpString As String, 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 GetPrivateProfileSection Lib "kernel32" Alias "GetPrivateProfileSectionA" (ByVal lpAppName As String, ByVal lpReturnedString As String, ByVal nSize As Long, ByVal lpFileName As String) As Long
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

Also, how do I do basic file operations in API?
like read/write to a file? like these, but in API

Open FileNamePath For Output As FileNum
Print #FileNum, "MyString Thing"
Close FileNum

Open FileNamePath For Input As FileNum
Text1 = Input(LOF(FileNum), FileNum)
Close FileNum

???

Thanks,
Dennis

[parksie]

First - yes, you can use the INI functions on any compatible file.

Second - check out the CreateFile function, which returns an API handle. You can use this with ReadFile and WriteFile. I'll post an example in a bit.

Thanks a lot!
how do you read a file without using CreateFile first?

[parksie]

You can't. CreateFile acts like the CreateRegKey function. If you specify the correct options (documented on MSDN), then you can set whether it will create the file if it doesn't already exist. If you set it to never create, it will act like a hypothetical OpenFile function.

Remember to use CloseFile...

[Nitro]

Try this one dennis. Yes, you can write it to any file type.

Option Explicit

Private Declare Function OSGetPrivateProfileString Lib "kernel32" Alias "GetPrivateProfileStringA" (ByVal lpApplicationName As String, ByVal lpKeyName As String, ByVal lpDefault As String, ByVal lpReturnedString As String, ByVal nSize As Long, ByVal lpFileName As String) As Long
Private Declare Function OSWritePrivateProfileString Lib "kernel32" Alias "WritePrivateProfileStringA" (ByVal lpApplicationName As String, ByVal lpKeyName As Any, ByVal lpString As Any, ByVal lpFileName As String) As Long

Private Sub CmdGet_Click()
'PURPOSE: Get data from your text files
          'Text1.Text = The name of the bracket section
          'Text2.Text = The name of the field
          'An error message
          'Where to assign the answer to
          'The lengh of the answer
          'The location of the text file
   
  Dim str_Data As String * 50
  Call OSGetPrivateProfileString(Text1.Text, Text2.Text, "There is an error!", str_Data, Len(str_Data), CurDir & "\winzip32.ini")
  lblAnswer.Caption = str_Data
End Sub

Private Sub CmdWrite_Click()
'PURPOSE: Write to your text file
          'Text4.Text = The name of the bracket section
          'Text5.Text = The name of the field
          'Text6.Text = The new value for that field
          'The location of the text file
         
  If Text1.Text <> "" Then
    Call OSWritePrivateProfileString(Text4.Text, Text5.Text, Text6.Text, CurDir & "\winzip32.ini")
  End If
  
  Text6.Text = ""
  lblAnswer.Caption = ""
End Sub

[Nitro]

BTW... What is the difference between WritePrivateProfileSection and WritePrivateProfileString?

Hummmm...... I will test it out!