Need some help regarding .ini

[JustANoob]

Using Visual Basics 2008

Ok.
I've started on a little project for an online game.

Basically I want the user to enter what drive their game is installed on "C:\, D:\, Etc..."

Once they type in what drive they are using, they click a save button.
The save button, then adds what drive they are using to a .ini file.

The contents of the .ini file look like:

[Settings]
Drive=C

So far I've gotten the above steps done.
Now what I'm trying to accomplish is the following.

After they have saved what drive the game is installed on.
They will then click a start button.

The program will then try and find files located in the game's installation folder using the information in the .ini file.

Is this possible?
Is there any easier way?

Here is the code I currently have:

Imports System.IO

Public Class Form1

    Public Class IniFile
        ' API functions
        Private Declare Ansi Function GetPrivateProfileString _
          Lib "kernel32.dll" Alias "GetPrivateProfileStringA" _
          (ByVal lpApplicationName As String, _
          ByVal lpKeyName As String, ByVal lpDefault As String, _
          ByVal lpReturnedString As System.Text.StringBuilder, _
          ByVal nSize As Integer, ByVal lpFileName As String) _
          As Integer
        Private Declare Ansi Function WritePrivateProfileString _
          Lib "kernel32.dll" Alias "WritePrivateProfileStringA" _
          (ByVal lpApplicationName As String, _
          ByVal lpKeyName As String, ByVal lpString As String, _
          ByVal lpFileName As String) As Integer
        Private Declare Ansi Function GetPrivateProfileInt _
          Lib "kernel32.dll" Alias "GetPrivateProfileIntA" _
          (ByVal lpApplicationName As String, _
          ByVal lpKeyName As String, ByVal nDefault As Integer, _
          ByVal lpFileName As String) As Integer
        Private Declare Ansi Function FlushPrivateProfileString _
          Lib "kernel32.dll" Alias "WritePrivateProfileStringA" _
          (ByVal lpApplicationName As Integer, _
          ByVal lpKeyName As Integer, ByVal lpString As Integer, _
          ByVal lpFileName As String) As Integer
        Dim strFilename As String

        ' Constructor, accepting a filename
        Public Sub New(ByVal Filename As String)
            strFilename = Filename
        End Sub

        ' Read-only filename property
        ReadOnly Property FileName() As String
            Get
                Return strFilename
            End Get
        End Property

        Public Function GetString(ByVal Section As String, _
          ByVal Key As String, ByVal [Default] As String) As String
            ' Returns a string from your INI file
            Dim intCharCount As Integer
            Dim objResult As New System.Text.StringBuilder(256)
            intCharCount = GetPrivateProfileString(Section, Key, _
               [Default], objResult, objResult.Capacity, strFilename)

        End Function

        Public Function GetInteger(ByVal Section As String, _
          ByVal Key As String, ByVal [Default] As Integer) As Integer
            ' Returns an integer from your INI file
            Return GetPrivateProfileInt(Section, Key, _
               [Default], strFilename)
        End Function

        Public Function GetBoolean(ByVal Section As String, _
          ByVal Key As String, ByVal [Default] As Boolean) As Boolean
            ' Returns a boolean from your INI file
            Return (GetPrivateProfileInt(Section, Key, _
               CInt([Default]), strFilename) = 1)
        End Function

        Public Sub WriteString(ByVal Section As String, _
          ByVal Key As String, ByVal Value As String)
            ' Writes a string to your INI file
            WritePrivateProfileString(Section, Key, Value, strFilename)
            Flush()
        End Sub

        Public Sub WriteInteger(ByVal Section As String, _
          ByVal Key As String, ByVal Value As Integer)
            ' Writes an integer to your INI file
            WriteString(Section, Key, CStr(Value))
            Flush()
        End Sub

        Public Sub WriteBoolean(ByVal Section As String, _
          ByVal Key As String, ByVal Value As Boolean)
            ' Writes a boolean to your INI file
            WriteString(Section, Key, CStr(CInt(Value)))
            Flush()
        End Sub

        Private Sub Flush()
            ' Stores all the cached changes to your INI file
            FlushPrivateProfileString(0, 0, 0, strFilename)
        End Sub

    End Class

    Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        Dim objIniFile As New IniFile("c:\nexon2\data.ini")
        objIniFile.WriteString("Settings", "Drive", TextBox1.Text)
        Dim strData As String = _
            objIniFile.GetString("Settings", "Drive", "(none)")
        MsgBox(objIniFile.GetString("Settings", "Drive", "C:\"))
    End Sub

    Private Sub Button2_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button2.Click
        Dim objIniFile As New IniFile("c:\nexon2\data.ini")
        Dim strData As String = _
           objIniFile.GetString("Settings", "Drive", "(none)")
        TextBox2.Text = objIniFile.GetString("Settings", "Drive", "*")




    End Sub
End Class

I'm not a very good coder, and I mainly copy and paste codes and edit them accordingly. lol


Any help is appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
I'm just a noob.

[Bruce Fox]

Welcome to the Forum

Yes, you can do that with an INI.

However, you can use the app to identify where it is installed using: Application.StartupPath

As a side note, you can use the applications Settings to store user data too, just do a search for: My.Settings

[JustANoob]

Welcome to the Forum

Yes, you can do that with an INI.

However, you can use the app to identify where it is installed using: Application.StartupPath

As a side note, you can use the applications Settings to store user data too, just do a search for: My.Settings

Thanks for the reply!
Can I can an example how I'd relate this to what I'm trying to do.

[Bruce Fox]

The program will then try and find files located in the game's installation folder

Use: Application.StartupPath

That will return the path where the application exe resides, from that you can use it reference. For example it may be something like:
C:/Program Files/JustANoob (if the exe is in this folder)

Eg. If you had a sound file installed in the same folder as the exe, then you can use Application.StartupPath plus the filename to play the sound like:

Dim sound As New Sound(Application.StartupPath & "/mysoundfile.wav"
sound.Play()

[JustANoob]

Use: Application.StartupPath

That will return the path where the application exe resides, from that you can use it reference. For example it may be something like:
C:/Program Files/JustANoob (if the exe is in this folder)

Eg. If you had a sound file installed in the same folder as the exe, then you can use Application.StartupPath plus the filename to play the sound like:

Dim sound As New Sound(Application.StartupPath & "/mysoundfile.wav"
sound.Play()

Thanks a lot, this way is much easier then what I was trying to accomplish.

Now I just have ONE more question.

So my program will look for running processes, if the game is open it moves certain files to a different folder.

If the game is closed, it moves the files back. (If they where moved in the first place)

I have the above steps done, but I'm having trouble with having the program look for the the running process every X number of seconds.

I guess you'd say I'm looking for a loop that would run every X number of seconds.

Here is a sample of what I have:
Public Class Form1

    Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        Timer1.Enabled = True


        TextBox1.Text = Application.StartupPath
        For Each myprocess In Process.GetProcesses
            If myprocess.MainWindowTitle.Contains("Combat_Arms") Then
                Label2.Hide()
                Label3.Show()

            End If

        Next

    End Sub

    Private Sub Timer1_Tick(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Timer1.Tick
        Timer1.Enabled = False
        For Each myprocess In Process.GetProcesses
            If myprocess.MainWindowTitle.Contains("Combat_Arms") Then
                Label2.Hide()
                Label3.Show()

            End If

        Next
    End Sub

End Class

I was trying to loop using timer1, but it isn't working out.
Any help?