Word Hacks [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Hack 67 Store Settings and Data in .ini Files

VBA includes a way to store and retrieve
information using plain-text files that are easy to create, easy to
edit, and easy to remove.

Before Windows 95 came along with the Windows
registry for storing system information, Windows used
.ini filestext files used to store
program-specific data. Many programs, and even Windows, still use
these files to store certain information. A search on your hard drive
for *.ini files will likely turn up dozens or
even hundreds of entries.

These files are very useful for storing data after a macro finishes
running in VBA, or for things like numbering documents sequentially
[Hack #77]
and creating an improved MRU [Hack #13] after
Word closes.

The .ini, or Config, files
have a simple structure. Each file is divided into one or more
sections, and each section contains sets of
key/value pairs. The contents of a Config file
look like the following:

[MRU_Files]
MRU01=C:\Dox\Doc 1.doc
MRU02=C:\Dox\Doc 2.doc

Each section name is on its own line and surrounded by brackets. Each
line within the section contains a key/value pair separated by an
equals sign (=).

VBA includes a feature called the
PrivateProfileString property, which you can use
from any macro, to read and write these files. When you read from or
write to a Config file, you need three values: the filename, the
section name, and the key name. If you're writing to
the file, you also need the value to assign to the key.

To store the name of the current document in a Config file under the
key CurrDoc in the section
WordInfo in a file named
WordSettings.ini, you'd use the
following syntax:

System.PrivateProfileString("WordSettings.ini", "WordInfo", "CurrDoc") = _
ActiveDocument.Name

If no file named WordSettings.ini exists, the
macro creates one. If the file does exist, it replaces any value
already associated with the key CurrDoc in the section WordInfo.

To retrieve this same information from the Config file, use the
following syntax:

strSetting = System.PrivateProfileString("WordSettings.ini", _
"WordInfo", "CurrDoc")

If the file, section, or key doesn't exist, it
returns an empty string.

The following example shows you how to use a Config file from within
a macro. These two AutoMacros [Hack #60],
when placed in your Normal template, will record the name of the
active document when you quit Word and then open that document the
next time you start Word:

Sub AutoExec
Dim sDocName as String
sDocName = System.PrivateProfileString("WordSettings.ini", _
"WordInfo", "CurrDoc")
If Len(sDocName) <> 0 Then
Documents.Open(sDocName)
End If
End Sub
Sub AutoExit
System.PrivateProfileString("WordSettings.ini", "WordInfo", "CurrDoc") = _
ActiveDocument.FullName
End Sub

Because Config files are just plain-text files, they can be viewed
and edited using any standard text editor, such as Notepad.