Open INI file and place content in different textboxes - vb.net

Question

I am creating a program in VB.net that opens a .INI file and reads the content. I wrote the following code:
Private Sub OpenINIButton_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles OpenINIButton.Click
Dim OpenDLG As New OpenFileDialog
Dim FileLocation = OpenDLG.FileName.ToString()
OpenDLG.Filter = "INI File (*.ini)|*.ini"
OpenDLG.Title = "Open INI File"
OpenDLG.InitialDirectory = "C:\"
OpenDLG.RestoreDirectory = True
DialogResult = OpenDLG.ShowDialog
If DialogResult = Windows.Forms.DialogResult.OK Then
TextBox1.Text = ReadIni(FileLocation, INIkey, INIvalue, "")
ElseIf DialogResult = Windows.Forms.DialogResult.Cancel Then
End If
End Sub
The open file dialog opens and I can open a INI file but the value of INIkey is not placed in TextBox1.
Any idea how I can fix this?

Answer 1

You initialize the path beore the user has selected it:
Dim FileLocation = OpenDLG.FileName.ToString()
Do that after ShowDialog, so here is the correct place:
If DialogResult = Windows.Forms.DialogResult.OK Then
Dim FileLocation = OpenDLG.FileName.ToString()
TextBox1.Text = ReadIni(FileLocation, INIkey, INIvalue, "")
ElseIf DialogResult = Windows.Forms.DialogResult.Cancel Then
End If
But why don't you notice an exception? I assume that you have an empty catch block where you try to open the file in ReadIni. That's a bad habit to kick anyway.
Note that the FileLocation variable in your code references the String OpenDLG.FileName at the time you assign it, there is no permanent connection between both. So if it changes later the variable references still the old string.

Answer 2

The best way to do this would be to make an iniParse module like below and just use the function as shown:
Module iniParse
Public readwrtie As Integer
Public settingValueReturn As New System.Text.StringBuilder(255)
Private Declare Auto Function WritePrivateProfileString Lib "Kernel32" _
(ByVal IpApplication As String, ByVal Ipkeyname As String, _
ByVal IpString As String, ByVal IpFileName As String) As Integer
Private Declare Auto Function GetPrivateProfileString Lib "Kernel32" _
(ByVal IpApplicationName As String, ByVal IpKeyName As String, _
ByVal IpDefault As String, ByVal IPReturnedString As System.Text.StringBuilder, _
ByVal nsize As Integer, ByVal IpFileName As String) As Integer
Public Sub WriteINIFile(heading As String, setting As String, settingvalue As String, path As String)
WritePrivateProfileString(heading, setting, settingvalue, path)
End Sub
Public Sub ReadIniFile(heading As String, setting As String, path As String)
GetPrivateProfileString(heading, setting, "", settingValueReturn, 100, path)
End Sub
End Module
Example:
Button1_click blah blah blah handles button1.click...
ReadIniFile("MAIN", "test", "C:\config.ini")
'this would read the following ini file:
'[MAIN]
'test=hi
'to get that 'hi' value you would use this code:
textbox1.text = settingReturnValue.tostring '(settingValueReturn Will always be the value of the setting entered in the function args)
'to write ini file:
Button1_click blah blah blah handles button1.click...
WriteIniFile("MAIN", "test2", "hi2", "C:\config.ini")
'this would write the following to the ini # C:\config.ini file:
'[MAIN]
'test2=hi2
I hope this helps your needs!