A Question about ini files?

[JLWest]

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1. unit Unit1;
2.  
3. {$mode objfpc}{$H+}
4.  
5. interface
6.  
7. uses
8.   Classes, SysUtils, FileUtil, Forms,
9.   IniFiles, Controls, Graphics, Dialogs, StdCtrls;
10.  
11. type
12.  
13.   { TForm1 }
14.  
15.   TForm1 = class(TForm)
16.     Button1: TButton;
17.     Button2: TButton;
18.     Edit1: TEdit;
19.     Edit2: TEdit;
20.     Edit3: TEdit;
21.     Edit4: TEdit;
22.     Edit5: TEdit;
23.     Edit6: TEdit;
24.     Label1: TLabel;
25.     Label2: TLabel;
26.     Label3: TLabel;
27.     Label4: TLabel;
28.     Label5: TLabel;
29.     Label6: TLabel;
30.     procedure Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
31.     procedure Button2Click(Sender: TObject);
32.     procedure FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
33.     Procedure GetIni;
34.   private
35.  
36.   public
37.  
38.   end;
39.  
40. const
41.   C_DB_SECTION = 'DB-INFO';
42.  
43. var
44.   Form1: TForm1;
45.  
46.   INI                  : TINIFile;
47.   Author               : String;
48.   Pass                 : String;
49.   DBFile               : String;
50.   MaxAttempts          : integer;
51.   PassEnter            : String;
52.   TryCount             : integer;
53.   iniPath              : String;
54.  
55. implementation
56.                                heaptrc
57. {$R *.lfm}
58.  
59. { TForm1 }
60.  
61. procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
62. begin
63.   Close;
64. end;
65.  
66. procedure TForm1.Button2Click(Sender: TObject);
67. begin
68.     Getini;
69. end;
70.  
71. procedure TForm1.FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
72.  
73. begin
74.   iniPath    := Application.Location;
75.   Edit1.Text := iniPath;
76. end;
77.  
78. Procedure TForm1.GetIni;
79. Begin
80.      INI := TINIFile.Create('DB.ini');
81.  
82.  // Put reading the INI file inside a try/finally block to prevent
83.  // memory leaks
84.       try
85.         // Demonstrates reading values from the INI file.
86.         Author       := INI.ReadString(C_DB_SECTION,'Author','');
87.         Pass         := INI.ReadString(C_DB_SECTION,'Pass','');
88.         DBFile       := INI.ReadString(C_DB_SECTION,'DBFile','');
89.         MaxAttempts  := INI.ReadInteger(C_DB_SECTION,'MaxAttempts',1);
90.  
91.        // Show Results in Edit boxes on the screen
92.  
93.        Edit2.Text :=   Author;
94.        Edit3.Text :=   Pass;
95.        Edit4.Text :=   DBFile;
96.        Edit5.Text :=   inttostr(MaxAttempts);
97.        Edit6.Text :=   'Process End';
98.       finally
99.      INI.Free;
100.  
101.       end;
102.  
103. end;
104.  
105.  
106.  
107. end.
108.                                      

Have written the above and it works.


Line 41 C_DB_SECTION = 'DB-INFO'; specifies the section in the ini file.
Line 80 I guess creates a file handle and Specifies the ini file name
to read.
Line 86 - 89 Does one read of the ini file.
Line 99 Closes the ini file.

Do you need a const defined for each section in an ini file.

I have an ini file set up with multi sections like so.

[Version]
Version=v3.0

[AIRAC]
Cycles=1801
PrevCycle=1713

[SimsDirPath]
X-Plane=F:\TestBed\X-Plane\
X-PlaneBackup=F:\TestBed\X-PlaneBackup\
Prepar3D=F:\TestBed\Prepar3D


[CheckBoxes]
CBX1=False
CBX2=False
CBX3=False

[Hangar]
.
.
.

[WWFleet]
.
.
.

Do I need to define a Const for each section. And how do I read multiple
tmes in a section.

[wp]

Do you need a const defined for each section in an ini file.

Using a const is good programming style because you need the value in the reading and writing code at many places. You can also apply the string directly ( Author := INI.ReadString('DB-INFO', 'Author','') but then there's a risk of hard-to-find bugs. Suppose the writing code is INI.WriteString('DB_INFO', 'Author',Author) - do you spot the difference? It will cause your program behave as is if nothing has been written to the ini file. Using a constant for the section name prevents this.

And how do I read multiple
tmes in a section.

Just by using multiple ReadXXXX commands, just as you do it between lines 86 and 89.

[JLWest]

So do I understand this right?

For reading the ini file below I would need the following declaration:

Const
VersionSECTION = 'Version';
AIRACSection = 'AIRAC';
SimsDirPathSection = 'SimsDirPath';
CheckBoxesSection = 'CheckBoxes';
HangarSection = 'Hangar';   
WWFleetSection ='WWFleetSection';


The VersionSection only has one record so i would issue 1 read.
Change to AIRACSection and issue two reads so on and so on.

[Version]
Version=v3.0

[AIRAC]
Cycles=1801
PrevCycle=1713

[SimsDirPath]
X-Plane=F:\TestBed\X-Plane\
X-PlaneBackup=F:\TestBed\X-PlaneBackup\
Prepar3D=F:\TestBed\Prepar3D


[CheckBoxes]
CBX1=False
CBX2=False
CBX3=False

[Hangar]
.
.
.

[WWFleet]
.
.

[howardpc]

You can try the attached Settings Dialog example.
Unzip the attachment into your project directory and add uIni to your main form's uses clause.
You call the dialog with GetPreferencesDlg (perhaps from a SetPreferences button click).
if GetPreferencesDlg is True it indicates the user saved preferences to an inifile. If it is False the user cancelled setting preferences, and no inifile was changed, but generally you can ignore the returned value.
You'll know how to adapt the dialog to do what you want.

[minesadorada]

Do I need to define a Const for each section. And how do I read multiple
tmes in a section.

You can get all the keys of a section in one go.  Use the TIniFile procedure ReadSection.
Pass it the section name and an initialised TstringList variable, then iterate through the StringList to read the key names.

You can read all the values in a section in one call using the TiniFile procedure ReadSectionValues.
Pass it the section name and an initialised TstringList variable, then iterate through the StringList to read the values.