Read and write INI files

Ok I have these ini files for a access control system. We have 40 different systems. All on different databases. that look like the following:

[1243052037]
group = "master"
names = "Wesley,John,Bill"
protected = 1

[776843634]
group = "member"
names = "Test,Adam,Joe"
protected = 0

[751211588]
group = "user"
names = "Karen,Dell,HP"
protected = 0

So I want to read these in to an excel sheet like I have attached. Sort them and purge them togeather. and then write the ini file back out to update the system. Thank you for your help.

yes I have seen some examples, but not sure how to loop thru them. Everthing I have seen pertains to getting a value that is known.

Hello WHWALDREP,

If you post a copy of your workbook in Excel 2003 format, I can help you with this.

Thank you.

Hello WHWALDREP,

I have written 2 macro modules. One contains the API calls for the Provate Profile functions and the second contains the "ReadINI" and "WriteINI" commands that are attached to the buttons. The code for this macros is below. For those who are interested about the Private Profile functions, download the the workbook and read the notes I have included in the module "Read_Write_INI_Files".

You should know that init files typically don't use quotes as there are only 2 data types: Strings and Integers. The test file I created based on your example did not include the quotes. The empty line between sections was also removed as this doesn't conform to the API standard. It will read the information correctly, but the API WriteProfile functions don't include blanks between sections. Here is what the file looks like:

[bInitialization File Layout[/b]

[1243052037]
group = master
names = Wesley,John,Bill
protected = 1
[776843634]
group = member
names = Test,Adam,Joe
protected = 0
[751211588]
group = user
names = Karen,Dell,HP
protected = 0

Macro Code to Read aand Write the Init File

Public FileName As String

Sub ReadINI()

  Dim Buffer1 As String
  Dim Buffer2 As String
  Dim BuffSize As Long
  Dim ColOrder As Variant
  Dim FileFilters As String
  Dim I As Integer
  Dim Key As String
  Dim Keys As Variant
  Dim L1 As Long
  Dim ListObj As ListObject
  Dim RetVal As Variant
  Dim Rng As Range
  Dim SectionName As String
  
    If FileName = "" Then
      'Select and Open the file.
       FileFilters = "Initialization Files (*.ini),*.ini,Text Files (*.txt), *.txt, All Files (*.*), *.*"
       RetVal = Application.GetOpenFilename(FileFilters, 1, "Select File")
         If RetVal = "False" Then
            Exit Sub
         Else
            FileName = RetVal
         End If
    End If
    
      Keys = Array("group", "protected", "names")
      ColOrder = Array(2, 3, 4)
      
      Set ListObj = ActiveSheet.ListObjects("Table1")
      Set Rng = ListObj.Range
       'Ignore the header and total rows.
        Set Rng = Rng.Columns(1).Offset(1, 0).Resize(RowSize:=Rng.Rows.Count - 2)
        R = 1
        C = 1
        
       'Create two 8k buffers to hold the Section Names and Keys/Values.
        BuffSize = 8192
        Buffer1 = Space(BuffSize)
        Buffer2 = Space(BuffSize)
        
       'Read in the Section Names.
        RetVal = GetPrivateProfileSectionNames(Buffer1, BuffSize, FileName)
         'Copy the Section Names to the ListObject and save in an array.
          Do
            L1 = StrLen(Buffer1)
            If L1 = 0 Then Exit Do
            SectionName = Left(Buffer1, L1)
            Rng.Cells(R, C) = SectionName
              For I = 0 To UBound(Keys)
                Key = Keys(I)
                RetVal = GetPrivateProfileString(SectionName, ByVal Key, "?", Buffer2, BuffSize, FileName)
                C = C + 1
                Rng.Cells(R, C) = Left(Buffer2, RetVal)
                Buffer2 = Space(BuffSize)
              Next I
            C = 1
            R = R + 1
            Buffer1 = Right(Buffer1, Len(Buffer1) - L1 - 1)
          Loop
      
End Sub

Sub WriteINI()

  Dim ColOrder As Variant
  Dim FileFilters As String
  Dim Key As String
  Dim Keys As Variant
  Dim ListObj As ListObject
  Dim ProfileString As String
  Dim RetVal As Variant
  Dim Rng As Range
   
    If FileName = "" Then
       MsgBox "There is No File Selected to Write to." & vbCrLf _
             & "Please Select a File."
      ' Select and Open the file.
       FileFilters = "Initialization Files (*.ini),*.ini,Text Files (*.txt), *.txt, All Files (*.*), *.*"
       RetVal = Application.GetOpenFilename(FileFilters, 1, "Select File")
         If RetVal = "False" Then
            Exit Sub
         Else
            FileName = RetVal
         End If
    End If
      
      Keys = Array("group", "names", "protected")
      ColOrder = Array(2, 4, 3)
    
      Set ListObj = ActiveSheet.ListObjects("Table1")
      Set Rng = ListObj.Range
      
       'Ignore the header and total rows.
        Set Rng = Rng.Offset(1, 0).Resize(RowSize:=Rng.Rows.Count - 2)
        
       'Overwrite the file by deleting it and recreating it.
        Kill FileName
        N = FreeFile
        Open FileName For Output As #N
        Close #N
        
          For R = 1 To Rng.Rows.Count
            SectionName = Trim(Rng.Cells(R, 1))
            If SectionName <> "" Then
               ProfileString = ""
                 For C = 0 To UBound(ColOrder)
                   Key = Keys(C) & " = "
                   ProfileString = ProfileString & Key & Rng.Cells(R, ColOrder(C)) & Chr$(0)
                 Next C
               ProfileString = ProfileString & Chr$(0)
               RetVal = WritePrivateProfileSection(SectionName, ProfileString, FileName)
            End If
          Next R
        
End Sub