How to Get Windows Directory, Computer Name and System Information Details

• Download source files - 1.43 KB
• Download demo project - 6.65 KB

Introduction

The utility helps you to understand how to return computer system name/Windows system path and system information from a Windows system (95, 98, NT and XP).

System Library Files

You have to include the following system DLL files into your application.

Private Declare Function GetComputerName Lib "kernel32" _
    Alias "GetComputerNameA" (ByVal lpBuffer As String, nSize As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function GetWindowsDirectory Lib "kernel32.dll" _
    Alias "GetWindowsDirectoryA" (ByVal lpBuffer As String, ByVal nSize As Long) As Long

GetTheComputerName Function

The following GetTheComputerName function returns the computer name from your system. See how the code works with System DLL file.

Public Function GetTheComputerName() As String

    Dim strComputerName As String ' Variable to return the path of computer name
    
    strComputerName = Space(250)  ' Initialize the buffer to receive the string
    GetComputerName strComputerName, Len(strComputerName)
    strComputerName = Mid(Trim$(strComputerName), 1, Len(Trim$(strComputerName)) - 1)
    GetTheComputerName = strComputerName

End Function

GetTheWindowsDirectory Function

The following GetTheWindowsDirectory function returns the Windows system path from your system. See how the code works with System DLL file.

Public Function GetTheWindowsDirectory() As String 
    
    Dim strWindowsDir As String        ' Variable to return the path of Windows Directory
    Dim lngWindowsDirLength As Long    ' Variable to return the length of the path
    
    strWindowsDir = Space(250)         ' Initialize the buffer to receive the string
    lngWindowsDirLength = GetWindowsDirectory
	(strWindowsDir, 250) ' Read the path of the windows directory
    strWindowsDir = Left(strWindowsDir, 
	lngWindowsDirLength) ' Extract the windows path from the buffer
    
    GetTheWindowsDirectory = strWindowsDir 

Displaying the System Information

The following lines of code will display all the system environment variables in a textbox.

Dim intInc As Integer
Dim strDisplay As String
    
Text1 = ""
' Here we start printing
For intInc = 1 To 35
    strDisplay = strDisplay & Environ(intInc)
    strDisplay = strDisplay & Space(5)
Next intInc
    
Text1 = strDisplay

Conclusion

This small program demonstrates how to call the system functions from the Windows DLL file and implement into your system. From this program, you found how to call GetComputerName and GetWindowsSystemDirectoryPath information. Also, you identified the importance of System information using Environ variables. I hope this will help you if you don't have any prior knowledge of system handle functions.

History

• 17^th May, 2004: Initial post