How to Get Windows Directory, Computer Name and System Information Details
This small program demonstrates how to get the Windows directory path name, Computer Name, and System information details
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
- 17th May, 2004: Initial post