Marie,
>Sorry, I have NO knowledge of Win NT. I have searched Delphi 5's help
>and could not find 'GetEnvironmentVariable' but I did find it under the
>SDK info - but I don't understand it at all!
The reference to WinNT was just to point out that this feature is associated
with the protected, multiple login versions of windows and has been around a
long time. GetEnvironmentVariable has nothing to do with Delphi, it is
a Windows API function. "Windows NT and up" commonly refers to the
protected versions of Windows. For example, there is another environment
variable, OS, which contains Windows_NT for all the OS versions WinNT
and up. Vista even has OS=Windows_NT.
Here is a code stub you can use to get the idea about how to use the
GetEnvironmentVariable API call:
var
EnvVar: string;
Buf: PChar;
BufSize,
ExpandSize: integer;
try
EnvVar:='USERPROFILE'; {This is the environment variable we want to find}
{Assume it will be 256 or less}
BufSize:=256;
Buf:=StrAlloc(BufSize);
ExpandSize:=GetEnvironmentVariable(PChar(EnvVar),Buf,BufSize);
{ExpandSize now contains that buffer size needed to return the value}
if ExpandSize > Pred(BufSize) then begin
{we overflowed the buffer, so go back and do it all over again}
StrDispose(Buf);
BufSize:=Succ(ExpandSize);
Buf:=StrAlloc(BufSize);
StrCopy(Buf,'');
ExpandSize:=GetEnvironmentVariable(PChar(EnvVar),Buf,BufSize);
end;
{Assert: Buf now contains the value of the environment variable: USERPROFILE}
finally
StrDispose(Buf);
end;
I would recommend that you write a simple function that takes a string
parameter and returns the value of the environment variable.
>I also searched for
>'Userprofile' and didn't find that either. Are these now functions in
>Delphi 8 or Turbo Delphi (which I can't run since they require Win XP
>and I'm still running Win 98)?
None of this has anything to do with Delphi, it has to do with Windows.
Older versions of Windows do not have a USERPROFILE environment
variable that is setup by the operating system. So, when USERPROFILE
is null, default to some predefined path. But if USERPROFILE is defined,
you should assume that "C:\Program Files" may be protected.
You may want to rethink ever putting data in the "C:\Program Files"
directory.
Glenn Lawler
www.incodesystems.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Marie F Vihonsky [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2007 10:43 PM
To: advanced_delphi@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [advanced_delphi] Re-Writing for Vista
Hi Glenn,
Sorry, I have NO knowledge of Win NT. I have searched Delphi 5's help
and could not find 'GetEnvironmentVariable' but I did find it under the
SDK info - but I don't understand it at all! I also searched for
'Userprofile' and didn't find that either. Are these now functions in
Delphi 8 or Turbo Delphi (which I can't run since they require Win XP
and I'm still running Win 98)?
Marie
Glenn B. Lawler wrote:
> Mike,
>
> Running as Administrator does not really solve the problem.
> Vista protects everything beneath the "C:\Program Files" directory.
> This is simple to do in the right way, which has been in place since
> Windows NT 4.0. The operating system maintains an environment
> variable: USERPROFILE which is the PATH to a directory which is
> private to the currently logged in user. In a batch file, you can
> dereference the environment variable like this:
>
> CD /D %USERPROFILE%
>
> The statement above changes to the users private directory.
>
> When writing a program, the Windows API call:
> GetEnvironmentVariable
>
> will return the value of an environment variable.
> Check the Delphi help for details.
>
> Glenn Lawler
> www.incodesystems.com
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mike [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2007 4:13 PM
> To: advanced_delphi@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [advanced_delphi] Re-Writing for Vista
>
> the problem really is Vista - it changed all programs to run at a User
> Level - it's easy enough to change - may not be the best way (at least in
> M$'s eyes)
>
> right click on the desktop shortcut icon and change it to "Run as
> Administrator"
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Marie F Vihonsky
> To: Advance Delphi
> Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2007 3:35 PM
> Subject: [advanced_delphi] Re-Writing for Vista
>
>
> Hi All,
>
> I have just gotten the first glitches with Vista from users and it
> involves the logic for writing to the databases and indexs. I'm still
> of the old DOS mindset and a self-taught programmer. I have all my
> files located under the main folder where the program is installed and
> using Inno-Setup, I have the user install to:
> c:\program files\myprogram
>
> Using Delphi 5, I can determine if the user has installed the program
> somewhere else by determining where the EXE is located using this code:
> exepath:=ExtractFilePath(Application.ExeName);
> datapath := exepath + 'data\';
> if not DirectoryExists(datapath) then
> if not CreateDir(datapath) then begin
> raise Exception.Create('Cannot create '+ datapath);
> exit;
> end;
> mdxpath := exepath + 'indexs\';
> if not DirectoryExists(mdxpath) then
> if not CreateDir(mdxpath) then begin
> raise Exception.Create('Cannot create '+ mdxpath);
> exit;
> end;
>
> Under Vista, I understand that this is a NO-NO since it requires write
> permission from the Administer. Now my Users are all individual HOME
> users, who are the Admins and don't know how to set-up their pc's to run
> the program they way it did under all previous versions of Windows.
>
> I'm at a loss, since I don't have a PC with Vista. Soon to be rectified
> before I go nuts trying to answer questions from my users!
>
> Meanwhile, how should I re-write my programs? Where can I write from the
> program so that the user doesn't need Admin privileges and how do I
> determine the folder name?
>
> Marie
