Solved VB 2010 how to populate a listbox from an ini file

[JBmorris]

Hello SF users! Okay so I am making a program that involves listboxes and ini files. What I am trying to do is populate the listbox from an ini file(make the listbox show strings from a section). I don't have any code yet so... How do I do this?

 

[Tookeri]

I've never read an entire section, but this solution looks ok:
vb.net - Read sections of INI file in VB .NET 2012 - Stack Overflow

Then where this line is, you add the info to the listbox:
' do something with the information here

 

[Tookeri]

Sorry, I missed the fact that that code didn't look up a specific section. So forget that and try this instead:

Dim inifile As String = System.AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory() & Replace(LCase(IO.Path.GetFileName(Application.ExecutablePath)), ".exe", ".ini")
Dim objReader As New System.IO.StreamReader(inifile, System.Text.Encoding.Default)
Dim row As String
Dim section As String = "Links"
Dim match As Boolean = False
Do While objReader.Peek() <> -1
    row = objReader.ReadLine()
    If LCase(row) = "[" & LCase(section) & "]" Then
        match = True
    ElseIf match AndAlso Trim(row) <> "" AndAlso Mid(row, 1, 1) <> "[" Then
        Dim data() As String = Split(row, "=")
        Dim key = data(0)
        Dim value = data(1)
        Debug.Print(key & "=" & value)
        'listbox.Items.Add(key & "=" & value)
    Else
        match = False
    End If
Loop
objReader.Close()

Change the value for inifile to the path and filename to it. The value for it above is something I use to avoid having hard coded paths and file names. It takes the current directory and the name of the exe and changes exe to ini. When you run the program from VB it means the bin folder in your project folder. So it looks for an ini file with the same name as the exe file, in the "current directory".
Then set the value for section. I've added a commented example of how to add the key and value to a listbox.

The code will read line by line looking for the section. After it finds it it will read the following key/value lines until it reaches either an empty line or a new section - row value beginning with [

 

[JBmorris]

Sorry, I missed the fact that that code didn't look up a specific section. So forget that and try this instead:

Dim inifile As String = System.AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory() & Replace(LCase(IO.Path.GetFileName(Application.ExecutablePath)), ".exe", ".ini")
Dim objReader As New System.IO.StreamReader(inifile, System.Text.Encoding.Default)
Dim row As String
Dim section As String = "Links"
Dim match As Boolean = False
Do While objReader.Peek() <> -1
    row = objReader.ReadLine()
    If LCase(row) = "[" & LCase(section) & "]" Then
        match = True
    ElseIf match AndAlso Trim(row) <> "" AndAlso Mid(row, 1, 1) <> "[" Then
        Dim data() As String = Split(row, "=")
        Dim key = data(0)
        Dim value = data(1)
        Debug.Print(key & "=" & value)
        'listbox.Items.Add(key & "=" & value)
    Else
        match = False
    End If
Loop
objReader.Close()

Change the value for inifile to the path and filename to it. The value for it above is something I use to avoid having hard coded paths and file names. It takes the current directory and the name of the exe and changes exe to ini. When you run the program from VB it means the bin folder in your project folder. So it looks for an ini file with the same name as the exe file, in the "current directory".
Then set the value for section. I've added a commented example of how to add the key and value to a listbox.

The code will read line by line looking for the section. After it finds it it will read the following key/value lines until it reaches either an empty line or a new section - row value beginning with [

Okay I will try this code. and sorry for late reply...

 

[JBmorris]

Hmm, I am not sure if i did this right...

Dim inifile As String = System.AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory() & Replace(LCase(IO.Path.GetFileName(Application.ExecutablePath)), "WindowsApplication2.exe", "IDstorage.ini") <here is what i am confused on.
        Dim objReader As New System.IO.StreamReader(inifile, System.Text.Encoding.Default)
        Dim row As String
        Dim section As String = "list"
        Dim match As Boolean = False
        Do While objReader.Peek() <> -1
            row = objReader.ReadLine()
            If LCase(row) = "[" & LCase(section) & "]" Then
                match = True
            ElseIf match AndAlso Trim(row) <> "" AndAlso Mid(row, 1, 1) <> "[" Then
                Dim data() As String = Split(row, "=")
                Dim key = data(0)
                Dim value = data(1)
                Debug.Print(key & "=" & value)
                ListBox1.Items.Add(key & "=" & value)
            Else
                match = False
            End If
        Loop
        objReader.Close()

am i supposed to put in this

My.Application.Info.DirectoryPath + "/inifle.ini"

for the ini value?

 

[Tookeri]

This will be just fine:

Dim inifile As String = My.Application.Info.DirectoryPath + "/inifle.ini"

or even safer a hard coded value will work(as long as it's correct):

Dim inifile As String = "c:\foldername\filename.ini"

 

[JBmorris]

This will be just fine:

Dim inifile As String = My.Application.Info.DirectoryPath + "/inifle.ini"

or even safer a hard coded value will work(as long as it's correct):

Dim inifile As String = "c:\foldername\filename.ini"

It works!
Thanks Tookeri!