Application Techniques
Managing Initialization Files and the Windows Registry

Functions for accessing initialization files

PowerBuilder provides several functions you can use to manage application settings in initialization files.

For complete information about these functions, see PowerScript Reference.

For how to use the ProfileString functions with the registry, see Managing information in the Windows registry.

The format of APP.INI

The examples below manage application information in a profile file called APP.INI. This file keeps track of user preferences that control the appearance of the application. It has a Preferences section that stores four color settings:

[Preferences]
WindowColor=Silver
BorderColor=Red
BackColor=Black
TextColor=White

Reading values

The following script retrieves color settings from the APP.INI file:

wincolor = ProfileString("app.ini", "Preferences", "WindowColor", "")
brdcolor = ProfileString("app.ini", "Preferences", "BorderColor", "")
bckcolor = ProfileString("app.ini", "Preferences", "BackColor", "")
txtcolor = ProfileString("app.ini", "Preferences", "TextColor", "")

Setting values

The following script stores color settings in the APP.INI file:

SetProfileString("app.ini", "Preferences", "WindowColor", wincolor)
SetProfileString("app.ini", "Preferences", "BorderColor", brdcolor)
SetProfileString("app.ini", "Preferences", "BackColor", bckcolor)
SetProfileString("app.ini", "Preferences", "TextColor", txtcolor)