cCsv class

In version 1.0.0.5, a cCsv is a reader and writer of INI files, not of CSV files. It keeps the settings of an INI file in a two-level Scripting.Dictionary, Root: the sections are the keys of Root, and each item is a dictionary of the keys and values of that section. LoadFrom fills Root from a file and SaveTo writes Root to a file.

The code is that of an INI tool: it adds the extension .ini to a file name, and its error messages name iniTools. The class reads and writes no comma-separated values. The package keeps one ready-made instance, TBMAN.Csv.

Dim Cfg As New cCsv
Set Cfg.Root = CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary")
Cfg.Root.Add "Window", CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary")
Cfg.Root("Window")("Width") = "800"

If Not Cfg.SaveTo(Environ$("TEMP") & "\tbmanlib-docs-settings.ini") Then
    Debug.Print Cfg.LastError
End If

The file format
Properties
Methods
See Also

The file format

The files are opened as ANSI text, in the code page of the system, not as Unicode or UTF-8. The text that SaveTo writes, and that LoadFrom reads, looks like this:

[Window]
Width=800

[Colors]
Back=white

A section starts with a name in square brackets on a line of its own. SaveTo writes a blank line after each section.
Each key has a line of its own, in the form key=value. LoadFrom splits a line at its first =, removes the spaces around the key and around the value, and removes one " at the start and one at the end of the value, if they are there.
A blank line and a line that starts with a semicolon are skipped. A line that starts with # is not a comment: it is read as a key if it holds an =, and skipped if it does not.
A line that has no = and is not a section is skipped.
LoadFrom puts the keys that come before the first section under a section whose name is the empty string.

Properties

LastError

A String. The text of the last error that LoadFrom or SaveTo caught, or an empty string after a call that worked.

After an error, the text is a Chinese label that names iniTools.SaveTo or iniTools.LoadFrom (not cCsv), then the error number, a # and the description. LoadFrom adds a colon and the path. When Root has no entries, SaveTo sets the text to a Chinese sentence that means there is no data to write.

Root

The data, a Scripting.Dictionary: section names are the keys, and each item is a Scripting.Dictionary of the keys and values of the section. A field, declared Public Root As Scripting.Dictionary with no New, so it is Nothing until a program sets it:

Dim Cfg As New cCsv
Set Cfg.Root = CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary")

While Root is Nothing, both methods catch the error and set LastError. After a file is read, a value is read as Cfg.Root("Window")("Width"). SaveTo writes each value as a string.

Methods

LoadFrom

Reads an INI file into Root.

Syntax: object.LoadFrom ( Path ) As cIni

Path: required A String, the file to read. The extension .ini is added to a name that does not end with it, without regard to letter case, so settings and settings.INI name the same file. The path is used as written: a name without a folder is looked for in the current folder of the program.

The values that the file holds are added to the dictionaries of Root and replace the values of the same keys. Nothing that Root held before is removed. Root has to hold a dictionary before the call.

The method is declared to return a cIni, a class with no members, and its code assigns other values to its result: the first statement, Set LoadFrom = Me, assigns the cCsv itself, and the last, LoadFrom = True, assigns a Boolean. Neither is a cIni. The first assignment fails with the error No such interface supported (-2147467262), and because the error handler is switched on only after that statement, the error goes to the caller, with an empty source. The file is not read, LastError stays empty and Root is not changed. The call fails in this way every time.

Note

LoadFrom cannot read a file in version 1.0.0.5.

Dim Cfg As New cCsv
Dim Path As String
Path = Environ$("TEMP") & "\tbmanlib-docs-read.ini"

Open Path For Output As #1
Print #1, "[Window]"
Print #1, "Width=800"
Close #1

Set Cfg.Root = CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary")
On Error Resume Next
Cfg.LoadFrom Path
Debug.Print Err.Number
Debug.Print "[" & Cfg.LastError & "]"
Debug.Print Cfg.Root.Count
On Error GoTo 0
Kill Path
' Output:
' -2147467262
' []
' 0

SaveTo

Writes Root to an INI file.

Syntax: object.SaveTo ( [ Path ] ) As Boolean

Path: optional A String, the file to write. The extension .ini is added to a name that does not end with it. A call without a path uses the name .ini. A file that exists is replaced.

Returns True when the file was written. It returns False when Root is Nothing or has no entries, or when an error occurred; LastError then says why.

The method first calls AutoMakeDir for Path, without telling it that the path names a file. AutoMakeDir then takes the whole path to be a folder and creates a folder with the name of the file, and the step that opens the file fails because that name is a folder. A file that exists is not affected by the call: no folder can be created with the name of a file, and the file is rewritten.

Warning

In version 1.0.0.5, a first save of a new file returns False and leaves a folder that has the name of the file, Path.ini. LastError then holds error 70, Permission denied, which is the error of the step that opens the file. A save over a file that exists works, and replaces the file.

Dim Cfg As New cCsv
Dim Path As String
Dim Text As String

Path = Environ$("TEMP") & "\tbmanlib-docs-save"
Set Cfg.Root = CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary")
Cfg.Root.Add "Window", CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary")
Cfg.Root("Window")("Width") = "800"

' A new file: the save fails and leaves a folder named Path.ini.
Debug.Print Cfg.SaveTo(Path)
Debug.Print InStr(Cfg.LastError, "70#Permission denied") > 0
Debug.Print (GetAttr(Path & ".ini") And vbDirectory) <> 0
CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject").DeleteFolder Path & ".ini"

' A file that exists: the save works.
Open Path & ".ini" For Output As #1
Close #1
Debug.Print Cfg.SaveTo(Path)
Open Path & ".ini" For Input As #1
Do Until EOF(1)
    Line Input #1, Text
    Debug.Print "[" & Text & "]"
Loop
Close #1
Kill Path & ".ini"
' Output:
' False
' True
' True
' True
' [[Window]]
' [Width=800]
' []