Multiline .INI strings

[burque505]

Recently I've been jumping through hoops to get multiline strings into .INI key values, so I've tried to make my life a little easier in that regard.

This multiline problem has been visited before, at least here and here.

My primary concern was finding a replacement delimiter that wouldn't come back to haunt me. So far so good, but you never know.
(IniMulti.ahk)

Code: Select all

; ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
; │  After much frustration trying to include multiline values in             │
; │  an .ini file, I came up with this. Much credit to those posts below.     │
; │  This still needs work.                                                   │
; │  In particular, I'm having trouble coming up with a delimiter that        │
; │  won't choke some future input. At first I picked "|n" but decided after  │
; │  some consideration that it was an accident waiting to happen.            │
; │  Thus ╬ below, whichappears as '╬' in my ini files.                                                 │
; │  Probably also an accident waiting to happen. Murphy's Law.               │
; │  Change that if you manage to give your                                   │
; │  script indigestion.                                                      │
; └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

IniMultiRead(IniFileName, Section:="", Key:="" , Default:="") {
		Iniread, Value, %IniFileName%, %Section%, %Key%
		StringReplace, Value, Value, ╬, `n, All
		return Value
}

IniMultiWrite(IniVar, IniFileName, Section:="", Key:="") {
		StringReplace, IniVar, IniVar, `n, ╬, All
		IniWrite, %IniVar%, %IniFileName%, %Section%, %Key%
}

/*
https://autohotkey.com/board/topic/91849-how-to-save-multi-line-user-input-to-ini/
https://autohotkey.com/board/topic/33601-solved-multi-line-tooltip-from-ini-file/
π is alt+995
╬ is alt+1230
*/

Here's a test script if you feel like taking it for a spin.

Spoiler

Code: Select all

#Include IniMulti.ahk

; Default value for Edit control.
; This will declare the value for .ini key "Description".
DefaultValue =
(
This monkey is overweight.
He tends to complain for no reason.
He prefers C# to Python.
He does not comment his code.
He is currently unemployed.

Recommendation:
Reduce  banana ration for one week
to see if mood and weight improve.
)

Gui, Add, Edit, w400 h200 +multi vDescription, %DefaultValue%
Gui, Add, Button, x5 y+5,Submit
gui, Show, , RoboMonkey Hire Information

return
; End of autoexecute.

ButtonSubmit:
Gui, Submit, NoHide

; Declare value for key "Size"
Size:= "Extremely large for a simian in this age group. Very concerning."

; Write some initial values, declared above and via the Edit control.
IniMultiWrite(Description, "chango.ini", "RoboMonkeys", "General characteristics of monkey")
IniMultiWrite(Size, "chango.ini", "RoboMonkeys", "Result of treatment")

; Read some key values and display.
Msgbox % IniMultiRead("chango.ini", "RoboMonkeys", "General characteristics of monkey")
Msgbox % IniMultiRead("chango.ini", "RoboMonkeys", "Result of treatment")

; Another read and display for debug purposes.
barfoo := IniMultiRead("chango.ini", "RoboMonkeys", "General characteristics of monkey")
msgbox % "SANITY CHECK:`r`n`r`n" . barfoo . "`r`n`r`nCheck the file to ensure correct write/read."

; Another write, this time to key "Result of treatment".
IniMultiWrite("Weight marginally diminished. Candidate remains intransigent.", "chango.ini", "RoboMonkeys", "Result of treatment")

; Check
Msgbox % IniMultiRead("chango.ini", "RoboMonkeys", "Result of treatment")

; Write a new section (RIF) with a value for the new key "Observations".
IniMultiWrite("Do not hire for any reason.", "chango.ini", "RIF", "Observations") 


ExitApp

Regards,
burque505

[guest3456]

note:

https://www.autohotkey.com/docs/commands/IniRead.htm

Unicode: IniRead and IniWrite rely on the external functions GetPrivateProfileString and WritePrivateProfileString to read and write values. These functions support Unicode only in UTF-16 files; all other files are assumed to use the system's default ANSI code page.

[burque505]

Thanks, I did know that, but I appreciate the reference.
If I'm not mistaken, this accounts for the different display of the delimiter in the .ini files, which is fine for my purposes.

[ahk7]

You could base64 encode your multiline string as it will result in one long encoded line, it will run into the max ini key limit sooner as your solution of course. Just a thought. ( https://github.com/ahkscript/libcrypt.ahk has base64 encode/decode )

[burque505]

@ahk7, thank you, excellent thought. Let me investigate that. Perhaps an advantage would be less possible interference with the content of the "victim" string.
Regards,
burque505

[Relayer]

I simply replace carriage returns with "<CR>" and the equal sign with "<EQ>" going in and coming out of the ini file.

[burque505]

Sounds good also! Nice tip.