How should .ini be set up?

[Danith]

So I got a script done for running a bunch of reports we do in the morning and instead of having the reports hard coded in the program I was thinking of putting them in an .ini file. I'm just unsure of how it should be formatted.. It would need to have report name, export directory, date to run from (optional), date to run to (optional), and any special replacement varables..

Should I give each report it's seperate section? i.e.

[report 1]

ExportDir = c:\

DateFrom = $Yesterday

DateTo = $Today

or something else..

actually.. now that I wrote it out it makes sense to have it like above.. unless anyone else has a better/different way

[colafrysen]

So I got a script done for running a bunch of reports we do in the morning and instead of having the reports hard coded in the program I was thinking of putting them in an .ini file. I'm just unsure of how it should be formatted.. It would need to have report name, export directory, date to run from (optional), date to run to (optional), and any special replacement varables..

Should I give each report it's seperate section? i.e.

[report 1]

ExportDir = c:\

DateFrom = $Yesterday

DateTo = $Today

or something else..

actually.. now that I wrote it out it makes sense to have it like above.. unless anyone else has a better/different way

That looks great, but just remember that you will have to Execute() any AutoIt variables contained in the .ini

[PsaltyDS]

So I got a script done for running a bunch of reports we do in the morning and instead of having the reports hard coded in the program I was thinking of putting them in an .ini file. I'm just unsure of how it should be formatted.. It would need to have report name, export directory, date to run from (optional), date to run to (optional), and any special replacement varables..

Should I give each report it's seperate section? i.e.

[report 1]
ExportDir = c:\
DateFrom = $Yesterday
DateTo = $Today

or something else..

actually.. now that I wrote it out it makes sense to have it like above.. unless anyone else has a better/different way

Don't try to code actual variable names into the INI, it's a really bad idea that only looks like it saves you work. It will come back to bite you later. Just use key words like "Yesterday" or "Today", and when your script interprets that field, it will know what to do by simple string tests with If/Then, Select or Switch.

[Danith]

Don't try to code actual variable names into the INI, it's a really bad idea that only looks like it saves you work. It will come back to bite you later. Just use key words like "Yesterday" or "Today", and when your script interprets that field, it will know what to do by simple string tests with If/Then, Select or Switch.

Ahh, good ideal. Thanks!

One thing I thought of.. is there a way to add comments to an ini file that the Iniread functions will ignore, or will I have to make my own loop/function to ignore them?

[Danith]

Ahh, good ideal. Thanks!

One thing I thought of.. is there a way to add comments to an ini file that the Iniread functions will ignore, or will I have to make my own loop/function to ignore them?

Hmm, can't find an edit button for my last post.. Playing around with IniRead, IniReadSection.. etc it looks like it ignores any weird things, like (blah blah comments) or things that aren't in the format value=key

Perfect for me!

In case anyone was curious.. (ya I know, crappy choices for variables but this is my scratch pad, I redo them when I actually implement it )

ini file

[<report name>]  (section name)
<key>=<value>
ExportDir=
StartDate= (optional)
EndDate= (optional)

[main]
MainExport="c:\temp\"


[report 1]
ExportDir=c:\
StartDate=today
EndDate=today
SaveFileFormat="%filename%_today"

[report x]
ExportDir=c:\temp\
StartDate=$yesterday
EndDate=$yesterday
SaveFileFormat="%filename%_yesterday"

(replace %filename% with... selected name..)

get the stuff from the ini file..

$temp = IniReadSectionNames("c:\temp\reports.ini")
for $x = 1 to $temp[0]
    MsgBox(0, "", $temp[$x])
    ;$z = IniRead("c:\temp\reports.ini", $temp[$x], "ExportDir", "")
    $z = IniReadSection("C:\temp\reports.ini", $temp[$x])
    Global $ExportDir, $StartDate, $EndDate, $SaveFileFormat
    for $z2 = 1 to $z[0][0]
        MsgBox(4096, "", "Key:  " & $z[$z2][0] & @CRLF & "Value:  " & $z[$z2][1])
        Switch $z[$z2][0]  ;get the key
        Case "ExportDir"
            $ExportDir = $z[$z2][1]
        Case "StartDate"
            $StartDate = $z[$z2][1]
        Case "EndDate"
            $EndDate = $z[$z2][1]
        Case "SaveFileFormat"
            $SaveFileFormat = $z[$z2][1]
        EndSwitch
        
        
            
    Next
        
        MsgBox(4096, "vars", "Export Dir:  " & $ExportDir & @CRLF & _
                "StartDate:  " & $StartDate & @CRLF & _
                "EndDate:  " & $EndDate & @CRLF & _
                "SaveFileFormat:  " & $SaveFileFormat)
    
Next

Edited June 27, 2009 by Danith