Library tutorials & articles

API Programming Series #1

By Sreejath S. Warrier, published on 13 Jul 2002
Page 3 of 7
  1. Foreword
  2. So what's API
  3. Where does the API reside?
  4. How can we access API functions from VB?
  5. Why use the API when I can achieve most of the thi
  6. What are the cons?
  7. Conclusion

Where does the API reside?

The bulk of the API functions are encapsulated in a set of DLLs -

kernel32.dll
user32.dll
gdi32.dll
shell32.dll, etc.

These DLLs form the core of the Windows OS and are present on all windows machines (At least the ones that are bootable :)). So unlike when you access a function from a third-party DLL, you don’t have to ship anything with your product when you use an API function. The effect this has on the distribution size and speed of your application has to be seen to be believed.

Note: In addition to the DLLs mentioned above certain other DLLS also find place in an API Programmers notebook. These are used to provide certain special functions like Encryption, Security related features etc. We will discuss some of them in later articles of this series.

Comments

  1. amiteshwar singh
    31 May 2007 at 18:41
    plz help me 4r api.gv some books on apiSad [:(]
  2. Praseeda
    09 Mar 2007 at 00:50
    The article is really valuble.It will give good exposure to Windows API
  3. hackaback
    19 Sep 2005 at 13:01

    hey ther, can anyone gve me an idea how to retrive the system's information in vb so that i could create a system dedicated application. or any other method

  4. Barry Whyte
    12 Mar 2003 at 19:38

    Look in the registry:


    For WinNT/2K (I assume this works on XP too...) 


    HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current Version\RegisteredOrganization



    You'll need to find a way to read this key as VB can't do it on it's own.  You can use API Routines Reg*.  Check msdn (http://msdn.microsoft.com/library) for more details.

  5. RT
    28 Nov 2002 at 09:36

    Hey
    just wondering if anyone has an advice for a problem tha i'm trying to solve:


    I need to make an API call from VBA within Excel to get information about the compnany that the machine is registered to.  I was wondering if anyones knows the DLL file it's in or any other way of getting this informmation into Excel


    Really appreciate anyone's input.


    Thanks RT

  6. fanen
    13 Jul 2002 at 09:04

    this looks quite promising, at least if he keeps goin' and wud be nice if he exposes some calls... for guys who want to expand their "Database"

  7. Developer Fusion Bot
    01 Jan 1999 at 00:00

    This thread is for discussions of API Programming Series #1.

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