Q147886: HOWTO: How VB Can Get Windows Status Information via API Calls
Article: Q147886
Product(s): Microsoft Visual Basic for Windows
Version(s): 4.0,5.0,6.0
Operating System(s):
Keyword(s): kbAPI kbSDKWin32 kbVBp kbVBp400 kbVBp500 kbVBp600 kbGrpDSVB kbDSupport
Last Modified: 18-FEB-2002
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The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Visual Basic Learning Edition for Windows, versions 5.0, 6.0
- Microsoft Visual Basic Professional Edition for Windows, versions 5.0, 6.0
- Microsoft Visual Basic Enterprise Edition for Windows, versions 5.0, 6.0
- Microsoft Visual Basic Standard Edition, 32-bit, for Windows, version 4.0
- Microsoft Visual Basic Professional Edition, 16-bit, for Windows, version 4.0
- Microsoft Visual Basic Professional Edition, 32-bit, for Windows, version 4.0
- Microsoft Visual Basic Enterprise Edition, 16-bit, for Windows, version 4.0
- Microsoft Visual Basic Enterprise Edition, 32-bit, for Windows, version 4.0
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SUMMARY
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The Visual Basic for Windows sample program below demonstrates how you can
obtain system status information similar to the information displayed in the
Windows Program Manager About box. The sample program displays the following
information using the Windows API functions indicated:
- The Windows version number with the GetVersion function.
- The CPU processor type.
- Whether Windows is running in enhanced mode or standard mode on a 16-bit
operating system. This does not apply to Microsoft Windows 95 or Microsoft
Windows NT.
- The amount of free memory.
- The percentage of free system resources with SystemHeapInfo on a 16-bit
operating system. This does not apply to Microsoft Windows 95 or Microsoft
Windows NT.
NOTE: The SystemHeapInfo API function is new to Microsoft Windows version
3.1 and is not available in Microsoft Windows, version 3.0. All other
API functions listed above are available in both Windows versions 3.0
or 3.1.
MORE INFORMATION
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Steps to Create Example Program
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1. Start a new project in Visual Basic. Form1 is created by default.
2. Add a module to the project.
3. Add the following code to the General Declarations section of Module1:
#If Win32 Then
Type SYSTEM_INFO
dwOemID As Long
dwPageSize As Long
lpMinimumApplicationAddress As Long
lpMaximumApplicationAddress As Long
dwActiveProcessorMask As Long
dwNumberOrfProcessors As Long
dwProcessorType As Long
dwAllocationGranularity As Long
dwReserved As Long
End Type
Type OSVERSIONINFO
dwOSVersionInfoSize As Long
dwMajorVersion As Long
dwMinorVersion As Long
dwBuildNumber As Long
dwPlatformId As Long
szCSDVersion As String * 128
End Type
Type MEMORYSTATUS
dwLength As Long
dwMemoryLoad As Long
dwTotalPhys As Long
dwAvailPhys As Long
dwTotalPageFile As Long
dwAvailPageFile As Long
dwTotalVirtual As Long
dwAvailVirtual As Long
End Type
Declare Function GetVersionEx Lib "kernel32" Alias "GetVersionExA" _
(LpVersionInformation As OSVERSIONINFO) As Long
Declare Sub GlobalMemoryStatus Lib "kernel32" (lpBuffer As _
MEMORYSTATUS)
Declare Sub GetSystemInfo Lib "kernel32" (lpSystemInfo As _
SYSTEM_INFO)
Public Const PROCESSOR_INTEL_386 = 386
Public Const PROCESSOR_INTEL_486 = 486
Public Const PROCESSOR_INTEL_PENTIUM = 586
Public Const PROCESSOR_MIPS_R4000 = 4000
Public Const PROCESSOR_ALPHA_21064 = 21064
#Else
' Constants for GetWinFlags.
Global Const WF_CPU286 = &H2
Global Const WF_CPU386 = &H4
Global Const WF_CPU486 = &H8
Global Const WF_80x87 = &H400
Global Const WF_STANDARD = &H10
Global Const WF_ENHANCED = &H20
Global Const WF_WINNT = &H4000
' Type for SystemHeapInfo.
Type SYSHEAPINFO
dwSize As Long
wUserFreePercent As Integer
wGDIFreePercent As Integer
hUserSegment As Integer
hGDISegment As Integer
End Type
Declare Function GetVersion Lib "kernel" () As Long
Declare Function GetWinFlags Lib "kernel" () As Long
'Enter each of the following Declare statements as one, single line:
Declare Function GetFreeSpace Lib "kernel" (ByVal wFlags As Integer)_
As Long
Declare Function GlobalCompact Lib "kernel" _
(ByVal dwMinFree As Long) As Long
Declare Function SystemHeapInfo Lib "toolhelp.dll" _
(shi As SYSHEAPINFO) As Integer
#End If
4. Enter the following code into the Form_Load procedure of Form1:
Private Sub Form_Load()
Dim msg As String ' Status information.
Dim nl As String ' New-line.
nl = Chr$(13) + Chr$(10) ' New-line.
Show
MousePointer = 11 ' Hourglass.
#If Win32 Then
' Get operating system and version.
Dim verinfo As OSVERSIONINFO
verinfo.dwOSVersionInfoSize = Len(verinfo)
ret% = GetVersionEx(verinfo)
If ret% = 0 Then
MsgBox "Error Getting Version Information"
End
End If
Select Case verinfo.dwPlatformId
Case 0
msg = msg + "Windows 32s "
Case 1
msg = msg + "Windows 95 "
Case 2
msg = msg + "Windows NT "
End Select
ver_major$ = verinfo.dwMajorVersion
ver_minor$ = verinfo.dwMinorVersion
build$ = verinfo.dwBuildNumber
msg = msg + ver_major$ + "." + ver_minor$
msg = msg + " (Build " + build$ + ")" + nl + nl
' Get CPU type and operating mode.
Dim sysinfo As SYSTEM_INFO
GetSystemInfo sysinfo
msg = msg + "CPU: "
Select Case sysinfo.dwProcessorType
Case PROCESSOR_INTEL_386
msg = msg + "Intel 386" + nl
Case PROCESSOR_INTEL_486
msg = msg + "Intel 486" + nl
Case PROCESSOR_INTEL_PENTIUM
msg = msg + "Intel Pentium" + nl
Case PROCESSOR_MIPS_R4000
msg = msg + "MIPS R4000" + nl
Case PROCESSOR_ALPHA_21064
msg = msg + "DEC Alpha 21064" + nl
Case Else
msg = msg + "(unknown)" + nl
End Select
msg = msg + nl
' Get free memory.
Dim memsts As MEMORYSTATUS
Dim memory&
GlobalMemoryStatus memsts
memory& = memsts.dwTotalPhys
msg = msg + "Total Physical Memory: "
msg = msg + Format$(memory& \ 1024, "###,###,###") + "K" + nl
memory& = memsts.dwAvailPhys
msg = msg + "Available Physical Memory: "
msg = msg + Format$(memory& \ 1024, "###,###,###") + "K" + nl
memory& = memsts.dwTotalVirtual
msg = msg + "Total Virtual Memory: "
msg = msg + Format$(memory& \ 1024, "###,###,###") + "K" + nl
memory& = memsts.dwAvailVirtual
msg = msg + "Available Virtual Memory: "
msg = msg + Format$(memory& \ 1024, "###,###,###") + "K" + nl _
+ nl
' Get free system resources.
' Not applicable to 32-bit operating system (Windows NT).
#Else
' Get operating system and version.
ver& = GetVersion()
status& = GetWinFlags()
If status& And WF_WINNT Then
msg = msg + "Microsoft Windows NT "
Else
msg = msg + "Microsoft Windows "
End If
ver_major$ = Format$(ver& And &HFF)
ver_minor$ = Format$((ver& And &HFF00) \ &H100, "00")
msg = msg + ver_major$ + "." + ver_minor$ + nl
' Get CPU type and operating mode.
msg = msg + "CPU: "
If status& And WF_CPU286 Then msg = msg + "80286"
If status& And WF_CPU386 Then msg = msg + "80386"
If status& And WF_CPU486 Then msg = msg + "80486"
If status& And WF_80x87 Then msg = msg + " with 80x87"
msg = msg + nl
msg = msg + "Mode: "
If status& And WF_STANDARD Then msg = msg + "Standard" + nl
If status& And WF_ENHANCED Then msg = msg + "Enhanced" + nl
' Get free memory.
memory& = GetFreeSpace(0)
msg = msg + "Memory free: "
msg = msg + Format$(memory& \ 1024, "###,###,###") + "K" + nl
memory& = GlobalCompact(&HFFFFFFFF)
msg = msg + "Largest free block: "
msg = msg + Format$(memory& \ 1024, "###,###,###") + "K" + nl
' Get free system resources.
' The SystemHeapInfo API function became available in Windows
' version 3.1.
msg = msg + "System resources: "
If ver& >= &H310 Then
Dim shi As SYSHEAPINFO
shi.dwSize = Len(shi)
If SystemHeapInfo(shi) Then
If shi.wUserFreePercent < shi.wGDIFreePercent Then
msg = msg + Format$(shi.wUserFreePercent) + "%"
Else
msg = msg + Format$(shi.wGDIFreePercent) + "%"
End If
End If
Else
msg = msg + "n/a"
End If
#End If
MsgBox msg, 0, "About " + Caption
MousePointer = 0
End Sub
5. Press the F5 key to run the program.
Additional query words:
======================================================================
Keywords : kbAPI kbSDKWin32 kbVBp kbVBp400 kbVBp500 kbVBp600 kbGrpDSVB kbDSupport
Technology : kbVBSearch kbAudDeveloper kbZNotKeyword6 kbZNotKeyword2 kbVB500Search kbVB600Search kbVB500 kbVB600 kbVB400Search kbVB400 kbVB16bitSearch
Version : :4.0,5.0,6.0
Issue type : kbhowto
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