Win32 - Interfaces to some Win32 API Functions


DESCRIPTION

       Perl on Win32 contains several functions to access Win32
       APIs. Some are included in Perl itself (on Win32) and some
       are only available after explicitly requesting the Win32
       module with:

               use Win32;

       The builtin functions are marked as [CORE] and the other
       ones as [EXT] in the following alphabetical listing. The
       `Win32' module is not part of the Perl source distribu­
       tion; it is distributed in the libwin32 bundle of Win32::*
       modules on CPAN. The module is already preinstalled in
       binary distributions like ActivePerl.

       Alphabetical Listing of Win32 Functions

       Win32::AbortSystemShutdown(MACHINE)
           [EXT] Aborts a system shutdown (started by the Initi­
           ateSystemShutdown function) on the specified MACHINE.

       Win32::BuildNumber()
           [CORE] Returns the ActivePerl build number. This func­
           tion is only available in the ActivePerl binary dis­
           tribution.

       Win32::CopyFile(FROM, TO, OVERWRITE)
           [CORE] The Win32::CopyFile() function copies an exist­
           ing file to a new file. All file information like cre­
           ation time and file attributes will be copied to the
           new file. However it will not copy the security infor­
           mation. If the destination file already exists it will
           only be overwritten when the OVERWRITE parameter is
           true. But even this will not overwrite a read-only
           file; you have to unlink() it first yourself.

       Win32::DomainName()
           [CORE] Returns the name of the Microsoft Network
           domain that the owner of the current perl process is
           logged into.

       Win32::ExpandEnvironmentStrings(STRING)
           [EXT] Takes STRING and replaces all referenced envi­
           ronment variable names with their defined values. Ref­
           erences to environment variables take the form `%Vari­
           ableName%'. Case is ignored when looking up the Vari­
           ableName in the environment. If the variable is not
           found then the original `%VariableName%' text is
           retained.  Has the same effect as the following:


       Win32::FormatMessage(ERRORCODE)
           [CORE] Converts the supplied Win32 error number (e.g.
           returned by Win32::GetLastError()) to a descriptive
           string.  Analogous to the perror() standard-C library
           function.  Note that `$^E' used in a string context
           has much the same effect.

                   C:\> perl -e "$^E = 26; print $^E;"
                   The specified disk or diskette cannot be accessed

       Win32::FsType()
           [CORE] Returns the name of the filesystem of the cur­
           rently active drive (like 'FAT' or 'NTFS'). In list
           context it returns three values: (FSTYPE, FLAGS, MAX­
           COMPLEN). FSTYPE is the filesystem type as before.
           FLAGS is a combination of values of the following
           table:

                   0x00000001  supports case-sensitive filenames
                   0x00000002  preserves the case of filenames
                   0x00000004  supports Unicode in filenames
                   0x00000008  preserves and enforces ACLs
                   0x00000010  supports file-based compression
                   0x00000020  supports disk quotas
                   0x00000040  supports sparse files
                   0x00000080  supports reparse points
                   0x00000100  supports remote storage
                   0x00008000  is a compressed volume (e.g. DoubleSpace)
                   0x00010000  supports object identifiers
                   0x00020000  supports the Encrypted File System (EFS)

           MAXCOMPLEN is the maximum length of a filename compo­
           nent (the part between two backslashes) on this file
           system.

       Win32::FreeLibrary(HANDLE)
           [EXT] Unloads a previously loaded dynamic-link
           library. The HANDLE is no longer valid after this
           call. See LoadLibrary for information on dynamically
           loading a library.

       Win32::GetArchName()
           [EXT] Use of this function is deprecated. It is equiv­
           alent with $ENV{PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE}. This might
           not work on Win9X.

       Win32::GetChipName()
           [EXT] Returns the processor type: 386, 486 or 586 for
           Intel processors, 21064 for the Alpha chip.

           [CORE] Returns the current active drive and directory.
           This function does not return a UNC path, since the
           functionality required for such a feature is not
           available under Windows 95.

       Win32::GetFullPathName(FILENAME)
           [CORE] GetFullPathName combines the FILENAME with the
           current drive and directory name and returns a fully
           qualified (aka, absolute) path name. In list context
           it returns two elements: (PATH, FILE) where PATH is
           the complete pathname component (including trailing
           backslash) and FILE is just the filename part.  Note
           that no attempt is made to convert 8.3 components in
           the supplied FILENAME to longnames or vice-versa.
           Compare with Win32::GetShortPathName and Win32::Get­
           LongPathName.

           This function has been added for Perl 5.6.

       Win32::GetLastError()
           [CORE] Returns the last error value generated by a
           call to a Win32 API function.  Note that `$^E' used in
           a numeric context amounts to the same value.

       Win32::GetLongPathName(PATHNAME)
           [CORE] Returns a representaion of PATHNAME composed of
           longname components (if any).  The result may not nec­
           essarily be longer than PATHNAME.  No attempt is made
           to convert PATHNAME to the absolute path.  Compare
           with Win32::GetShortPathName and Win32::GetFullPath­
           Name.

           This function has been added for Perl 5.6.

       Win32::GetNextAvailDrive()
           [CORE] Returns a string in the form of "<d>:" where
           <d> is the first available drive letter.

       Win32::GetOSVersion()
           [CORE] Returns the array (STRING, MAJOR, MINOR, BUILD,
           ID), where the elements are, respectively: An arbi­
           trary descriptive string, the major version number of
           the operating system, the minor version number, the
           build number, and a digit indicating the actual oper­
           ating system. For ID, the values are 0 for Win32s, 1
           for Windows 9X and 2 for Windows NT. In scalar context
           it returns just the ID.

       Win32::GetShortPathName(PATHNAME)
           [CORE] Returns a representation of PATHNAME composed
           only of short (8.3) path components.  The result may
           not necessarily be shorter than PATHNAME.  Compare
           with Win32::GetFullPathName and


       Win32::GetProcAddress(INSTANCE, PROCNAME)
           [EXT] Returns the address of a function inside a
           loaded library. The information about what you can do
           with this address has been lost in the mist of time.
           Use the Win32::API module instead of this deprecated
           function.

       Win32::GetTickCount()
           [CORE] Returns the number of milliseconds elapsed
           since the last system boot. Resolution is limited to
           system timer ticks (about 10ms on WinNT and 55ms on
           Win9X).

       Win32::InitiateSystemShutdown(MACHINE, MESSAGE, TIMEOUT,
           FORCE­ CLOSE, REBOOT)
           [EXT] Shutsdown the specified MACHINE, notifying users
           with the supplied MESSAGE, within the specified TIME­
           OUT interval. Forces closing of all documents without
           prompting the user if FORCECLOSE is true, and reboots
           the machine if REBOOT is true. This function works
           only on WinNT.

       Win32::IsWinNT()
           [CORE] Returns non zero if the Win32 subsystem is Win­
           dows NT.

       Win32::IsWin95()
           [CORE] Returns non zero if the Win32 subsystem is Win­
           dows 95.

       Win32::LoadLibrary(LIBNAME)
           [EXT] Loads a dynamic link library into memory and
           returns its module handle. This handle can be used
           with Win32::GetProcAddress and Win32::FreeLibrary.
           This function is deprecated. Use the Win32::API module
           instead.

       Win32::LoginName()
           [CORE] Returns the username of the owner of the cur­
           rent perl process.

       Win32::LookupAccountName(SYSTEM, ACCOUNT, DOMAIN, SID,
           SIDTYPE)
           [EXT] Looks up ACCOUNT on SYSTEM and returns the
           domain name the SID and the SID type.

       Win32::LookupAccountSID(SYSTEM, SID, ACCOUNT, DOMAIN, SID­
           TYPE)
           [EXT] Looks up SID on SYSTEM and returns the account
           name, domain name, and the SID type.

           [EXT] Create a dialogbox containing MESSAGE. FLAGS
           specifies the required icon and buttons according to
           the following table:

                   0 = OK
                   1 = OK and Cancel
                   2 = Abort, Retry, and Ignore
                   3 = Yes, No and Cancel
                   4 = Yes and No
                   5 = Retry and Cancel

                   MB_ICONSTOP          "X" in a red circle
                   MB_ICONQUESTION      question mark in a bubble
                   MB_ICONEXCLAMATION   exclamation mark in a yellow triangle
                   MB_ICONINFORMATION   "i" in a bubble

           TITLE specifies an optional window title. The default
           is "Perl".

           The function returns the menu id of the selected push
           button:

                   0  Error

                   1  OK
                   2  Cancel
                   3  Abort
                   4  Retry
                   5  Ignore
                   6  Yes
                   7  No

       Win32::NodeName()
           [CORE] Returns the Microsoft Network node-name of the
           current machine.

       Win32::RegisterServer(LIBRARYNAME)
           [EXT] Loads the DLL LIBRARYNAME and calls the function
           DllRegisterServer.

       Win32::SetCwd(NEWDIRECTORY)
           [CORE] Sets the current active drive and directory.
           This function does not work with UNC paths, since the
           functionality required to required for such a feature
           is not available under Windows 95.

       Win32::SetLastError(ERROR)
           [CORE] Sets the value of the last error encountered to
           ERROR. This is that value that will be returned by the
           Win32::GetLastError() function. This functions has
           been added for Perl 5.6.

           [CORE] Pauses for TIME milliseconds. The timeslices
           are made available to other processes and threads.

       Win32::Spawn(COMMAND, ARGS, PID)
           [CORE] Spawns a new process using the supplied COM­
           MAND, passing in arguments in the string ARGS. The pid
           of the new process is stored in PID. This function is
           deprecated. Please use the Win32::Process module
           instead.

       Win32::UnregisterServer(LIBRARYNAME)
           [EXT] Loads the DLL LIBRARYNAME and calls the function
           DllUnregisterServer.


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