ACC: How to Retrieve Workgroup Information Under Win32

ID: Q148835


The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Access versions 7.0, 97

Advanced: Requires expert coding, interoperability, and multiuser skills.


SUMMARY

In Microsoft Windows NT or Microsoft Windows 95 or later, you can use the Win32 application programming interface (API) to retrieve network information, such as the user name, workgroup, domain, and computer name, about the currently running computer.

This article assumes that you are familiar with Visual Basic for Applications and with creating Microsoft Access applications using the programming tools provided with Microsoft Access. For more information about Visual Basic for Applications, please refer to your version of the "Building Applications with Microsoft Access" manual.


MORE INFORMATION

NetWkstaGetInfo(), a Windows API, takes advantage of the Windows NT security model and returns the computer, workgroup, and domain. Windows 95 and later, however, can get the current user name with the network independent function call WNetGetUser and can get the current computer name with the function GetComputerName(). The following code samples demonstrate the use of all three.

The following example shows you how to use Visual Basic and the Win32 API to retrieve network information:

  1. Create a module and type the following lines in the Declarations section.

    NOTE: You may have some Microsoft Windows API functions defined in an existing Microsoft Access library; therefore, your declarations may be duplicates. If you receive a duplicate procedure name error message, remove or comment out the declarations statement in your code.

    NOTE: All Declare statements must be typed exactly as shown, including capitalization, because Win32 names are case-sensitive. To help eliminate errors by you or others who use your Declare statements, create Alias clauses for Declare statements that do not have an existing Alias. As long as the Alias is correctly spelled and capitalized, it does not matter how the function name is capitalized.

    NOTE: Make sure to click the Compile All command on the Run menu to verify that you do not receive any compilation errors.


  2. 
          Option Explicit
          Type WKSTA_INFO_101
             wki101_platform_id As Long
             wki101_computername As Long
             wki101_langroup As Long
             wki101_ver_major As Long
             wki101_ver_minor As Long
             wki101_lanroot As Long
          End Type
    
          Type WKSTA_USER_INFO_1
             wkui1_username As Long
             wkui1_logon_domain As Long
             wkui1_logon_server As Long
             wkui1_oth_domains As Long
          End Type
    
          Declare Function WNetGetUser& Lib "Mpr" Alias "WNetGetUserA" _
             (lpName As Any, ByVal lpUserName$, lpnLength&)
          Declare Function NetWkstaGetInfo& Lib "Netapi32" _
             (strServer As Any, ByVal lLevel&, pbBuffer As Any)
          Declare Function NetWkstaUserGetInfo& Lib "Netapi32" _
             (reserved As Any, ByVal lLevel&, pbBuffer As Any)
          Declare Sub lstrcpyW Lib "Kernel32" (dest As Any, ByVal src As Any)
          Declare Sub lstrcpy Lib "Kernel32" (dest As Any, ByVal src As Any)
          Declare Sub RtlMoveMemory Lib "Kernel32" _
             (dest As Any, src As Any, ByVal size&)
          Declare Function NetApiBufferFree& Lib "Netapi32" (ByVal buffer&) 
  3. Type the following procedure:


  4. 
          Function GetWorkstationInfo()
             Dim ret As Long, buffer(512) As Byte, i As Integer
             Dim wk101 As WKSTA_INFO_101, pwk101 As Long
             Dim wk1 As WKSTA_USER_INFO_1, pwk1 As Long
             Dim cbusername As Long, username As String
             Dim computername As String, langroup As String, logondomain As _
                String
    
             ' Clear all of the display values.
             computername = "": langroup = "": username = "": logondomain = ""
    
             ' Windows 95 or NT - call WNetGetUser to get the name of the user.
             username = Space(256)
             cbusername = Len(username)
             ret = WNetGetUser(ByVal 0&, username, cbusername)
             If ret = 0 Then
                ' Success - strip off the null.
                username = Left(username, InStr(username, Chr(0)) - 1)
             Else
                username = ""
             End If
    
          '================================================================
          ' The following section works only under Windows NT
          '================================================================
    
             'NT only - call NetWkstaGetInfo to get computer name and lan group
             ret = NetWkstaGetInfo(ByVal 0&, 101, pwk101)
             RtlMoveMemory wk101, ByVal pwk101, Len(wk101)
             lstrcpyW buffer(0), wk101.wki101_computername
             ' Get every other byte from Unicode string.
             i = 0
             Do While buffer(i) <> 0
                computername = computername & Chr(buffer(i))
                i = i + 2
             Loop
             lstrcpyW buffer(0), wk101.wki101_langroup
             i = 0
             Do While buffer(i) <> 0
                langroup = langroup & Chr(buffer(i))
                i = i + 2
             Loop
             ret = NetApiBufferFree(pwk101)
    
             ' NT only - call NetWkstaUserGetInfo.
             ret = NetWkstaUserGetInfo(ByVal 0&, 1, pwk1)
             RtlMoveMemory wk1, ByVal pwk1, Len(wk1)
             lstrcpyW buffer(0), wk1.wkui1_logon_domain
             i = 0
             Do While buffer(i) <> 0
                logondomain = logondomain & Chr(buffer(i))
                i = i + 2
             Loop
             ret = NetApiBufferFree(pwk1)
    
          '================================================================
          'End NT-specific section
          '================================================================
    
             debug.print computername, langroup, username, logondomain
          End Function 
  5. To test this function, type the following line in the Debug window, and then press ENTER:
    GetWorkstationInfo
    Note that your data is printed in the Debug window.


The following example shows how to use Visual Basic and the Win32 API to retrieve the current computer name under Windows 95 and later:

  1. Create a module and type the following lines in the Declarations section:


  2. 
           Option Explicit
    
           Private Declare Function GetComputerName _
           Lib "kernel32" Alias "GetComputerNameA" ( _
           ByVal lpBuffer As String, nSize As Long) As Long
    
           Private Const MAX_COMPUTERNAME_LENGTH As Long = 15& 
  3. Type the following procedure:


  4. 
           Public Function CurrentMachineName() As String
           Dim lSize As Long
           Dim sBuffer As String
           sBuffer = Space$(MAX_COMPUTERNAME_LENGTH + 1)
           lSize = Len(sBuffer)
    
              If GetComputerName(sBuffer, lSize) Then
                  CurrentMachineName = Left$(sBuffer, lSize)
              End If
    
           End Function 
  5. To test this function, type the following line in the Debug window, and then press ENTER:
    ?CurrentMachineName()
    Note that your data is printed to the Debug window.



REFERENCES

For an example of this article in Microsoft Access version 2.0, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q101676 ACC: How to Retrieve Windows for Workgroups User Information
Microsoft Win32 SDK, "Reference"

Additional query words: machine

Keywords : kbnetwork kbprg kbAPI kbSDKPlatform kbNetAPI kbGrpNet
Version : WINDOWS:7.0,97
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbhowto


Last Reviewed: September 20, 1999
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