How to Read a Large File into Memory by Calling API Functions

• Microsoft Visual Basic Professional Edition for Windows, versions 2.0, 3.0
• Microsoft Windows, version 3.1 or higher

SUMMARY

This article demonstrates how to call Windows API functions to read a file of any size (including a huge file such as a bitmap) into memory and how to write a block of memory (including a huge memory block) out to a file.

The information in this article applies only to Windows version 3.1 or higher because it uses Windows API functions introduced in Windows version 3.1.

MORE INFORMATION

Perform the following steps to create a sample program that demonstrates how to read a large file into memory and write that memory back out to a file:

1. Start Visual Basic or from the File menu, choose New Project (ALT, F, N) if Visual Basic is already running. Form1 is created by default.



2. From the File menu, choose New Module (ALT, F, M). Module1 is created.



3. Add the following code to the general-declarations section of Module1:

   
      ' OpenFile() Structure
      Type OFSTRUCT
         cBytes As String * 1
         fFixedDisk As String * 1
         nErrCode As Integer
         reserved As String * 4
         szPathName As String * 128
      End Type
   
      ' OpenFile() Flags
      Global Const OF_READ = &H0
      Global Const OF_WRITE = &H1
      Global Const OF_READWRITE = &H2
      Global Const OF_SHARE_COMPAT = &H0
      Global Const OF_SHARE_EXCLUSIVE = &H10
      Global Const OF_SHARE_DENY_WRITE = &H20
      Global Const OF_SHARE_DENY_READ = &H30
      Global Const OF_SHARE_DENY_NONE = &H40
      Global Const OF_PARSE = &H100
      Global Const OF_DELETE = &H200
      Global Const OF_VERIFY = &H400
      Global Const OF_CANCEL = &H800
      Global Const OF_CREATE = &H1000
      Global Const OF_PROMPT = &H2000
      Global Const OF_EXIST = &H4000
      Global Const OF_REOPEN = &H8000
   
      ' Enter each of the following Declare statements on one, single line:
      Declare Function OpenFile Lib "Kernel" (ByVal lpFilename As
         String, lpReOpenBuff As OFSTRUCT, ByVal wStyle As Integer) As Integer
      Declare Function hRead Lib "kernel" Alias "_hread" (ByVal hFile As
         Integer, lpMem As Any, ByVal lSize As Long) As Long
      Declare Function hWrite Lib "Kernel" Alias "_hwrite" (ByVal hFile
         As Integer, lpMem As Any, ByVal lSize As Long) As Long
      Declare Function lClose Lib "kernel" Alias "_lclose" (ByVal hFile
         As Integer) As Integer
   
      ' Global Memory Flags
      Global Const GMEM_FIXED = &H0
      Global Const GMEM_MOVEABLE = &H2
      Global Const GMEM_NOCOMPACT = &H10
      Global Const GMEM_NODISCARD = &H20
      Global Const GMEM_ZEROINIT = &H40
      Global Const GMEM_MODIFY = &H80
      Global Const GMEM_DISCARDABLE = &H100
      Global Const GMEM_NOT_BANKED = &H1000
      Global Const GMEM_SHARE = &H2000
      Global Const GMEM_DDESHARE = &H2000
      Global Const GMEM_NOTIFY = &H4000
      Global Const GMEM_LOWER = GMEM_NOT_BANKED
   
      Global Const GHND = (GMEM_MOVEABLE Or GMEM_ZEROINIT)
      Global Const GPTR = (GMEM_FIXED Or GMEM_ZEROINIT)
   
      ' Enter each of the following Declare statements on one, single line:
      Declare Function GlobalAlloc Lib "Kernel" (ByVal wFlags As
          Integer, ByVal dwBytes As Long) As Integer
      Declare Function GlobalLock Lib "Kernel" (ByVal hMem As Integer)
          As Long
      Declare Function GlobalUnlock Lib "Kernel" (ByVal hMem As Integer)
          As Integer
      Declare Function GlobalFree Lib "Kernel" (ByVal hMem As Integer)
          As Integer
    




4. Add the following code to the Form_Load event procedure of Form1:

   
      Sub Form_Load ()
   
         Dim InpFile As String
         Dim OutFile As String
         Dim hFile As Integer
         Dim fileStruct As OFSTRUCT
         Dim FSize As Long
         Dim BytesRead As Long
         Dim BytesWritten As Long
         Dim hMem As Integer
         Dim lpMem As Long
         Dim r As Integer
   
         Me.Show
   
         'Insert the name of a bitmap or file that is greater than 64K.
         '256COLOR.BMP is less than 5K in size, however, the routine
         'below still demonstrates how to read and write a file of any
         'size
         InpFile = "C:\WINDOWS\256COLOR.BMP"
         OutFile = "C:\WINDOWS\TEST.BMP"
   
         'Get the size of the file to be read
         FSize = FileLen(InpFile)
   
         If FSize > 0 Then
   
            'Allocate a block of memory equal to the size of the input file.
            hMem = GlobalAlloc(GPTR, FSize)
   
            If hMem <> 0 Then
               lpMem = GlobalLock(hMem)
   
               'Read the file into memory
               hFile = OpenFile(InpFile, fileStruct, OF_READ Or
                                OF_SHARE_DENY_NONE)
               BytesRead = hRead(hFile, ByVal lpMem, FSize)
   
               MsgBox Format(BytesRead) & " bytes read into memory"
   
               r = lClose(hFile)
   
               'Write the file back to disk to verify the file was
               'read correctly
               hFile = OpenFile(OutFile, fileStruct, OF_CREATE Or
                                OF_WRITE Or OF_SHARE_DENY_NONE)
               BytesWritten = hWrite(hFile, ByVal lpMem, FSize)
   
               MsgBox Format(BytesWritten) & " bytes written to output file"
   
               r = lClose(hFile)
   
               'Free resources
               r = GlobalUnlock(hMem)
               r = GlobalFree(hMem)
            Else
                MsgBox "Not enough memory to store file"
            End If
         Else
            MsgBox "Input file is zero bytes in length"
         End If
         End
      End Sub 




5. From the Run menu, choose Start (ALT, R, S) or press F5 to run the program. Form1 will be displayed and the program will end.



6. Use PaintBrush or some other bitmap editor to open C:\WINDOWS\TEST.BMP to verify that it is the same bitmap as C:\WINDOWS\256COLOR.BMP.

Additional query words: 2.00 3.00

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