Changing the ini file from Excel VBA

[donwiss]

I use Excel VBA to call IrfanView in the command line mode. Some settings can be passed in the argument, and others have to be changed in the ini file. And a few, like Save as Progressive JPG, default to off and cannot be turned on at all. Please fix this Irfan.

To make changes in the ini file, I wrote of bunch of functions, which I'd like to share here. (There were indents.)

Option Explicit
' Excel 2002 doesn't recognize %APPDATA%, so user must be hardcoded here
Public Const PathToIrfanIni = "C:\Users\donwi\AppData\Roaming\IrfanView\i_vi ew64 .ini"

Private Sub ChangeIrfanSettings(WantedSettings As String)
' can change multiple, deliminate with ";"
' settings are found in %APPDATA%\IrfanView\i_view64.ini (open Notepad, Ctrl-O, and paste that in with Ctrl-V)
' arg examples: "SaveOption=0;SaveQuality=75" and

Dim j As Integer
Dim ini As String, Oldini As String, OldSetting As String, setting As String, tail As String
Dim val As String, WantedSetting As String

ini = ReadInUnicode(PathToIrfanIni, True)
Oldini = ini
WantedSettings = WantedSettings & ";"

LoopTop:
' pick off this loop's setting
j = InStr(WantedSettings, ";")
WantedSetting = Left(WantedSettings, j - 1)
WantedSettings = DropStr(WantedSettings, j)
' we test, and skip if wanted setting is already set
If 0 = InStr(ini, WantedSetting) Then
j = InStr(WantedSetting, "=")
setting = Left(WantedSetting, j - 1)
val = DropStr(WantedSetting, j)
j = InStr(ini, setting)
' after = sign
tail = DropStr(ini, j + Len(setting))
' remove old value
tail = DropStr(tail, InStr(tail, vbCr) - 1)
' rebuild
ini = Left(ini, j - 1) & setting & "=" & val & tail
End If
If Len(WantedSettings) > 0 Then GoTo LoopTop:

If Oldini <> ini Then SaveFile PathToIrfanIni, ini

End Sub

Function ReadInUnicode(FileName As String, Optional RemIrfanMsg As Boolean) As String
Dim NewStr As String
Dim i As Long
Dim res As Variant

res = ReadByteArrFromFile(FileName)

If (res(0) = 255 And res(1) = 254) Or (res(0) = 254 And res(1) = 255) Then
For i = 2 To UBound(res)
If res(i) <> 0 Then
NewStr = NewStr & Chr(res(i))
End If
Next i
' for IrfanView we need to remove from beginning
If RemIrfanMsg Then
NewStr = DropStr(NewStr, InStr(NewStr, "[Lan") - 1)
End If
Else
For i = 0 To UBound(res)
NewStr = NewStr & Chr(res(i))
Next i
End If

ReadInUnicode = NewStr

End Function


Function ReadByteArrFromFile(FilePath) As Byte()
' needed to read in Unicode, which isn't character text
' From: https://www.codestack.net/visual-bas...d-binary-file/
Dim buff() As Byte
Dim fileNum As Integer
fileNum = FreeFile
Open FilePath For Binary Access Read As fileNum
ReDim buff(0 To LOF(fileNum) - 1)
Get fileNum, , buff
Close fileNum
ReadByteArrFromFile = buff
End Function

Sub SaveFile(ByVal PathName As String, D As Variant)
If FileExists(PathName) Then Kill PathName
Open PathName For Output As Home
' VBA likes to add a CRLF at the end. So we remove ours.
' -> be careful. be sure you have one to remove
If Len(D) > 2 Then
D = DropStr(D, -2)
End If
Print #1, D
Close Home
End Sub

Function DropStr(ByVal S As String, ByVal n As Long) As String
' if n is negative drops from end
If n = 0 Then
DropStr = S
ElseIf n < 0 Then
DropStr = Left(S, Len(S) + n)
Else
DropStr = Right(S, Len(S) - n)
End If
End Function

Function FileExists(ByVal FilePath As String) As Boolean
' Checks if a file or path exists (using the Dir function). does not distinguish between them
On Error Resume Next
If Len(FilePath) > 0 Then
If Not Dir(FilePath, vbDirectory) = vbNullString Then FileExists = True
End If
On Error GoTo 0
End Function

[IrfanUserGuyxyx]

I believe "Save as Progressive JPG" is available as:

[JPEG]
Save Quality=80
Save Progressive=1 <-
Save Grayscale=0

in AppData\Roaming\IrfanView\i_view64.ini

[IrfanUserGuyxyx]

By the way, I use this to edit the ini file for IrfanView, much the way you describe:

https://www.horstmuc.de/wbat32.htm#inifile

[donwiss]

Yes, Save Progressive is in the ini file, but when running under the command prompt, it is ignored, and there is no way to get Progressive under batch. Irfan knows this.
Does Schaeffer's handle Unicode cleanly? I use VBA, as all my processing is in VBA, and this is easily used there.

[IrfanUserGuyxyx]

I tested it on my machine, Win 10 Home 22H2 with IrfanView 64 4.66, and the Save Progressive is honored on my machine. I use a copy of he original ini file (so I don't have to worry about changing it when I run IV interactive) and the following batch command:

i_view64.exe %%~nx1 /ini="C:\Programs_OS\command\irfanview" /advancedbatch /convert=%%~n1_dark%%~x1

where the /convert creates a file with _dark appended to the name. The /ini option specified the directory that the ini file is in.

Schaeffer's has modified my ini many times with no problems. I suggest:

inifile C:\Programs_OS\command\irfanview\i_view64.ini [jpeg] Save Progressive=1

to save jpeg progressive from command line batch. I hope this helps. I noticed in the inifile program help that "set Save Progressive=1" adds an item to the inifile which is not what you want. This is from "sends SET statement(s) to STDOUT". The "set " is not needed and should not be used.

[donwiss]

My ini file change routine works flawlessly.
The Save Progressive is honored if you are creating the file. But not if you simply want to optimize a file. Like recursively optimize all jpegs on the hard drive. See my post on "Getting file as small as possible?" just below this thread.?

[IrfanUserGuyxyx]

I seems to work in save as. If you append a unique string to each file processed as in the IV command line in my previous post you could then overwrite the original files with the new files in a single command. Can you even /convert to the same filename?

Can you copy or delete files in VBA?

[donwiss]

It seems to work in save as. If you append a unique string to each file processed as in the IV command line in my previous post you could then overwrite the original files with the new files in a single command. Can you even /convert to the same filename?
Can you copy or delete files in VBA?

Yes. I can do all that. And I was when using a different program. I don't know about a single command. I hadn't realized that Save As worked, though it makes sense, as Progressive works when creating after a resize. I can Save As, then delete original, and then rename. I consider this a bug. I'd like to optimize a hard drive with thousands of images.

[IrfanUserGuyxyx]

i_view64.exe %%~nx1 /ini="C:\Programs_OS\command\irfanview" /advancedbatch /convert=%%~n1_dark%%~x1

worked with Progressive