=head1 NAME Win32 - Interfaces to some Win32 API Functions =head1 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 C module is not part of the Perl source distribution; it is distributed in the libwin32 bundle of Win32::* modules on CPAN. The module is already preinstalled in binary distributions like ActivePerl. =head2 Alphabetical Listing of Win32 Functions =over =item Win32::AbortSystemShutdown(MACHINE) [EXT] Aborts a system shutdown (started by the InitiateSystemShutdown function) on the specified MACHINE. =item Win32::BuildNumber() [CORE] Returns the ActivePerl build number. This function is only available in the ActivePerl binary distribution. =item Win32::CopyFile(FROM, TO, OVERWRITE) [CORE] The Win32::CopyFile() function copies an existing file to a new file. All file information like creation time and file attributes will be copied to the new file. However it will B copy the security information. 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. =item Win32::DomainName() [CORE] Returns the name of the Microsoft Network domain that the owner of the current perl process is logged into. =item Win32::ExpandEnvironmentStrings(STRING) [EXT] Takes STRING and replaces all referenced environment variable names with their defined values. References to environment variables take the form C<%VariableName%>. Case is ignored when looking up the VariableName in the environment. If the variable is not found then the original C<%VariableName%> text is retained. Has the same effect as the following: $string =~ s/%([^%]*)%/$ENV{$1} || "%$1%"/eg =item Win32::FormatMessage(ERRORCODE) [CORE] Converts the supplied Win32 error number (e.g. returned by Win32::GetLastError()) to a descriptive string. Analogous to the perror() standard-C library function. Note that C<$^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 =item Win32::FsType() [CORE] Returns the name of the filesystem of the currently active drive (like 'FAT' or 'NTFS'). In list context it returns three values: (FSTYPE, FLAGS, MAXCOMPLEN). 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 component (the part between two backslashes) on this file system. =item Win32::FreeLibrary(HANDLE) [EXT] Unloads a previously loaded dynamic-link library. The HANDLE is no longer valid after this call. See L for information on dynamically loading a library. =item Win32::GetArchName() [EXT] Use of this function is deprecated. It is equivalent with $ENV{PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE}. This might not work on Win9X. =item Win32::GetChipName() [EXT] Returns the processor type: 386, 486 or 586 for Intel processors, 21064 for the Alpha chip. =item Win32::GetCwd() [CORE] Returns the current active drive and directory. This function does not return a UNC path, since the functionality required for such a feature is not available under Windows 95. =item Win32::GetFullPathName(FILENAME) [CORE] GetFullPathName combines the FILENAME with the current drive and directory name and returns a fully qualified (aka, absolute) path name. In list context it returns two elements: (PATH, FILE) where PATH is the complete pathname component (including trailing backslash) and FILE is just the filename part. Note that no attempt is made to convert 8.3 components in the supplied FILENAME to longnames or vice-versa. Compare with Win32::GetShortPathName and Win32::GetLongPathName. This function has been added for Perl 5.6. =item Win32::GetLastError() [CORE] Returns the last error value generated by a call to a Win32 API function. Note that C<$^E> used in a numeric context amounts to the same value. =item Win32::GetLongPathName(PATHNAME) [CORE] Returns a representaion of PATHNAME composed of longname components (if any). The result may not necessarily be longer than PATHNAME. No attempt is made to convert PATHNAME to the absolute path. Compare with Win32::GetShortPathName and Win32::GetFullPathName. This function has been added for Perl 5.6. =item Win32::GetNextAvailDrive() [CORE] Returns a string in the form of ":" where is the first available drive letter. =item Win32::GetOSVersion() [CORE] Returns the array (STRING, MAJOR, MINOR, BUILD, ID), where the elements are, respectively: An arbitrary descriptive string, the major version number of the operating system, the minor version number, the build number, and a digit indicating the actual operating 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. =item 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::GetLongPathName. =item 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. =item 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). =item Win32::InitiateSystemShutdown(MACHINE, MESSAGE, TIMEOUT, FORCECLOSE, REBOOT) [EXT] Shutsdown the specified MACHINE, notifying users with the supplied MESSAGE, within the specified TIMEOUT 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. =item Win32::IsWinNT() [CORE] Returns non zero if the Win32 subsystem is Windows NT. =item Win32::IsWin95() [CORE] Returns non zero if the Win32 subsystem is Windows 95. =item 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. =item Win32::LoginName() [CORE] Returns the username of the owner of the current perl process. =item Win32::LookupAccountName(SYSTEM, ACCOUNT, DOMAIN, SID, SIDTYPE) [EXT] Looks up ACCOUNT on SYSTEM and returns the domain name the SID and the SID type. =item Win32::LookupAccountSID(SYSTEM, SID, ACCOUNT, DOMAIN, SIDTYPE) [EXT] Looks up SID on SYSTEM and returns the account name, domain name, and the SID type. =item Win32::MsgBox(MESSAGE [, FLAGS [, TITLE]]) [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 =item Win32::NodeName() [CORE] Returns the Microsoft Network node-name of the current machine. =item Win32::RegisterServer(LIBRARYNAME) [EXT] Loads the DLL LIBRARYNAME and calls the function DllRegisterServer. =item 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. =item 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. =item Win32::Sleep(TIME) [CORE] Pauses for TIME milliseconds. The timeslices are made available to other processes and threads. =item Win32::Spawn(COMMAND, ARGS, PID) [CORE] Spawns a new process using the supplied COMMAND, 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. =item Win32::UnregisterServer(LIBRARYNAME) [EXT] Loads the DLL LIBRARYNAME and calls the function DllUnregisterServer. =back =cut