VBA: Sample Code to Retrieve the Current User Name

ID: Q161394

The information in this article applies to:

• Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications version 5.0
• Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows
• Microsoft Word 97 for Windows
• Microsoft Access 97
• Microsoft PowerPoint 97 for Windows

SUMMARY

The "More Information" section of this article contains sample Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications code that calls WNetGetUser (a Windows API function in the file Mpr.dll) to retrieve the user name used to establish a network connection.

MORE INFORMATION

Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language being demonstrated and the tools used to create and debug procedures. Microsoft support professionals can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific needs. If you have limited programming experience, you may want to contact the Microsoft fee-based consulting line at (800) 936-5200. For more information about the support options available from Microsoft, please see the following page on the World Wide Web:

   http://www.microsoft.com/support/supportnet/refguide/

Sample Visual Basic Procedure

   ' Declare for call to mpr.dll.
   Declare Function WNetGetUser Lib "mpr.dll" _
      Alias "WNetGetUserA" (ByVal lpName As String, _
      ByVal lpUserName As String, lpnLength As Long) As Long

   Const NoError = 0       ?The Function call was successful

   Sub GetUserName()

      ' Buffer size for the return string.
      Const lpnLength As Integer = 255

      ' Get return buffer space.
      Dim status As Integer

      ' For getting user information.
      Dim lpName, lpUserName As String

      ' Assign the buffer size constant to lpUserName.
      lpUserName = Space$(lpnLength + 1)

      ' Get the log-on name of the person using product.
      status = WNetGetUser(lpName, lpUserName, lpnLength)

      ' See whether error occurred.
      If status = NoError Then
         ' This line removes the null character. Strings in C are null-
         ' terminated. Strings in Visual Basic are not null-terminated.
         ' The null character must be removed from the C strings to be used
         ' cleanly in Visual Basic.
         lpUserName = Left$(lpUserName, InStr(lpUserName, Chr(0)) - 1)
      Else

         ' An error occurred.
         MsgBox "Unable to get the name."
         End
      End If

      ' Display the name of the person logged on to the machine.
      MsgBox "The person logged on this machine is: " & lpUserName

   End Sub

REFERENCES

For more information about getting help with Visual Basic for Applications, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q163435
   TITLE     : VBA: Programming Resources for Visual Basic for
               Applications

Keywords          : kbcode kbprg kbpptvba 
Version           : WINDOWS:97
Platform          : WINDOWS
Issue type        : kbhowto

Last Reviewed: April 6, 1999