Environment Variables Unit Overview

Applies to: ~>3.0

This page provides an overview of the features of the Environment Variables Unit. If you are looking for information on programming with the classes please see the Programmers’ Guide.

The Environment Variables unit provides an interface to the environment variables that are available to a Windows process. The unit contains static class for interogating and modifying environment variables.

The class has methods to:

• Read, write and delete environment variables.
• Query whether an environment variable exists.
• Get the number of environment variables in the environment block along with the size of the block.
• List and enumerate the names, or names and value, of all environment variables in the environment block.
• Create a new environment block suitable for passing to a child process.

There is also an enumerator class the provides an alternative way to enumerate environment variable names.

The unit also contains a component and stand-alone routines that provide some of the functionality of the static class. ⚠️ These are all deprecated and are provided for backward compatibility reasons only. They should not be used in new code.

In previous versions the component was registered with the Delphi IDE when this unit was included in a design time package. This is no longer the case. The component is registered only if PJEnvVarsDsgn.pas is included a design package and PJEnvVars.pas is included in the same design package or a required package.

Compatibility

The unit can be compiled with any Delphi compiler from Delphi 7 through to 11.3. It is compatible with 32 bit and 64 bit Windows targets.

It is possible, but not guaranteed, that the unit will compile with Delphi 4 to 6.

The code is compatible with both the VCL and FMX frameworks.

Non-Windows platforms are not supported due to the code’s reliance on the Windows API.

Links

• Programmers’ Guide – Classes, methods, properties etc.