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ByVal behavior in API acts like ByRef?

ByVal behavior in API acts like ByRef?

ByVal behavior in API acts like ByRef?

(OP)
I am a little confused by the behavior of ByVal as it applies to declaring API functions.  I thought ByVal was supposed to prevent a function from changing the value of an input parameter.  However, it seems that this is not true, given the behavior of some API calls that I have cut-and-pasted into my programs.

I don't know why this is so.  It has been working fine, so I just believed and let it be.  Now I'm overcome with curiosity.

An example is below.  This is pasted from MS knowledge base.  The function SHGetPathFromIDList uses ByVal, but the function is still able to change the input parameter lpBuffer.

Pasted code below:
      Option Explicit

      Private Const BIF_RETURNONLYFSDIRS = 1
      Private Const BIF_DONTGOBELOWDOMAIN = 2
      Private Const MAX_PATH = 260

      Private Declare Function SHBrowseForFolder Lib "shell32" _
                                        (lpbi As BrowseInfo) As Long

      Private Declare Function SHGetPathFromIDList Lib "shell32" _
                                        (ByVal pidList As Long, _
                                        ByVal lpBuffer As String) As Long


      Private Declare Function lstrcat Lib "kernel32" Alias "lstrcatA" _
                                        (ByVal lpString1 As String, ByVal _
                                        lpString2 As String) As Long

      Private Type BrowseInfo
         hWndOwner      As Long
         pIDLRoot       As Long
         pszDisplayName As Long
         lpszTitle      As Long
         ulFlags        As Long
         lpfnCallback   As Long
         lParam         As Long
         iImage         As Long
      End Type

      Private Sub Command1_Click()
      'Opens a Treeview control that displays the directories in a computer

         Dim lpIDList As Long
         Dim sBuffer As String
         Dim szTitle As String
         Dim tBrowseInfo As BrowseInfo

         szTitle = "This is the title"
         With tBrowseInfo
            .hWndOwner = Me.hWnd
            .lpszTitle = lstrcat(szTitle, "")
            .ulFlags = BIF_RETURNONLYFSDIRS + BIF_DONTGOBELOWDOMAIN
         End With

         lpIDList = SHBrowseForFolder(tBrowseInfo)

         If (lpIDList) Then
            sBuffer = Space(MAX_PATH)
            SHGetPathFromIDList lpIDList, sBuffer
            sBuffer = Left(sBuffer, InStr(sBuffer, vbNullChar) - 1)

            MsgBox sBuffer
         End If
      End Sub

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RE: ByVal behavior in API acts like ByRef?

It's a string, so you're only passing the address of the string, not the whole string. The 'lp' in the beginning of the var name indicates that it's a pointer.

RE: ByVal behavior in API acts like ByRef?

(OP)
Actually, that's not true.  I did get a solid explanation when I posed this question on tek-tips.com (I hope Mr. Murphy isn't angry about the double-posting).
see http://www.tek-tips.com/gviewthread.cfm/lev2/4/lev3/32/pid/222/qid/640085

Basically, ByVal will behave like ByRef in Windows API due to differences between how strings are defined in C vs. VB.

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