Difference between Environ function or API function to get the window session username

Question

Hello

I used previously this API function

Declare Function wu_GetUserName Lib "advapi32.dll" Alias "GetUserNameA" (ByVal lpBuffer As String, nSize As Long) As Long

Function GetUserName() As Variant

   Dim strUserName As String, lngLength As Long, lngResult As Long

   strUserName = String$(255, 0)

   lngLength = 255

   lngResult = wu_GetUserName(strUserName, lngLength)

   GetUserName = Left(strUserName, InStr(1, strUserName, Chr(0)) - 1)

End Function

Similarly, you could use : Environ("username")

Both function return the same string that needs to be the current user/window session logged on that pc.

Any comment ?

Regards

JY

Answer 1

Environ is a VB/VBA function - the other can be used with any language.

Answer 2

Hi Hans

I suspected something like that  ...

Maybe it is also historical, that the Environ function was only released later ?

Regards

JY

Answer 3

Hi Bernie

For Application.UserName, I know that you could just use

Application.UserName= "Mickey Mouse" before saving any file,  ( could be usefull at some time)

Therefor, I use normally the API function

Thank you

Regards

JY

Answer 4

Someone who is computer-savvy could change the username environment string, so Environ("username") is not 100% dependable. As far as I know, it's far more difficult (if possible at all) to change the result of the API function.

Answer 5

They return the same information, just through different mechanisms. Note that 

Application.UserName

may differ, since the user gets to set that in Excel options.