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Determine what is the decimal or hundred separator at runtime

When writing or reading data from or to a file, PB uses the current user settings to determine what are the separators used. You may want to take extra steps to ensure that the separator used is a known one (like a "." for decimal). Simply read the registry to get the current separator value and keep it. Modify the Registry for the desired separator. Then do your processing and after put back the original separator value. 
string ls_decimal, ls_thousand
string ls_regKey = "HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Control Panel/International"
RegistryGet(ls_regKey, "sDecimal", ls_decimal)
RegistryGet(ls_regKey, "sThousand", ls_thousand)
You may need to notify Windows applications that a change in the regional settings has been made. You broadcast the WM_SETTINGCHANGE message then Windows applications will react to that change. 
[local function declaration]
FUNCTION long SendMessageA &
    ( long hwnd,  uint Msg, long wparam, string lparam) &
    LIBRARY "USER32"

[powerscript]
long HWND_BROADCAST = 65535
uint WM_SETTINGCHANGE = 26
 
String ls_separator
String  ls_regKey = "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\International"
 
RegistryGet(ls_regkey, "sDecimal", RegString!, ls_separator)
 
messagebox("current separator", ls_separator)
IF ls_separator <> "." THEN
   // make sure it's a "."
   RegistrySet(ls_regkey, "sDecimal", RegString!, ".")
   SendMessageA( HWND_BROADCAST, WM_SETTINGCHANGE, 0, 'intl' )
END IF

// dbf format requires a "." as the separator
dw_1.saveas("data.dbf" , dbase3!, true)

// put back the original value 
RegistrySet(ls_regkey, "sDecimal", RegString!, ls_separator)
SendMessageA( HWND_BROADCAST, WM_SETTINGCHANGE, 0, 'intl' )
NOTE: On Win9x, you need to modify the win.ini (not the registry) file using the ProfileString() function.

A simple way to get the decimal separator without querying the Registry is : 

IF pos(string(1/2), ".") > 0 THEN
   messagebox("dot", ".")
ELSE
   messagebox("comma", ",")
END IF
Thanks to C. Frenné for the tip!

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