Get the path of a BDE alias at runtime

Problem/Question/Abstract:

I need to find out the path of a BDE alias from within an application. I would like to auto detect a backup path to the data.

Answer:

function GetAliasDir(alias: PChar): PChar;
var
  s: TStringList;
  i: integer;
  t: string;
  res: array[0..255] of char;
begin
  res := '';
  if Session.IsAlias(alias) then
  begin {Check if alias exists}
    s := TStringList.Create;
    try
      Session.GetAliasParams(Alias, s);
      t := '';
      if s.count > 0 then
      begin
        i := 0;
        while (i < s.count) and (Copy(s.Strings[i], 1, 5) <> 'PATH=') do
          inc(i);
        if (i < s.count) and (Copy(s.Strings[i], 1, 5) = 'PATH =') then
        begin
          t := Copy(s.Strings[i], 6, Length(s.Strings[i]) - 4);
          if t[length(t)] <> '\' then
            t := t + '\';
        end;
      end;
      StrPCopy(res, t);
    except
      StrPCopy(res, '');
    end;
    s.Free;
  end;
  result := res;
end;