Article ID: 140170 - Last Review: July 1, 2004 - Revision: 2.2

How To Read from the Windows Registry

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This article was previously published under Q140170

SUMMARY

You can use the Windows API functions RegEnumValue() and RegOpenKey() to read values into a Visual FoxPro application from a multiple-valued key in the Windows registry. For single-valued registry keys (not covered in this article) use the RegQueryValue() API.

More information about API functions in general can be found in the Win32api.hlp help file that comes with the Professional version of Visual FoxPro. Also, for information on how to write to the Windows registry, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

135398 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/135398/EN-US/ ) How To Write to the Windows Registry Using API Calls

NOTE: Reading from the Windows registry applies to the Windows NT and Windows 95 operating systems. Use GetProfileString and WriteProfileString to read and write to the appropriate .ini files in the Windows for Workgroups and Windows 3.1 operating systems.

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MORE INFORMATION

General Procedure for Reading Values from the Registry

Declare and initialize the variables required for the API function.
Declare the API functions using the DECLARE DLL Visual FoxPro function.
Call the RegOpenKey() API to open the registry key.
Call the RegEnumValue() from a loop, looping until the correct value string is found for the item you want.
Reference the variables filled by the API function.

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Sample Code

NOTE: In some cases the Registry will not have all the settings for Visual FoxPro. Before running this code example, run REGEDIT for Windows 95 and make sure that the TMPFILES entry is there. If it is not there, this code example will go into an endless loop. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click Set as Default. This will force the entries into the registry.

The following code reads the setting for the TMPFILES value from the Software\Microsoft\VisualFoxPro\3.0\Options\TMPFILES key in the Windows registry.

***
***BEGIN PROGRAM CODE
***
nKeyHandle=0  && Holds the handle to the key opened by RegOpenKey

iValue=0  && Index of value to query
lpszValue=space(255)  && Receives the name of the value

* In this example, you are looking for TMPFILES.
lpcchValue=255
* This buffer tells the API the size of the lpszValue buffer.
* If buffer is not large enough, the lpszValue buffer will be blank.
lpdwType=space(255) && Receives the type code for the value entry
lpbData=space(255) && Receives the data for the value entry

* In this example, it will contain the path to the TMPFILES.

lpcbData=255  && This buffer tells the API the size of the lpbData buffer

* If lpbData is not large enough, the buffer will be blank.

Declare RegOpenKey in ADVAPI32.DLL INTEGER, STRING, INTEGER @nKeyHandle

Declare RegEnumValue in ADVAPI32.DLL INTEGER nKeyHandle, INTEGER iValue,;
   STRING @lpszValue, INTEGER @lpcchValue, INTEGER, STRING @lpdwType, ;
   STRING @lpbData, INTEGER @lpcbData

** The number for the HKey_Current_User (the first parameter in RegOpenKey)
** is found in the Winreg.h header file included with Microsoft Visual C++

=RegOpenKey(2147483649,"Software\Microsoft\VisualFoxPro\3.0\Options",;
@nKeyHandle)

do while alltrim(lpszValue)!="TMPFILES"  &&loops through the key looking

* for TMPFILES
     lpszValue=space(255) &&need to reset the buffers
     lpcchValue=255
     lpdwType=space(255)
     lpbData=space(255)
     lpcbData=255
     =RegEnumValue(nKeyHandle,iValue,@lpszValue,@lpcchValue,0,;
@lpdwType,@lpbData,@lpcbData)
     ?alltrim(lpbData)+ ' '+alltrim(lpszValue)
     iValue=iValue+1
enddo

** END PROGRAM CODE **

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