The Registry Editor in Visual Studio.NET 2005

Visual Basic.NET 2005 Training

The Registry Editor

The Registry Editor is used for:

1. Creating registry keys
2. Creating values for registry keys
3. Importing a registry file.

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Like the File System Editor, the Registry Editor is split into two panes

The left-hand pane of the editor represents the registry keys on the target computer. When a registry key is selected, two things happen: the right-hand pane of the editor will be updated to show the values that are to be created under the selected registry key, and if the registry key selected is not a root key in the left-hand pane, Properties windows will be updated with a set of properties for this registry key.

When a new deployment project is created, a set of registry keys will be created which correspond to the standard base registry keys of Windows. Notice in the screenshot that there is a key defined with a name of [Manufacturer]. When the installation is run, this will be replaced with the value of the Manufacturer property. [Manufacturer] is a property of the installation and can be used elsewhere within the installation. There are a number of these properties defined that can be used in much the same way.

Adding a value to a Registry key

We must to select the required registry key (or create it) that is going to hold the registry values and then there are a number of ways that we can add the registry values:

• We can right-click the registry key and use the resulting popup menu.
  
• We can right-click in the right-hand pane and use the resulting popup menu.
  
• We can use the Action menu.
  

The Registry Editor can be used to specify values for new or existing registry keys in the registry of a target machine. Users can add string, binary, and DWORD values. During installation the values will be written to the registry; any existing values will be overwritten by the values that you specify.

By default the Registry Editor displays a standard set of registry keys that correspond with the standard Windows registry keys: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, HKEY_CURRENT_USER, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, HKEY_USERS, and HKEY_PER_USER. For Setup and Tier projects, additional keys that match the Manufacturer property for the project are displayed under HKEY_CURRENT_USER Software and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE Software.

Users can add your own keys under any registry key or sub-key; add string, binary, or DWORD values to any key; or import registry files. The first step that needs to be completed is to select the following registry key in the left-hand pane of the editor:

HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftware [Manufacturee].

The Registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER is used to store registry setting that apply to the currently logged in user.

To add a registry value

1. Select a key node in the Registry Editor.
Note : Values can't be added for the top-level nodes.
2. On the Action menu, point to New, and then click String Value, Binary Value, or DWORD Value.
3. A value name is added to the value pane and the default name is highlighted.
4. Type a name for the new value.
5. In the Properties window, select the Value property and type a value.

To remove a registry value

1. Select the value name in the value pane of the Registry Editor, and choose Delete from the Edit menu.
2. Most items in the Registry Editor, including keys and values, can be moved between nodes via dragging with the mouse or via the Cut and Paste commands on the Edit menu.
3. If a value exists in the registry, the windows installer package will overwrite the existing value with that defined in the Registry Editor