KnowledgeBase Archive

An Archive of Early Microsoft KnowledgeBase Articles

View on GitHub

Q149038: FIX: VB Registry Functions Are Limited with Nested Settings

Article: Q149038
Product(s): Microsoft Visual Basic for Windows
Version(s): 
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbVBp400bug kbVBp600fix kbGrpDSVB
Last Modified: 11-JAN-2001

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Visual Basic Standard Edition, 32-bit, for Windows, version 4.0 
- Microsoft Visual Basic Professional Edition, 16-bit, for Windows, version 4.0 
- Microsoft Visual Basic Professional Edition, 32-bit, for Windows, version 4.0 
- Microsoft Visual Basic Enterprise Edition, 16-bit, for Windows, version 4.0 
- Microsoft Visual Basic Enterprise Edition, 32-bit, for Windows, version 4.0 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SYMPTOMS
========

Error 5 - Invalid Procedure Call appears when the DeleteSetting is attempted.

CAUSE
=====

The SaveSetting statement and GetSetting function in Visual Basic 4.0 for
Windows are used to create and retrieve information from nested levels in the
Registry. However, the related DeleteSetting statement does not handle these
nested settings. The GetAllSettings function also has this limitation.

RESOLUTION
==========

Use more than one DeleteSetting statement to remove sections of the nested keys
before removing the top level key, rather than attempting to remove the top key
in isolation.

For example, in the following, do not use:

     DeleteSetting "Test1"

Instead, use the following two lines of code to remove the Test1 key and its
subkeys:

     DeleteSetting "Test1\Test2"
     DeleteSetting "Test1"

To enable all possible functionality, you can use the Registry API functions to
perform any desired operation manually.

For more information on the Registry API functions, please see the following
article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

  Q145679 : How to Use the Registry API to Save and Retrieve Setting

STATUS
======

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a bug in the Microsoft products listed at the
beginning of this article. This bug has been fixed in Visual Basic 6.0.

MORE INFORMATION
================

Steps to Reproduce Behavior
---------------------------

1. Start Visual Basic 4.0, 32-bit version. Form1 is created by default. Place
  two command buttons on the form. Add the following code to Form1:

     Private Sub Command1_Click()
         SaveSetting "Test1", "Test2\Test3", "TestKey", "TestValue"
     End Sub

     Private Sub Command2_Click()
         DeleteSetting "Test1"
     End Sub

2. On the Run menu, choose Start, or press F5 to begin the application. Choose
  Command1 to add the nested keys to the registry. Open the Registry Editor and
  confirm that the information has been correctly added under the key
  HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\VB and VBA Program Settings.

3. Return to the running application and choose Command2. VB will raise error 5
  - Invalid Procedure Call. To view the workaround, stop the program and
  replace the single call to DeleteSetting with the two calls listed in the
  Workaround section above. Rerun the program and choose the second command
  button again. Use the Registry Editor to see that the keys have been removed
  correctly.

Additional query words: kbVBp400bug kbVBp600fix kbVBA kbRegistry kbVBp kbdsd kbDSupport

======================================================================
Keywords          : kbVBp400bug kbVBp600fix kbGrpDSVB 
Technology        : kbVBSearch kbAudDeveloper kbVB400Search kbVB400 kbVB16bitSearch
Issue type        : kbbug
Solution Type     : kbfix

=============================================================================

THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THE MICROSOFT KNOWLEDGE BASE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. MICROSOFT DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL MICROSOFT CORPORATION OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS OR SPECIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF MICROSOFT CORPORATION OR ITS SUPPLIERS HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES SO THE FOREGOING LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY.