Q176876: HOWTO: Find VB32.EXE Without Searching the Hard Drive

Article: Q176876
Product(s): Microsoft Visual Basic for Windows
Version(s): 
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbGrpDSVB
Last Modified: 11-JAN-2001

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Visual Basic Professional Edition, 32-bit, for Windows, version 4.0 
- Microsoft Visual Basic Enterprise Edition, 32-bit, for Windows, version 4.0 
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SUMMARY
=======

The sample code below demonstrates how to find the location of VB32.EXE by
checking the registry rather than searching the entire hard drive.

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

Because customers occasionally install Visual Basic with a pathname other than
the default suggested by SETUP, it may be necessary to search for the directory
in which VB32.EXE has been installed. While simply searching the local hard
drive with an equivalent to DIR/S serves in most circumstances, the presence of
multiple large volumes makes a brute-force search of all the directories on each
volume impractical.

Because Visual Basic Setup stores the fully-qualified path name to VB32.EXE under
the key:

"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\VisualBasic\Shell\Open\command,"

it is a fairly simple task to obtain that pathname with the RegQueryValueEx()
API.

Step-By-Step Instructions
-------------------------

1. Open a new project. Form1 is created by default.

2. Add a Code Module and, in the General Declarations section, place the
  following code:

     Declare Function RegOpenKeyEx Lib "advapi32.dll" Alias "RegOpenKeyExA" _
     (ByVal hKey As Long,  ByVal lpSubKey As String, ByVal ulOptions As _
     Long, ByVal samDesired As Long, phkResult As  Long) As Long

     Declare Function RegQueryValueEx Lib "advapi32.dll" Alias _
     "RegQueryValueExA" (ByVal hKey As Long, ByVal lpValueName As _
     String, ByVal lpReserved As Long, lpType As Long, lpData As Any, _
     lpcbData As Long) As Long

     Option Explicit

     Global Const HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE = &H80000002
     Global Const KEY_READ = &H20019
     Global Const ERROR_SUCCESS = 0&

3. Add a CommandButton to the default form.

4. In the Click Event of the CommandButton, place the following code:

     Dim RegKeyHandle As Long
     Dim RetVal As Long
     Dim KeyType As Long
     Dim Data As String * 255
     Dim DataLen As Long

     RetVal = RegOpenKeyEx(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, _
     "Software\Classes\VisualBasic\Shell\Open\command", _
     0, KEY_READ, RegKeyHandle)

     If RetVal <> ERROR_SUCCESS Then
         MsgBox "Can't Open Key"
     Else
         MsgBox "Opened It!" & vbCrLf & "Getting Default Value"
         DataLen = 512
         RetVal = RegQueryValueEx(RegKeyHandle _
                                 , vbNullString _
                                 , 0 _
                                 , KEY_READ _
                                 , ByVal Data _
                                 , DataLen)

         If RetVal <> ERROR_SUCCESS Then
             MsgBox "Missed It!"
         Else
             MsgBox Left(Data, DataLen)
         End If
     End If

5. Run the program. If Visual Basic is installed, the fully-qualified pathname
  to VB32.EXE appears in the message box.

REFERENCES
==========

"Visual Basic Programmer's Guide to the Win32 API", Daniel Appleman, PC Magazine
Press; c1996.

Additional query words: kbVBp400 kbVBp kbdsd kbDSupport

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Keywords          : kbGrpDSVB 
Technology        : kbVBSearch kbAudDeveloper kbVB400Search kbVB400
Issue type        : kbhowto

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