I am killing some time by making a smallish little prog to assist me in cleaning my recent file list in VB6. Well, it delete's values fine. But, I also go threw and back up all the remaning value's in an array and then clear the whole file list so that I can re-enter the list in the proper number order. This works too, except the file paths end up being wrecked into some wierd ascii mess. Bellow is all the code for the app.
There are 2 command buttons and two list boxes
1st Command Button: cmdDel
2nd Command Button: cmdCncl

1st ListBox: lstRF_Num
2nd ListBox: lstRF

you can make the form and paste this code in or just look it over.....

Code:
Option Explicit

'For contacting information see other module

Private Const HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT = &H80000000
Private Const HKEY_CURRENT_USER = &H80000001
Private Const HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE = &H80000002
Private Const HKEY_USERS = &H80000003
Private Const HKEY_PERFORMANCE_DATA = &H80000004
Private Const HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG = &H80000005
Private Const HKEY_DYN_DATA = &H80000006
Private Const REG_SZ = 1                         ' Unicode nul terminated string
Private Const REG_BINARY = 3                     ' Free form binary
Private Const REG_DWORD = 4                      ' 32-bit number
Private Const REG_NONE = 0
Private Const ERROR_SUCCESS = 0&
Private Const KEY_ALL_ACCESS = &HF003F
Private Const KEY_CREATE_LINK = &H20
Private Const KEY_CREATE_SUB_KEY = &H4
Private Const KEY_ENUMERATE_SUB_KEYS = &H8
Private Const KEY_EXECUTE = &H20019
Private Const KEY_NOTIFY = &H10
Private Const KEY_QUERY_VALUE = &H1
Private Const KEY_READ = &H20019
Private Const KEY_SET_VALUE = &H2
Private Const KEY_WRITE = &H20006

Private Declare Function RegOpenKey Lib "advapi32.dll" Alias "RegOpenKeyA" (ByVal hKey As Long, ByVal lpSubKey As String, phkResult As Long) As Long
Private 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
Private Declare Function RegCloseKey Lib "advapi32.dll" (ByVal hKey As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function RegCreateKey Lib "advapi32.dll" Alias "RegCreateKeyA" (ByVal hKey As Long, ByVal lpSubKey As String, phkResult As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function RegCreateKeyEx Lib "advapi32.dll" Alias "RegCreateKeyExA" (ByVal hKey As Long, ByVal lpSubKey As String, ByVal Reserved As Long, ByVal lpClass As String, ByVal dwOptions As Long, ByVal samDesired As Long, lpSecurityAttributes As SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES, phkResult As Long, lpdwDisposition As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function RegDeleteKey Lib "advapi32.dll" Alias "RegDeleteKeyA" (ByVal hKey As Long, ByVal lpSubKey As String) As Long
Private Declare Function RegDeleteValue Lib "advapi32.dll" Alias "RegDeleteValueA" (ByVal hKey As Long, ByVal lpValueName As String) As Long
'--------------------------------------------------
Private Declare Function RegEnumKey Lib "advapi32.dll" Alias "RegEnumKeyA" (ByVal hKey As Long, ByVal dwIndex As Long, ByVal lpName As String, ByVal cbName As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function RegEnumKeyEx Lib "advapi32.dll" Alias "RegEnumKeyExA" (ByVal hKey As Long, ByVal dwIndex As Long, ByVal lpName As String, lpcbName As Long, lpReserved As Long, ByVal lpClass As String, lpcbClass As Long, lpftLastWriteTime As FILETIME) As Long
Private Declare Function RegEnumValue Lib "advapi32.dll" Alias "RegEnumValueA" (ByVal hKey As Long, ByVal dwIndex As Long, ByVal lpValueName As String, lpcbValueName As Long, ByVal lpReserved As Long, lpType As Long, lpData As Byte, lpcbData As Long) As Long
'--------------------------------------------------
Private 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
Private Declare Function RegSetValueEx Lib "advapi32.dll" Alias "RegSetValueExA" (ByVal hKey As Long, ByVal lpValueName As String, ByVal Reserved As Long, ByVal dwType As Long, lpData As Any, ByVal cbData As Long) As Long
'--------------------------------------------------
Private Declare Sub CopyMemory Lib "kernel32.dll" Alias "RtlMoveMemory" (Destination As Any, Source As Any, ByVal Length As Long)

Private Type FILETIME
    dwLowDateTime As Long
    dwHighDateTime As Long
End Type

Private Type SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES
    nLength As Long
    lpSecurityDescriptor As Long
    bInheritHandle As Boolean
End Type




Private Sub DeleteValue(ByVal hKey As Long, ByVal strPath As String, ByVal strValue As String)
Dim hCurKey As Long
Dim lRegResult As Long

lRegResult = RegOpenKey(hKey, strPath, hCurKey)

lRegResult = RegDeleteValue(hCurKey, strValue)

lRegResult = RegCloseKey(hCurKey)

End Sub

Private Sub ListRF()

    Dim valuename As String
    Dim valuelen As Long
    Dim datatype As Long
    Dim data(0 To 254) As Byte
    Dim datalen As Long
    Dim datastring As String
    Dim hKey As Long
    Dim index As Long
    Dim c As Long
    Dim Retval As Long
    
    'Clear the listboxes
    lstRF.Clear
    lstRF_Num.Clear
    
    ' Open the registry key to enumerate the values of.
    Retval = RegOpenKeyEx(HKEY_CURRENT_USER, "Software\Microsoft\Visual Basic\6.0\RecentFiles", 0, KEY_QUERY_VALUE, hKey) ' Check to see if an error occured.
    
    If Retval <> 0 Then
        Debug.Print "Registry key could not be opened -- aborting."
        End  ' abort the program
    End If
    
    ' Begin enumerating the values.  Get each one, displaying its name.
    
    index = 0  ' initialize the counter
    While Retval = 0  'Loop While successful
    
        ' Initialize the value name buffer.
        valuename = Space(255)  ' 255-space buffer
        valuelen = 255  ' length of the string
        datalen = 255  ' size of data buffer
        
        ' Get the next value to be enumerated
        Retval = RegEnumValue(hKey, index, valuename, valuelen, 0, datatype, data(0), datalen)
        
        If Retval = 0 Then  ' if successful, display information
        
            ' Extract the useful information from the value name buffer and display it.
            valuename = Left(valuename, valuelen)
            lstRF_Num.AddItem valuename
            
            ' Determine the data type of the value and display it.
            Select Case datatype
            
                Case REG_SZ  ' null-terminated string
                
                    ' Copy the information from the byte array into the string.
                    ' We subtract one because we don't want the trailing null.
                    datastring = Space(datalen - 1)  ' make just enough room in the string
                    
                    CopyMemory ByVal datastring, data(0), datalen - 1  ' copy useful data
                    lstRF.AddItem datastring
                    
                Case Else  ' a data type this example doesn't handle
                
                    lstRF.AddItem "Unable to retrive data."
                    cmdDel.Enabled = False
            End Select
        End If
        
        index = index + 1  ' increment the index counter
    Wend  ' end the loop
    
    Call RegCloseKey(HKEY_CURRENT_USER)
End Sub

Private Sub ReNumKeys()

    Dim SubKey As String
    Dim Retval As Long
    Dim hRegKey As Long
    Dim i
    Dim Str As String
    Dim xyz() As String
    
    SubKey = "Software\Microsoft\Visual Basic\6.0\RecentFiles"
    
    ReDim xyz(1 To lstRF.ListCount) As String
        
    'Make a copy of all the keys
    For i = 0 To (lstRF.ListCount - 1)
        lstRF.ListIndex = i
        Str = lstRF.Text
        xyz(i + 1) = Str
    Next i 'i = 0 To (lstRF.ListCount - 1)
    
    'loop through and delete the original keys
    For i = 0 To (lstRF.ListCount - 1)
        lstRF_Num.ListIndex = i
        Call DeleteValue(HKEY_CURRENT_USER, "Software\Microsoft\Visual Basic\6.0\RecentFiles", lstRF_Num.Text)
    Next i 'i = 0 To (lstRF.ListCount - 1)
    
    'get the handle of the recent file list key
    Retval = RegOpenKeyEx(HKEY_CURRENT_USER, SubKey, 0, KEY_WRITE, hRegKey)
        
    'ReNumber and enter the keys
    For i = 1 To UBound(xyz())
        Retval = RegSetValueEx(hRegKey, i, 0, REG_SZ, xyz(i) & vbNullChar, Len(xyz(i)))
    Next i 'i = 1 To UBound(xyz())
    
    ' Close the registry
    Call RegCloseKey(HKEY_CURRENT_USER)
    
End Sub






Private Sub cmdCncl_Click()
    Unload Me
    End
End Sub

Private Sub cmdDel_Click()
    DeleteValue HKEY_CURRENT_USER, "Software\Microsoft\Visual Basic\6.0\RecentFiles", lstRF_Num.Text
    Dim x
    x = lstRF.ListIndex
    lstRF.RemoveItem (x)
    lstRF_Num.RemoveItem (x)
    ReNumKeys
    ListRF
End Sub


Private Sub Form_Load()
    ListRF
End Sub

Private Sub lstRF_Click()
   lstRF_Num.ListIndex = lstRF.ListIndex
End Sub

Private Sub lstRF_Num_Click()
   lstRF.ListIndex = lstRF_Num.ListIndex
End Sub
If anybody knows what the problem is please let me know.

Thanks