Need help choosing the right control

Hi guys, i am trying to make a program which stores selected programs by user selection, and it will later store them in a database. What control would be best suited to list these programs? The user will need to select many items. I was going to use a listbox but its really limited, as you cant use tickboxes or anything like that on it. I don't want to waste time playing with this, so what control would be best recommended to achieve this?

I also need to be able to get more items from the registry about the installed programs, such as; address to each programs .exe location, and each programs icon. But I am unsure of the best location to get them or where to start with this. Here is what I got so far...

Code:

---

    Private Sub SrcAppsBtn_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles SrcAppsBtn.Click
        ListBoxPrograms.Items.Clear()
        Dim regkey, subkey As Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey
        Dim value As String
        Dim regpath As String = "Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall"
        regkey = My.Computer.Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey(regpath)
        Dim subkeys() As String = regkey.GetSubKeyNames
        Dim includes As Boolean
        For Each subk As String In subkeys
            subkey = regkey.OpenSubKey(subk)
            value = subkey.GetValue("DisplayName", "")
            If value <> "" Then
                includes = True
                If value.IndexOf("Hotfix") <> -1 Then includes = False
                If value.IndexOf("Security Update") <> -1 Then includes = False
                If value.IndexOf("Update for") <> -1 Then includes = False
                If includes = True Then ListBoxPrograms.Items.Add(value)
            End If
        Next
    End Sub

---

A datatable bound to a datagridview sounds right. It sounds like you have potentially several columns worth of data, one of which might be a checkbox. The DGV can handle all of that, and a datatable to a database is pretty straightforward.

Thanks Shaggy..

Anyone else got anything else to get me started with this???

If you don't want to do that (use a DGV+DataTable, despite it being pretty nice), you can either use a ListView, or the really nice ObjectListView (it's on SoureForge).

ListView :thumb:

So now i got the right controls to use. now how can i get each installed programs location and its .exe path from the registry? i see "DisplayIcon" in the registry path above, maybe i can use that to get the icon location. But i still don't know how to find the programs launch file in the registry. Can anyone help me with this or is there an easier way to do it?

Anyone????

Quote:

---

now how can i get each installed programs location

---

See this

Thanks man, it's not quite what I was looking for, but its a pointer in the right direction though.

use classic controls from telerik , or there are many others choices search google

Binarybot, thanks for the suggestion, but its kinda expensive right now. ;)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mucker

Code:

---

    Private Sub SrcAppsBtn_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles SrcAppsBtn.Click
        ListBoxPrograms.Items.Clear()
        Dim regkey, subkey As Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey
        Dim value As String
        Dim regpath As String = "Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall"
        regkey = My.Computer.Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey(regpath)
        Dim subkeys() As String = regkey.GetSubKeyNames
        Dim includes As Boolean
        For Each subk As String In subkeys
            subkey = regkey.OpenSubKey(subk)
            value = subkey.GetValue("DisplayName", "")
            If value <> "" Then
                includes = True
                If value.IndexOf("Hotfix") <> -1 Then includes = False
                If value.IndexOf("Security Update") <> -1 Then includes = False
                If value.IndexOf("Update for") <> -1 Then includes = False
                If includes = True Then ListBoxPrograms.Items.Add(value)
            End If
        Next
    End Sub

---

---

Haven not worked with datagridview and binding sources before, i am a little lost as in how to or which control i should populate. If i populate the bindingsource, it should update the datagridview automatically. Right? if so, can someone show me how to alter my code to do that or point me to a decent tut?

thanks