Possible to read from registry without API?

I dont want to use the getsettings functions etc. as i am trying to determine the version of office installed using the registry, and im not having much luck with the API calls...i am simply trying to determine the existance of a key. the relevent code is as follows:

Const KEY_QUERY_VALUE = &H1
Const HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE = &H80000002
Const ERROR_SUCCESS = 0&

Private Declare Function RegOpenKeyEx Lib "AdvApi32" (ByVal Hkey As Long, ByVal lpsubkey As String, ByVal uloptions As Long, ByVal samDesired As Long, ByVal phkresult As Long) As Long

<and later down in the function to determin version:>

Success = RegOpenKeyEx(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, "SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\9.0", 0, KEY_QUERY_VALUE, Presult)
If Success = ERROR_SUCCESS Then MsgBox "2000" Else MsgBox "98,97"

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The Erorr message i am getitng is :
Cant find DLL Entry Point RegOpenKeyEx in AdvApi32

Have read help contents, but havent been able to solve, all help appreciated.

Try this declaration:

VB 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

You can't access a custom part of the registry without API. If you don't want to use API, use the SaveSetting and GetSetting functions, but they can only save in a specified path.