[Resolved] reading reg values

[peteoc]

I'm attempting to write an application which reads all sub keys from

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\

I am managing to retrieve all the subkey names fine, however when I want to retrieve a value from within this I get nothing.

My code is as follows:

Dim regkey As RegistryKey
        regkey = Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey("Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\", True)
        Dim key As String
        Dim test As String
        For Each key In regkey.GetSubKeyNames()
            test = CType(regkey.GetValue(key & "\InstallDate"), String)
            TextBox2.Text = TextBox2.Text & vbCrLf & key & " - '" & test & "'"
        Next

I've only tried the CType bit as I read that you need to convert a registry value to string to be able to read it.

A result is as follows

CNXT_MODEM_HDAUDIO_VEN_14F1&DEV_2BFA&SUBSYS_14F100C3 - ''
Combined Community Codec Pack_is1 - ''
Connection Manager - ''
DirectAnimation - ''
DirectDrawEx - ''
DXM_Runtime - ''

some of these obviously dont have a value for InstallDate however I know for sure that the Combined Community Codec Pack_is1 has a value for this.

Any help is gratefully appreciated.

[jmcilhinney]

You can't get a value like that from the parent key. Once you have all the subkey names you have to open each one. Then you can get the InstallDate value from each of those keys. The easiest way would be like this:

Dim key As RegistryKey = Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey("Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall")
Dim subkey As RegistryKey

For Each subkeyName As String In key.GetSubKeyNames()
    subkey = key.OpenSubKey(subkeyName)
    TextBox1.AppendText(String.Format("Name: {0} - InstallDate:{1}{2}", _
                                      subkeyName, _
                                      subkey.GetValue("InstallDate"), _
                                      Environment.NewLine))
    subkey.Close()
Next subkeyName

key.Close()

[peteoc]

cheers jmcilhinney saved me alot of time.

[peteoc]

would this work with .net v1.1 as I've just found out that v2.0 will not be available on users machines and cannot be installed either.

[mendhak]

Yes, it's the same code for .NET 1.1. It's using the Microsoft.Win32 namespace after all.

[peteoc]

ah cheers, just edited the references to v1.1 and its broke other stuff, will fix that. Cheers