Ini Vs Registry

[locutus]

I was wondering which is the best to use for storing values.
I am developing a new project for our shop floor system in VB and have started to code it. I store the values, paths to files in an ini file. Is this old fashioned nowadays ? does everyone else use the registry or is it a matter of preference.

Any thoughts or advise on changing to the registry would be appreciated.
Locutus

[Jerry Grant]

The registry is deemed to be the best place, as normal users are unaware of it in most cases. This allows the storing of values, in a relatively secure place, INI files tend to be modified or deleted in error by the user.

However the INI file still forms a usefull place to store settings to be accessed by networked users. A single Network located INI file can be modified by an administrator to adjust the settings for an application distributed to many PCs.

If a required file path changes (i.e. Database file) the workstation PC still detects the location via the common INI.

I'm sure you will find a mix of both to be the best approach.

Regards

Click here for more opinions. This was from an earlier topic.

I like the registry better!

but the registry is kind of hard to access, well it is for me, because i have never tried other than GetSetting and SaveSetting. but the registry is more secure, I didnt even TOUCH the registry till I learned API, but before I learned API I thought it was a sacred place, where one false move could destroy your whole computer...
or so I was told... a false move in the registry can screw your computer up pretty bad, but it was not as severe as I was told.

ini files are very insecure.

but if something gets corrupted and has to be fixed, and you havent backed up your system in a while, your computer could be restored to what it was a few months ago... like mine was

I think its a matter of what you want..
I would rather use the registry though.

if the info is not a secret, then i would use a file everytime over the registry, mainly because as applications add data to the ergistry, it becomes clogged and may result in error messages later on when trying to install more stuff.

for example i had multiple protests from the registry when installing VB6, it said "Registry may have insufficient space to install this software...". when i re-imaged my drive (unrelated incident) i tried to install it again and it went OK. It also uses more system memory to park crap in the registry, but if it is security your worried about, maybe you could still use a file, but encrypt it well.

Registry is for storing values and keeping them safe. Ini is for storing options. If you want to store a password or something, than you use the Registry. Registry is better though.