HOWTO: Use the Windows Scripting Host to Read, Write, and Delete Registry Keys

ID: Q244675

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Visual FoxPro for Windows, versions 3.0, 3.0b, 5.0, 5.0a, 6.0

SUMMARY

The Microsoft Windows Scripting Host (WSH) is a tool that allows you to run Microsoft Visual Basic Scripting Edition and Microsoft JScript natively within the base operating system, either on Microsoft Windows 95 or Microsoft Windows NT 4.0. It also includes several COM automation methods that allow you to do several handy tasks easily through the Windows Scripting Host Object Model.

The Microsoft Windows Script Host is integrated in Windows 98. It is available for Windows NT 4.0 from within the Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack. It is also available for download from the following site:

Http://www.msdn.microsoft.com/scripting/

The Windows Scripting Host provides several useful methods to read, write, and delete registry keys easily. The RegWrite function's third parameter allows the programmer to specify the type of data added to the registry. RegWrite supports strType as REG_SZ, REG_EXPAND_SZ, REG_DWORD and REG_BINARY. If another data type is passed as strType, RegWrite returns E_INVALIDARG.

MORE INFORMATION

The Microsoft Visual FoxPro code below demonstrates several examples of reading, writing, and deleting registry keys and values.


WSHShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
 
*!* Create Registry Keys
WSHShell.Popup( "Create key HKCU\MyRegKey with value 'Top level key'")
WSHShell.RegWrite( "HKCU\MyRegKey\", "Top level key")
 
WSHShell.Popup( "Create key HKCU\MyRegKey\Entry with value 'Second level key'")
WSHShell.RegWrite( "HKCU\MyRegKey\Entry\", "Second level key")
 
WSHShell.Popup( "Set value HKCU\MyRegKey\Value to REG_SZ 1")
WSHShell.RegWrite ("HKCU\MyRegKey\Value", 1)
 
WSHShell.Popup( "Set value HKCU\MyRegKey\Entry to REG_DWORD 2")
WSHShell.RegWrite( "HKCU\MyRegKey\Entry", 2, "REG_DWORD")
 
WSHShell.Popup( "Set value HKCU\MyRegKey\Entry\Value1 to REG_BINARY 3")
WSHShell.RegWrite( "HKCU\MyRegKey\Entry\Value1", 3, "REG_BINARY")
 
 
*!* Read Registry Keys
lcValue1 = WSHShell.RegRead("HKCU\MyRegKey\")
WSHShell.Popup("Value of HKCU\MyRegKey: " + lcValue1)
 
lcValue2 = WSHShell.RegRead("HKCU\MyRegKey\Entry\")
WSHShell.Popup("Value of HKCU\MyRegKey\Entry\: " + lcValue2)
 
lcValue3 = WSHShell.RegRead("HKCU\MyRegKey\Value")
WSHShell.Popup("Value of HKCU\MyRegKey\Value: " + lcValue3)
 
lnValue1 = WSHShell.RegRead("HKCU\MyRegKey\Entry")
WSHShell.Popup("Value of HKCU\MyRegKey\Entry: " + ALLTRIM(STR(lnValue1)))
 
lnValue3 = WSHShell.RegRead("HKCU\MyRegKey\Entry\Value1")
WSHShell.Popup("Value of HKCU\MyRegKey\Entry\Value1: " + ALLTRIM(STR(lnValue3(1))))
 
 
*!* Delete Registry Keys
WSHShell.Popup( "Delete value HKCU\MyRegKey\Entry\Value1")
WSHShell.RegDelete( "HKCU\MyRegKey\Entry\Value1")
 
WSHShell.Popup ("Delete key HKCU\MyRegKey\Entry")
WSHShell.RegDelete( "HKCU\MyRegKey\Entry\") 
 
WSHShell.Popup ("Delete key HKCU\MyRegKey")
WSHShell.RegDelete( "HKCU\MyRegKey\")

REFERENCES

You can find the papers below on the following Web site:

Http://www.msdn.microsoft.com/scripting/

White paper: Windows Script Host: A Universal Scripting Host for Scripting Languages

Technical Paper: Windows Script Host Programmer's Reference

For additional information about using Visual FoxPro and the Windows Scripting Host, please click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q244677 HOWTO: Create a Desktop Shortcut using the Windows Scripting Host

Q244676 HOWTO: Map, Delete and Enumerate Network Drives using the Windows Scripting Host

Additional query words:

Keywords : kbVFp300 kbVFp300b kbVFp500 kbVFp500a kbVFp600 kbWSH kbGrpFox kbDSupport kbCodeSnippet
Version : WINDOWS:3.0,3.0b,5.0,5.0a,6.0
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbhowto