Registry Search with Wildcard?

[PodHunter]

My DLL should be installed in a sub-directory of third-party vendor's folder. There may be several versions of vendor's product installed, and I need to find the most recent.
Until recently, I could search the Registry for key Vendor.Product.Application. Having found that I could get the product class ID and from there obtain more information.
Unfortunately, the rules seem to have changed. That registry key now looks like Vendor.Product.Application.{class id}. In other words, you need to know the class ID in order to construct the search string to find ... the class ID!
A search string like Vendor.Product.Application.* doesn't work. Is there a way to search the Registry using a wildcard?

[linder]

Hello,

As I understand it, you would like to "loop" through Registry subkeys. Just use "Get Registry SubKey..." to handle this. You can use "Handle String Operation..." to retrieve the {class id} part.

Does this help?

Friedrich

[linder]

BTW, if you can post a registry example then I can help to write the code.

Friedrich

[PodHunter]

BTW, if you can post a registry example then I can help to write the code.

Friedrich
Thanks! Here's a screenshot showing two Bentley.MicroStation.Application.{class ID} keys.

http://www.la-solutions.co.uk/images/Bentley-Registry-Example.png

[linder]

No problem. I'll post a project later today.

Friedrich

[linder]

Hello,

I have developed and uploaded a registry scan project for you. It's a processor-intensive task, but doable:

http://www.lindersoft.com/projects/ScanRegistry.zip

Friedrich

[linder]

Hello,

During my tests, I noticed that scanning through the Registry with many keys is really slooooow. I've found a bottleneck in the function and have optimized the code. It is way faster now. Down from 3+ minutes (SB V8.1) to 4 seconds (SB 8.2). I can send you a re-compiled test executable if you want.

Friedrich

[PodHunter]

Thanks for the sample code. I don't think I could have come up with that :)

[linder]

You are welcome :)

The next version comes with the optimized code to "fix" the annoying bottleneck in the process.

Friedrich

[PodHunter]

Hello,

I noticed that scanning through the Registry with many keys is really slooooow.


It uses a lot of memory too! Searching my Registry, with ~7,000 entries in HK CLASSES, I get memory warnings from Windows.

Also, it reports only the first of two similar keys.

[linder]

Yes, that memory leak slows down the process. But it's down to nearly zero KB in the fixed version.

Could you please post two more example keys so I can test it?

Friedrich

[PodHunter]

please post two more example keys so I can test it
My previous screenshot shows two similar keys.

[linder]

Hmmm, on our test machines, it displays both (but with 4500+ keys only).

Does the re-compiled one work?

http://www.lindersoft.com/projects/ScanRegistryExe.zip

Friedrich

[PodHunter]

Does the re-compiled one work?

It takes a while to start (~30 seconds), but after the Do you really want to run this exe? dialog it's very fast.
Unfortunately, despite its speed, it doesn't find any keys at all :(

[linder]

The start delay is caused by your protection software (it scans it for a virus) and has nothing to do with the executable. The executable is lauched AFTER the "Do you really want to run this exe" dialog ;)

Wait, I'll check the scanning process again on a fresh Windows 7 machine...

Friedrich

[linder]

Hello,

I have code-signed the executable to make your protection software happy ;)

Could you please re-download it?

http://www.lindersoft.com/projects/ScanRegistryExe.zip

Does this work now?

Friedrich

[PodHunter]

:) Success!

Starts fast
Runs fast with no visible memory leak
Discovers all matched keys


Will that new search algorithm be incorporated into the next SB update?

[linder]

Thank you for the good news !!! :)

Yes, it will be incorporated into the next SB update.

Friedrich