registry(n)						       Tcl Bundled Packages						       registry(n)

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NAME

       registry - Manipulate the Windows registry

SYNOPSIS

       package require registry 1.1

       registry option keyName ?arg arg ...?
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DESCRIPTION

       The  registry  package provides a general set of operations for manipulating the Windows registry.  The package implements the registry Tcl
       command.  This command is only supported on the Windows platform.  Warning: this command should be used with caution as	a  corrupted  reg-
       istry can leave your system in an unusable state.

       KeyName is the name of a registry key.  Registry keys must be one of the following forms:

	      \hostname
ootnamekeypath

	      rootnamekeypath

	      rootname

       Hostname specifies the name of any valid Windows host that exports its registry.  The rootname component must be one of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE,
       HKEY_USERS, HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, HKEY_CURRENT_USER, HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG, HKEY_PERFORMANCE_DATA, or HKEY_DYN_DATA.	The keypath can be one	or
       more registry key names separated by backslash () characters.

       Option indicates what to do with the registry key name.	Any unique abbreviation for option is acceptable.  The valid options are:

       registry broadcast keyName ?-timeout milliseconds?
	      Sends  a	broadcast  message  to	the system and running programs to notify them of certain updates.  This is necessary to propagate
	      changes to key registry keys like Environment.  The timeout specifies the amount of time, in milliseconds, to wait for  applications
	      to respond to the broadcast message.  It defaults to 3000.  The following example demonstrates how to add a path to the global Envi-
	      ronment and notify applications of the change without requiring a logoff/logon step (assumes admin privileges):

		     set regPath [join {
			 HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
			 SYSTEM
			 CurrentControlSet
			 Control
			 {Session Manager}
			 Environment
		     } "\"]
		     set curPath [registry get $regPath "Path"]
		     registry set $regPath "Path" "$curPath;$addPath"
		     registry broadcast "Environment"

       registry delete keyName ?valueName?
	      If the optional valueName argument is present, the specified value under keyName will be deleted from the registry.  If the optional
	      valueName  is omitted, the specified key and any subkeys or values beneath it in the registry hierarchy will be deleted.	If the key
	      could not be deleted then an error is generated.	If the key did not exist, the command has no effect.

       registry get keyName valueName
	      Returns the data associated with the value valueName under the key keyName.  If either the key or the value does not exist, then	an
	      error is generated.  For more details on the format of the returned data, see SUPPORTED TYPES, below.

       registry keys keyName ?pattern?
	      If  pattern  is  not  specified,	returns  a list of names of all the subkeys of keyName.  If pattern is specified, only those names
	      matching pattern are returned.  Matching is determined using the same rules as for string match.	If the specified keyName does  not
	      exist, then an error is generated.

       registry set keyName ?valueName data ?type??
	      If  valueName  is  not  specified, creates the key keyName if it does not already exist.	If valueName is specified, creates the key
	      keyName and value valueName if necessary.  The contents of valueName are set to data with the type indicated by type.   If  type	is
	      not specified, the type sz is assumed.  For more details on the data and type arguments, see SUPPORTED TYPES below.

       registry type keyName valueName
	      Returns the type of the value valueName in the key keyName.  For more information on the possible types, see SUPPORTED TYPES, below.

       registry values keyName ?pattern?
	      If pattern is not specified, returns a list of names of all the values of keyName.  If pattern is specified, only those names match-
	      ing pattern are returned.  Matching is determined using the same rules as for string match.

SUPPORTED TYPES

       Each value under a key in the registry contains some data of a particular type in a type-specific  representation.   The  registry  command
       converts  between  this internal representation and one that can be manipulated by Tcl scripts.	In most cases, the data is simply returned
       as a Tcl string.  The type indicates the intended use for the data, but does not actually change the representation.  For some  types,  the
       registry  command returns the data in a different form to make it easier to manipulate.	The following types are recognized by the registry
       command:

       binary		The registry value contains arbitrary binary data.  The data is represented exactly in Tcl, including any embedded nulls.

       none		The registry value contains arbitrary binary data with no defined type.  The data is represented exactly in Tcl, including
			any embedded nulls.

       sz		The registry value contains a null-terminated string.  The data is represented in Tcl as a string.

       expand_sz	The  registry  value contains a null-terminated string that contains unexpanded references to environment variables in the
			normal Windows style (for example, "%PATH%").  The data is represented in Tcl as a string.

       dword		The registry value contains a little-endian 32-bit number.  The data is represented in Tcl as a decimal string.

       dword_big_endian The registry value contains a big-endian 32-bit number.  The data is represented in Tcl as a decimal string.

       link		The registry value contains a symbolic link.  The data is represented exactly in Tcl, including any embedded nulls.

       multi_sz 	The registry value contains an array of null-terminated strings.  The data is represented in Tcl as a list of strings.

       resource_list	The registry value contains a device-driver resource list.  The data is represented exactly in Tcl, including any embedded
			nulls.

       In  addition to the symbolically named types listed above, unknown types are identified using a 32-bit integer that corresponds to the type
       code returned by the system interfaces.	In this case, the data is represented exactly in Tcl, including any embedded nulls.

PORTABILITY ISSUES

       The registry command is only available on Windows.

EXAMPLE

       Print out how double-clicking on a Tcl script file will invoke a Tcl interpreter:

	      package require registry
	      set ext .tcl

	      # Read the type name
	      set type [registry get HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\$ext {}]
	      # Work out where to look for the command
	      set path HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\$type\Shell\Open\command
	      # Read the command!
	      set command [registry get $path {}]

	      puts "$ext opens with $command"

KEYWORDS

       registry

registry								1.1							       registry(n)