registry - Manipulate the Windows registry
package require registry 1.3
registry ?-mode? option keyName
?arg arg ...?
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
registry 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\rootname\keypath
rootname\keypath
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.
The optional -mode argument indicates which registry to
work with; when it is -32bit the 32-bit registry will be used, and
when it is -64bit the 64-bit registry will be used. If this argument
is omitted, the system's default registry will be the subject of the
requested operation.
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 Environment 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
matching pattern are returned. Matching is determined using the
same rules as for string match.
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.
The registry command is only available on Windows.
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"