MAKEMSI quickly and reliably creates MSI files in a non-programmatic way\Source CodeCommandsRegistry

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The "Registry" Command

This command is used to set up registry entries.

If you have the data in "REGEDIT4" registry file format (or can obtain it) you might wish to import this (see the "RegistryImport" command) particularly if an external party is supplying the entries.

Except for values of type "MultiString" the registry command doesn't support appending (or prepending) to existing registry entries, see the "Registry Appending" section for a solution to this.

I recommend that you read the "Resource Life Cycle" section.

If the package installs onto a 64 bit operating system you need to ensure you supply the "64bit" attribute on the controlling "component" command or the value will be put into the "Wow6432Node" node of the registry, for example to "HKLM\Software\Wow6432Node\MyProduct" instead of "HKLM\Software\MyProduct"!

This command takes these parameters:

• HKEY (optional)
  This should be one of (see MSI doco for more info):
  • CURRENT_USER (or HKCU)
  • LOCAL_MACHINE (or HKLM)
  • CURRENT_USER_OR_LOCAL_MACHINE (or HKMU or HKUM)
    Registry in HKLM if per-machine install otherwise goes into HKCU (see "ALLUSERS" property).
  • CLASSES_ROOT (or HKCR)
    Classes root is a merge between local machine and current user registry (at "Software\classes"). It may be best to use "CURRENT_USER", "LOCAL_MACHINE" or "CURRENT_USER_OR_LOCAL_MACHINE" instead to be absolutely sure what is being updated.
  • USERS

  Note that "CLASSES_ROOT" is a mixture made up of "software\classes" registry information from current user and local machine registry hives.

  The default for this parameter can be set via the DEFAULT_REGISTRY_HKEY macro. The initial value for this is "LOCAL_MACHINE".

• Key (required)
  This is the key of the registry value.

• Name (optional)
  This is the value key name of the registry value. This defaults to "", which shows up as "(Default)" in regedit.exe.

• Value (optional)
  This is the actual value being assigned to the "Key\Name" registry key (it defaults to "").

  If the value contains msi formatting then you will need to use the "MsiFormatted" parameter (by default this command will escape "[" and other similar formatting characters).

  If using "[~]" (update rather than replacing registry values) you should also see these bugs:

  • PATH Completely Cleared!
  • Updating (not setting) Registry causes invalid values

• Type (optional)
  This is the type of registry entry, it should be one of:

  • STRING

  • EXPSTRING

  • MULTISTRING
    This defines a null delimitered list of strings ("REG_MULTI_SZ") where you use "[~]" (in the "value" parameter) to represent a null character. As an example the value "a[~]b[~]c" specifies 3 strings.

    If your value begins with "[~]" ("[~]a[~]b[~]c") then your value will be appended to any existing registry value strings.

    If your value ends with "[~]" ("a[~]b[~]c[~]") then your value will be prepended to any existing registry value strings.

    If your value begins & ends with "[~]" or it appears at neither end then your value will replace any existing registry value strings. If your value doesn't contain any "[~]" sequences at all then MAKEMSI will add this to the start and end of the string for you (as Windows Installer requires the value contain at least 1 occurance). Note that the value will be processed as if you'd specified "VALUE" on the "MsiFormatted" parameter as the "value" will always contain msi formatting (at least 1 "[~]").

  • INTEGER or DWORD
    The value you provide is a VBSCRIPT expression such as "123" (without the quotes). If you need to pass a string (say "[PORT]") then be sure to surround it with double quotes!

  • BINARY
    You can supply values like "41, 42, 43" (3 hex values). Note that commas and spaces allow you to separate the values to make it more readable.

  • RAW
    This type basically means you want MAKEMSI to leave the supplied value alone and not supply any Windows Installer prefix or escape msi formatting.

    The "Value" parameter will be left as is (raw) which assumes that you have supplied it with correct MSI formatting as well as the appropriate "prefix" (such as "#" for dword) as per the rules documented for the "Value" column of the "Registry" table.

  The default for this parameter can be set via the DEFAULT_REGISTRY_TYPE macro. The initial value for this is "STRING".

• Component (optional)
  If not passed then the registry entry is added to the "current component". The component's attributes control installation and uninstallation conditions and behaviour.

  If you are not within a component or you pass "" for this parameter then a component will be made for this registry entry. If required you can pass Component parameters in the "OPTIONS4COMPONENT" parameter.

• Options4Component (optional)
  This parameter is ignored unless this command needs to create components. This can contain any Component command parameter names and values.

  The default for this parameter can be set via the DEFAULT_REGISTRY_OPTIONS4COMPONENT macro. The initial value for this is "".

• KeyPath (optional)
  If this registry entry should be the keypath for the component then pass "Y" for this parameter.

• RowKey (optional)
  You may wish to set up a specific key to the row in this "Registry" table entry, if you don't supply one a unique key will be generated for you.

• MsiFormatted (optional)
  The registry command is unusual in that it assumes that the values you supplied in the "KEY", "NAME" and "VALUE" parameters are "unformatted" unless told otherwise. This means that "[A]" is treated as if you wanted a string with exactly those 3 characters and not replacement of a property called "A".

  If you have supplied MSI formatted values then you need to tell MAKEMSI this so that it will leave the value you supplied alone, otherwise it will "fix" (escape) the values. If you wish to refer to any MSI properties, directories or file keys etc you will need to use MSI formatting and handle any other characters (such as "[") yourself.

  By default this parameter has a value of "", otherwise you can supply a space or comma separated list of 1 or more of the following items:

  1. KEY
  2. NAME
  3. VALUE Automatically applied for types "MultiString" & "RAW".

• Access (optional)
  You can use this parameter to indicate that the entry requires one or more (space separated) special user permissions which have previously been defined using an "Access" command.

• Doco (optional)
  Should registry information is placed into the generated HTML report (Y/N)?

  The default for this parameter can be set via the DEFAULT_REGISTRY_DOCO macro. The initial value for this is "Y".

• Comment (optional)
  This is a comment for the HTML doco (assuming its being added to it!).

• KeyAction (optional)
  This parameter indicates how the entry should be installed and uninstalled. It should either be "" or one of (in which case the "VALUE" parameter must be ""):
  • INSTALL
    The key is to be created, if absent, when the component is installed.
  • UNINSTALL
    The key is to be deleted, if present, with all of its values and subkeys, when the component is uninstalled.
  • INSTALL_UNINSTALL
    The key is to be created, if absent, when the component is installed. Also, the key is to be deleted, if present, with all of its values and subkeys, when the component is uninstalled.

  The default is "".

Main Registry Related Options

Please see the "options for commands" section of the manual.

#define? DEFAULT_REGISTRY_HKEY                       LOCAL_MACHINE
#define? DEFAULT_REGISTRY_TYPE                       STRING
#define? DEFAULT_REGISTRY_ROWKEY_PREFIX              MmRegistry
#define? DEFAULT_REGISTRY_ACCESS
#define? DEFAULT_REGISTRY_DOCO                       Y          ;;"N" = Don't add to doco (by default)
#define? REGISTRY_COMPONENT_AUTOCREATE_ALLOWED       Y          ;;Y/N
#define? DEFAULT_REGISTRY_OPTIONS4COMPONENT
#define? REGISTRY_COMPONENT_ROWKEY_REXXEXPRESSION    'AutoRC_' || {$RowKeyVar} ;;For autocreated components
#define? REGISTRY_HTMLRPT_HR                          <$SUNDRY_HTMLRPT_HR>
#( '<?NewLine>'
   #define? REGISTRY_STYLES

   .RegistryCmtPlus             {font-size:9pt;}
   .RegistryCmtName             {<$HTMLRPT_STYLE_VALUES_KEY>}
   .RegistryCmtValue            {<$HTMLRPT_STYLE_VALUES_VALUE>}
#)

EXAMPLE - Simple Examples

<$Registry HKEY="CURRENT_USER" Key="Software\DENNIS" Name='STRING1'     Value="1234">              ;;Test string
<$Registry HKEY="CURRENT_USER" Key="Software\DENNIS" Name='CompKeyPath' Value="KP" KeyPath=Y>      ;;Make this registry entry the keypath for the component
<$Registry HKEY="CURRENT_USER" Key="Software\DENNIS" Name='DWORD1'      Value="&H0c" Type="DWORD"> ;;Test dword AND hex literal
<$Property "PORT" VALUE="123">                                                                                                      ;;Set property, could be set by command line or dialog etc
<$Registry HKEY="CURRENT_USER" Key="Software\DENNIS" Name='DWORD2_PROP' Value=^"[PORT]"^     Type="DWORD"     MSIFORMATTED="VALUE"> ;;DWORD comes from property
<$Registry HKEY="CURRENT_USER" Key="Software\DENNIS" NAME="ExpZValue"   VALUE="aaa[~]bbb[~]" TYPE="EXPSTRING" MsiFormatted="VALUE"> ;;Try Multi expand string
<$Registry HKEY="CURRENT_USER" Key="Software\DENNIS" NAME="HexValue"    Value="41,42,43"     TYPE="BINARY">                         ;;Test a binary value

EXAMPLE - Append to existing REG_MULTI_SZ

<$Component "SetupBootExecution" Create="Y" Directory_="INSTALLDIR">
    ;--- Add the script we generated above ----------------------------------
    <$Files "AtBoot.exe" KeyFile="*">

    ;--- Tell Windows to execute the EXE very early in boot (too early for anything fancy) ---
    #(
        <$Registry
                    HKEY="LOCAL_MACHINE"
                     Key="SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager"
                    Name="BootExecute"
                    Type="MultiString"
                   Value=^[~][INSTALLDIR]AtBoot.exe^   ;;Append the EXE name to any existing value
            MsiFormatted="VALUE"
        >
    #)
<$/Component>

See the "Registry Appending" section for an example of a custom action that could be used to append or prepend to other registry types.

EXAMPLE - Use macro to make many similar changes

The following creates a macro which can be used to set your applications registry options (as written will overwrite any existing):

#(
   ;--- Define macro so set application options in registry -----------------
   #define AppOption
   <$Registry
                HKEY="LOCAL_MACHINE"
                 Key="SOFTWARE\MyCompany\MyAppOptions"
                Name=`{$#1}`
               Value=`{$Value}`
             KeyPath="{$KeyPath='N'}"         ;;Optional parm (default = N)
       MsiFormatted="NAME,VALUE"
   >
#)

Example of the new macro being used:

<$Component "RegistryOptions" Create="Y" Directory_="INSTALLDIR">
   ;--- Component Keypath ---------------------------------------------------
   <$AppOption "Installed - By <$ProdInfo.ProductName> <$ProductVersion>" Value=^[Date] [Time]^ KeyPath="Y">

   ;--- Set many options ----------------------------------------------------
   <$AppOption "OptionA" Value=^a^>
   <$AppOption "OptionB" Value=^b^>
                ...
   <$AppOption "OptionZ" Value=^z^>
<$/Component>

The above example shows a number of registry values being created in a manner which is much easier to type and read and if you made a mistake you are much more likely to see it earlier as well.

Please email me any feedback, additional information or corrections. See this page online (look for updates) MAKEMSI© is (C)opyright Dennis Bareis 2003-2008 (All rights reserved). Saturday May 28 2022 at 3:11pm Visit MAKEMSI's Home Page