OpenEuphoria

Nexus registry

• Posted by kbochert at copper.net Nov 06, 2002
• 414 views

I recently noticed the Nexus thread that mentions
the use of the registry for configuration
information.

For what its worth, I would strongly recommend
the use of an INI file.

>From MSDN web site:
"
 The Microsoft Computer Dictionary, Fifth
Edition, defines the registry as: 

 A central hierarchical database used in Microsoft
Windows 9x, Windows CE, Windows NT, and Windows
2000 used to store information necessary to
configure the system for one or more users,
applications and hardware devices.
 The Registry contains information that Windows
continually references during operation, such as
profiles for each user, the applications
installed on the computer and the types of
documents that each can create, property sheet
settings for folders and application icons, what
hardware exists on the system, and which ports
are being used.
 The Registry replaces most of the text-based
.ini files used in Windows 3.x and MS-DOS
configuration files, such as the Autoexec.bat and
Config.sys. Although the Registry is common to
several Windows platforms, there are some
differences among them.
  "

The first two paragraphs clearly state that the
registry is used for configuring the operating
system.

The third paragraph mentions its use to replace
.ini files in the same way that it replaces
autoexec.bat and config.sys (again, system
configuration.)

Nowhere is it suggested that the registry is used
to store application configuration.

Finally, the registry was created to solve the
problems introduced by .ini files, but those
problems were only caused by the storing of
system configuration, not application
configuration. 

Use the registry to communicate with Windows.
Use something else for internal persistence.


Karl Bochert


P.S.
 Has anyone noticed the new Microsoft
installer (.MSI files)?  It stores all of an
application's uninstall info in the registry
(hundreds of entries for a large package).
Moreover, it cannot uninstall itself; If you
uninstall it by backing up and restoring the
registry around it, it goes away but then can not
be re-installed.


P.P.S.
Is it true that the Win98 registry can only grow
(no space ever re-used) but newer Windows (XP, 2000)
can shrink the registry when entries are removed?