Implementation and Usage

Download and Implementation

To use this extension you have to start with downloading it following next steps:

1. Download the extension from GitHub or Sourceforge pages.
2. Extract the contents of the bin folder and copy them to the bin folder that is present in the ring language folder ( where the “ring.exe” file is located ).
3. Load the extension and its features in the ring code by using load command as:

Load "wincreg.ring"

How to use

In order to use “ring_wincreg” extension you have two options to start with:

• Using the functions of the extension directly
• Using the extension through RCRegistry Class Library

I would prefer to use the second option as you can read in (RCRegistry class library usage) section and because I have added some other nice features using Ring that can be used only with RCRegistry class library.

Direct extension’s functions usage

You can use the extension functions directly by calling each function as any ring function. In this case you have to load the “ring_wincreg.dll” file directly from the ring code as:

LoadLib("ring_wincreg.dll")

Then you can call the functions of the extension by their names.

Lets take a practical example of using this method; in this example we are going to create a key and save a value in it.

LoadLib("ring_wincreg.dll")

oKey = CRegOpenKey(HKEY_CURRENT_USER, "Software\MyApp")

CRegSetValue(oKey, "version", "4.4")

See "MyApp version is : " + CRegGetValue(oKey, "version")

CRegCloseKey(oKey)

This example does the following:

• Create and open a key named “MyApp” in the “Software” key in the main root “HKEY_CURRENT_USER”, then assign it’s handle (pointer) to the oKey.
• Create new entry named “version”.
• Set the value “4.4” to the newly created entry.
• Print the value of the “version” entry after retrieving it.
• Close the key “oKey”.

RCRegistry class library usage

RCRegistry class library has been made to simplify using “ring_wincreg” extension by avoid using its long function’s names and introduce a nice template for dealing with entries.

RCRegistryObject["EntryName"]

Also it reduces the pain of repeatedly mentioning the key handle and typing other parameters with each function call of this extension.

In a nutshell, this class library brings a special, readable and nice coding experience throughout “ring_wincreg” extension usage.

It has been written in a ring file called “wincreg.ring” which contains also another class named “RCRegEntry” that is needed by RCRegistry class to deal with entries.

To use “ring_wincreg” extension using this library you have to load “wincreg.ring” file to your code, because this file will load “ring_wincreg.dll” extension file and “wincreg.rh” header file that it needs.

Load "wincreg.ring"

Now we have to apply the previous example using this method to clarify the difference.

Load "wincreg.ring"

oReg = New RCRegistry {

        OpenKey([HKEY_CURRENT_USER, "Software\MyApp"])

        oReg["version"].SetValue("4.4")

        See "MyApp version is : " + oReg["version"].GetValue()

        CloseKey()

        }

Note

RCRegistry class can represent and deal with one opened key. So in case of dealing with more than one key at the same time we should define a separate RCRegistry Object for each key.

As we are really lucky using Ring, we can write the same previous example without creating any object like this:

Load "wincreg.ring"

New RCRegistry {

        OpenKey([HKEY_CURRENT_USER, :Software\MyApp])

        Self["version"].SetValue("4.4")

        See "MyApp version is : " + Self["version"].GetValue()

        CloseKey()

        }

In the next sections I’m going to explain how to use “ring_wincreg” extension using RCRegistry class library but I should also list all of the extension functions later on.