Within the Visual Designer mode, adding registry objects to a packaging project may be done by manually creating new ones inside the existing structure or by importing existing objects from external resources, such as local volumes, network shares, or flash drives.
The default template for new packaging projects creates a basic structure of hives to start from:
•HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
•HKEY_CURRENT_USER
•HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
•HKEY_USER_SELECTABLE
•HKEY_USERS
Keys can only be created as child nodes to those predefined parent hives.
To Manually Add a Single Key
•Right-click the designated parent node and select New key from the context menu
or
•Left-click the designated parent node and hit Insert on your keyboard
Either way, a new registry key is created within the left window of the package registry browser interface, and immediately set into the direct inline editing mode, which allows users to change the name of the key by simply starting to type it.
By hitting Enter on the keyboard, the new key name is evaluated regarding the required compliance with the naming convention for registry keys:
•Key names consist of one or more printable characters (ASCII characters A-Z (a-z), digits, underscores (_), or periods (.)).
•Key names may not begin or end with a backslash (\).
•Key names are not case sensitive.
•Key names have to be unique among the siblings directly below the same parent key.
•Key names are not localized into other languages, although values may be.
Manually Add a Sub-tree of Registry Keys
It is a common task to build a structure of nested registry keys to create an explicitly stated result. To achieve that with the least possible effort, RayPack allows packagers to enter qualified key structures in one single step:
To create a sub-tree of registry keys, type the key names separated by backslashes (\) when the direct inline editing mode for registry keys is active.
To create a key called RayPack within HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE that is nested into a Raynet key below Software:
1.Right-click HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
2.Select New key from the context menu
3.Type "Software\Raynet\RayPack"
4.Hit Enter
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Note: Please note that the registry tree depth is restricted to 512 levels. |
To Manually Copy a Key From the Local System
1.In order to be able to copy registry contents from the local system, users have to display the system registry browser.
To do so, the Show registry browser button at the right, upper corner of the Registry view has to be clicked.
To close the system registry browser, use the Hide registry browser button below the system registry browser windows.
2.Within the left tree structure explorer window of the system registry browser:
Select the key that has to be copied into the packaging project registry contents.
3.Click on the arrow button at the bottom of the tree structure explorer window of the system registry browser.
4.A copy of the registry key (including all sub-keys and values it contains) is created immediately.
Please note that the new key is inserted at the very same position its master holds on the local system.
To Manually Add a Registry Value
Users can go several ways to trigger the creation of a value inside a key:
•Within the left window of the package registry browser, right-click the parent key, select New Value from the context menu, and pick the desired value type from the sub-menu.
•Once a registry key is selected within the left window of the package registry browser, right-click somewhere within the right window, select New Value from the context menu, and pick the desired value type from the sub-menu.
The new value is added to the set of already existing ones in the right package registry browser window with a default name depending on the value type (e. g. New DWORD value). As known from new keys, a new value is immediately set into direct inline edit mode, which allows users to start typing the desired value name right away.
By hitting Enter on the keyboard, the new value name is evaluated regarding the required compliance with the naming convention for registry values:
•Value names are stored in the Installer database table Registry as formatted column values:
oText string that is processed to resolve embedded property names, table keys, environment variable references, and other special substrings.
oSquare brackets ([ ]) or curly braces ({ }) with no matching pair are left in the text.
oA name like [propertyname] is replaced by the value of the property. If propertyname is not a valid property name, then the substring resolves as blank.
•The value name is NULL for default values, but may not be NULL for any other value type.
•Value names may contain any combination of alphanumeric and special characters.
For further details regarding formatted column types or the Registry table within Installer databases, please refer to the MSDN documentation.
Once a registry value is created within the Visual Designer view Registry, users may open its properties for edition by either double-clicking the row of the value within the right window of the package registry browser or by right-clicking it, and selecting Properties from the context menu.
To Manually Copy a Value From the Local System
1.In order to be able to copy registry contents from the local system, users have to display the system registry browser.
To do so, the Show registry browser button at the right, upper corner of the Registry view has to be clicked.
To close the system registry browser, use the Hide registry browser button below the system registry browser windows.
2.Within the left tree structure explorer window of the package registry browser:
Select the target key into which the values from the local system should be copied to.
3.Within the left tree structure explorer window of the system registry browser:
Select the source key that includes the value that has to be copied into the packaging project registry contents.
(Use Control on the keyboard to multi-select values)
4.Click on the arrow button at the bottom of the right value explorer window of the system registry browser.
5.A copy of the registry value is created immediately.
Once a registry value is created within the Visual Designer view Registry, users may open its properties for edition by either double-clicking the row of the value within the right window of the package registry browser or by right-clicking it, and selecting Properties from the context menu.