General Registry Question

[AdamChamberlin]

Anyone want to tell me why so many programs and programmers us the registry and not a local INI? I can see saving information like your programs path in the reg but I don't see why programs keep everything there. Would it not make more sense and keep the reg cleaner if only things that needed to be global where stored there? The only thing I can think of is the path to your program. I think if a program will not run after a full reinstall of windows its keeping to much info in the reg. But thats me. Anyone here want to give me some input on this issue?

 

[PeteG]

I use both occassionally but I've got to say I generally feel safer puttings paths and other settings into the registry. For a start, there's always a chance somebody will come along and delete/change the INI (shouldn't happen but then again...). On Win NT, peoples profiles can roam around with them so it doesn't matter what PC they log on at, if you use the 'user' part of the registry, they will have the intended settings. Still, you can put an INI file onto a network drive. I suppose there's pro's and cons for both but I prefer to keep required settings as out of the way of potential harm as possible!
You could argue that an INI file is more easily amended if you need to change it regularly......
Of course, if your app connects to a database, you could always keep settings etc in a table in the db itself

Pete

 

[petermeachem]

Couldn't agree with you more. The registry is a damnable mess. I wouldn't mind so much if it was easy to find and change stuff in it. I don't mind talking my customers through altering ini files. Wouldn't let any of them within a km of the registry though. I think shoving a load of programme local stuff in it is as bad as when people used to fill win.ini with the same stuff.