H/W Detection from VB

[Guest_imported]

Hi!!

I am trying to write a program where I need at some point to ask the system if there is a frame grabber(h/w device)installed in the PC.

Does anyone know how to get this information from windows 9x/NT/2000?

Thanks in advance

 

[ddc821]

MSINFO32.EXE may be able to list your hardware. If you look up more information on the MSINFO32.EXE(search on MSINFO32.EXE in Google) , it says hardware information is available using it. Here's an example of how I'm using the program to retrieve system settings(I thought maybe you could copy and paste all of htis and modify to ready h/w vs. s/w settings.


Const HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE = &H80000002
Const ERROR_SUCCESS = 0
Const REG_SZ = 1 ' Unicode nul terminated string
Const REG_DWORD = 4 ' 32-bit number

Const gREGKEYSYSINFOLOC = "SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools Location"
Const gREGVALSYSINFOLOC = "MSINFO"
Const gREGKEYSYSINFO = "SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\MSINFO"
Const gREGVALSYSINFO = "PATH"

Private Declare Function RegOpenKeyEx Lib "advapi32" Alias "RegOpenKeyExA" (ByVal hKey As Long, ByVal lpSubKey As String, ByVal ulOptions As Long, ByVal samDesired As Long, ByRef phkResult As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function RegQueryValueEx Lib "advapi32" Alias "RegQueryValueExA" (ByVal hKey As Long, ByVal lpValueName As String, ByVal lpReserved As Long, ByRef lpType As Long, ByVal lpData As String, ByRef lpcbData As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function RegCloseKey Lib "advapi32" (ByVal hKey As Long) As Long

Public Sub StartSysInfo()
On Error GoTo SysInfoErr

Dim rc As Long
Dim SysInfoPath As String

' Try To Get System Info Program Path\Name From Registry...
If GetKeyValue(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, gREGKEYSYSINFO, gREGVALSYSINFO, SysInfoPath) Then
' Try To Get System Info Program Path Only From Registry...
ElseIf GetKeyValue(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, gREGKEYSYSINFOLOC, gREGVALSYSINFOLOC, SysInfoPath) Then
' Validate Existance Of Known 32 Bit File Version
If (Dir(SysInfoPath & &quot;\MSINFO32.EXE&quot <> &quot;&quot Then
SysInfoPath = SysInfoPath & &quot;\MSINFO32.EXE&quot;

' Error - File Can Not Be Found...
Else
GoTo SysInfoErr
End If
' Error - Registry Entry Can Not Be Found...
Else
GoTo SysInfoErr
End If

Call Shell(SysInfoPath, vbNormalFocus)

Exit Sub
SysInfoErr:
MsgBox &quot;System Information Is Unavailable At This Time&quot;, vbOKOnly
End Sub
Public Function GetKeyValue(KeyRoot As Long, KeyName As String, SubKeyRef As String, ByRef KeyVal As String) As Boolean
Dim i As Long ' Loop Counter
Dim rc As Long ' Return Code
Dim hKey As Long ' Handle To An Open Registry Key
Dim hDepth As Long '
Dim KeyValType As Long ' Data Type Of A Registry Key
Dim tmpVal As String ' Tempory Storage For A Registry Key Value
Dim KeyValSize As Long ' Size Of Registry Key Variable
'------------------------------------------------------------
' Open RegKey Under KeyRoot {HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE...}
'------------------------------------------------------------
rc = RegOpenKeyEx(KeyRoot, KeyName, 0, KEY_ALL_ACCESS, hKey) ' Open Registry Key

If (rc <> ERROR_SUCCESS) Then GoTo GetKeyError ' Handle Error...

tmpVal = String$(1024, 0) ' Allocate Variable Space
KeyValSize = 1024 ' Mark Variable Size

'------------------------------------------------------------
' Retrieve Registry Key Value...
'------------------------------------------------------------
rc = RegQueryValueEx(hKey, SubKeyRef, 0, _
KeyValType, tmpVal, KeyValSize) ' Get/Create Key Value

If (rc <> ERROR_SUCCESS) Then GoTo GetKeyError ' Handle Errors

If (Asc(Mid(tmpVal, KeyValSize, 1)) = 0) Then ' Win95 Adds Null Terminated String...
tmpVal = Left(tmpVal, KeyValSize - 1) ' Null Found, Extract From String
Else ' WinNT Does NOT Null Terminate String...
tmpVal = Left(tmpVal, KeyValSize) ' Null Not Found, Extract String Only
End If
'------------------------------------------------------------
' Determine Key Value Type For Conversion...
'------------------------------------------------------------
Select Case KeyValType ' Search Data Types...
Case REG_SZ ' String Registry Key Data Type
KeyVal = tmpVal ' Copy String Value
Case REG_DWORD ' Double Word Registry Key Data Type
For i = Len(tmpVal) To 1 Step -1 ' Convert Each Bit
KeyVal = KeyVal + Hex(Asc(Mid(tmpVal, i, 1))) ' Build Value Char. By Char.
Next
KeyVal = Format$(&quot;&h&quot; + KeyVal) ' Convert Double Word To String
End Select

GetKeyValue = True ' Return Success
rc = RegCloseKey(hKey) ' Close Registry Key
Exit Function ' Exit

GetKeyError: ' Cleanup After An Error Has Occured...
KeyVal = &quot;&quot; ' Set Return Val To Empty String
GetKeyValue = False ' Return Failure
rc = RegCloseKey(hKey) ' Close Registry Key
End Function

 

[Guest_imported]

Thanks for your response.

The code you wrote opens the MSINFO32.EXE so you could look at system information.
What I need is just to read from the registry if a h/w device exists in the system or not without user interaction.

 

[ddc821]

As I stated, if you do a find on MSINFO32.EXE in Google, it will show you this link:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q184075

This link describes how you can use the MSINFO32.EXE to get at h/w devices. I just gave you my system info code so you could modify it go after hardware based on what you read in the link.

 

[Guest_imported]

I checked the link you gave to me but it just says how to use the MSINFO32.EXE. It does not say how to get the information programatically. I do not want to open the MSINFO32.EXE to check for a device status, I need to get the information without the MSINFO32.EXE running.

Thanks