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Registry Viewer and Editor for FAR
==================================
Version 1.1 beta, 22.10.97.
DISTRIBUTION: FREEWARE, under condition that the given product and this
text are left unchanged.
DISCLAIMER: The author is not responsible for any consequences of using
this product, though in testing he didn't find anything terrible in it :)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WARNING: Always backup your registry, especially before experimenting with it!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brief description
-----------------
This FAR plugin allows you to do with registry keys and variables exactly the
same things as with directories and files.
There are two operation modes: "keys as directories" and "keys as files".
The keys treated as files have the standard .REG format; REGEDIT.EXE
is called automatically to transform keys to files and to import them back
to registry (when editing or copying).
Import and export of single variables is done by the plugin itself
by usual file I/O operations. For string variables, the trailing zero is
truncated on export and added on import.
Values of all variables and default values of all keys are shown in the
standard Descriptions column. Binary values are converted to readable form.
Under Windows NT, the key owners are also shown in the standard Owner column.
You can see everything by yourself if you experiment pressing F3 or F4
on registry keys and values.
Some new keyboard shortcuts are introduced in this plugin: Shift-F1, Shift-F2,
Shift-F7, Ctrl-F, Ctrl-G, Ctrl-N, Ctrl-A (description see below). You can also
get into the plugin if you type in the command line the prefix reg: followed
by path to the key you want to see.
Installation and running
------------------------
Copy registry.dll and registry.hlf (if you need a help file) to the Plugins
subdirectory of your FAR directory, or to any subdirectory under Plugins.
Restart FAR, and a new item, Registry Browser, will appear in the
Plugins menu (F11). Select it, and you will get to the root keys of registry.
Basic advantages over regedit.exe
---------------------------------
1. You can edit keys as text files with FAR built-in editor or with any other
text editor (using file associations) with automatic export and import.
2. You can work with binary values from any binary editor (using file
associations).
3. Directly jump to a key by its path pasted from clipboard (using command "cd")
quick jump to predefined keys using FAR user menu or keyboard macros.
4. Default values for all keys are displayed simultaneously.
Numerical values are displayed in readable format.
5. Integration with FAR (copying keys to the other panel, sorting etc.).
6. Under Windows NT: display of the key's owner (it's also done by
regedt32.exe) and auto-refreshing.
7. The plugin remembers its last position.
8. You can change the values type.
Notes
-----
1. There are two operation modes of the plugin:
1) Keys as files. The keys can be distinguished from variables only if
displaying sizes is enabled, the size of keys displayed is 0. Regedit is
used to export keys as files.
Disadvantages of this mode: since FAR doesn't allow to intercept Ctrl-PgDn,
this key cannot be used to get into a registry key like into a directory.
To do this, use <Enter> or "cd" command. Moreover, it's hard to see the
difference between keys and values in the panel.
2) Keys as directories. Ctrl-PgDn works here. Keys are color-highlighted
properly (if files highlighting is enabled in FAR) and displayed, according
to sorting rules, before the values. View/Edit work exactly like in the
"keys as files" mode, but their windows are modal.
Disadvantages of this mode are: (1) viewing/editing keys are possible
only in modal windows, that is, no window switching if a key is viewed/edited;
(2) the built-in key NumPad5 doesn't work. But you can redefine it using
a macro which "presses" F3 when you press NumPad5.
To toggle between these modes, press Shift-F7.
2. Copy.
In this version, everything entered in copy dialog is considered as a
directory name. If the directory does not exist, it is created. In the
"keys as directories" mode, the keys are still exported as .REG files
rather than copied as trees of files made of values.
3. Move.
Move is not implemented (do you really need it?). Instead, Copy works only.
4. Creating new keys and values.
You can create empty keys with F7, like usual directories.
You can create new values either pressing Shift-F4, specifying the name of your
new value and editing it, or copying a previously created file with the same
name into the registry.
If the imported file has .REG file format (begins with REGEDIT4), then the
file name doesn't matter, and regedit.exe is launched to import it.
If the file imported as a new value is either empty or contains characters
beyond the 0x20..0x7e range, then the type of the new value is String,
otherwise it's Binary. If you need to create variables of another type, such
as DWORD, you can create the value as proposed and change its type with the
Ctrl-A command (see below), or edit the parent key (in .reg format).
5. Deleting.
When deleting a whole key, confirmation is asked only once, like on a usual
file! (Like regedit does, to the point.) If there are both a key and a value
under the same name, then the value is deleted. (This version can distinguish
between keys and values only by name.)
Under Windows 95+, keys containing subkeys are deleted OK, under NT
they are not deleted; you will have to remove all their subkeys.
6. Search (Alt-F7)
Even though on the panel keys are considered as files, in search operations
they are directories. Strings are searched only in values, not in names.
Binary values are taken physically, rather than hex-formatted or so.
7. Shortcuts in registry.
There are two built-in shortcuts:
Shift-F1 goes to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Far,
Shift-F2 goes to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Far.
8. The cd command is supported. The plugin understands both complete root
handle names (HKEY_CURRENT_USER) and reduced ones (HKCU).
They are case-insensitive.
9. On Ctrl-F, the complete name of a key under cursor bar is put to the
command line. It's provided by FAR 1.5 automatically.
10. On Ctrl-G, the contents of Description column is put to the command line.
11. Ctrl-N toggles display of binary values in the Descriptions field:
between hex dump and decimal number - for four-byte values,
between hex dump and ASCII string - for other values.
The standard meaning of Ctrl-N is of no use here.
12. Ctrl-A, pressed on a value, pops up a menu of value types, the current type
of the value is selected. Selecting the new type in the menu, you can change
this value type.
13. Two panel modes are overridden, 6 and 7. Default sort mode is Unsorted.
14. Under Windows 95+ the plugin understands key HKEY_DYN_DATA, showing
the current information on system.
Under Windows NT, similar information is extracted from the key
HKEY_PERFORMANCE_DATA, but the plugin does not work with it since its format
is complicated and tells little in binary form. Use separate utilities such as
Performance Monitor (perfmon).
15. All settings and the current path are saved before exit from the plugin.
16. Under NT the owners of keys are shown, but only if in the current"folder"
the number of keys is less than 100. Otherwise it dramatically decreases the
performance. Do you really need it? :)
17. You can get to any registry key from the command line by the prefix reg: ,
followed by the path to the key. For example, if you type
reg:HKCU\Software\Far\Plugins\YMS\Registry , you will get to the place
where this plugin saves its settings.
18. Please don't complain on some obscured error messages. I just show the
messages provided by Windows.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Yutsis
michael.y@sapiens.com
Fidonet: 2:405/333.15, 2:4626/3.11
Rehovot, Israel