5.2 Learning the RegEdt32 Interface
Where
RegEdit 's interface is like that of
Windows Explorer, RegEdt32 has an interface very
similar to the original Windows 3.1/NT File Manager. This likeness is
partly due to heritage; RegEdt32 was first
delivered with NT 3.1 back in 1993, and hasn't been rewritten
to take advantage of the user-interface enhancements included with
later revisions of the operating system.
Figure 5.1 shows RegEdt32 in
action. Each root key has its own document window. These windows are
independent of one another and can be moved, tiled, resized, and
arranged however you wish. You can't, however, close individual
root key windows for the keys on your own machine, but you can
minimize them to keep them out of the way, or you can use the
Registry Close command to close all the root windows.
Each root key window is further divided into two panes. The tree
pane, which is similar to RegEdit 's key
pane, is on the left and shows a tree structure representing the
hierarchy of keys under that root. The data pane is on the right, and
it displays all values for whatever key is selected in the tree pane.
Between the two panes is a standard Windows splitter control, which
allows you to adjust the relative width of the two panes. In a
welcome departure from RegEdit, the tree and
data panes both have horizontal scrollbars, thus making it easier to
view long values without having to resort to trickery.
RegEdit doesn't automatically update its
display as keys and values changed. However,
RegEdt32 gives you a choice. In "automatic
update" mode, RegEdt32 refreshes its
display when the Registry changes, but this is time-consuming and
sometimes unnecessary. You can turn this mode off, in which case
RegEdt32 acts like RegEdit:
it doesn't automatically update values that have been changed
by other applications or system components.
5.2.1 Manipulating Windows
When you start RegEdt32 for the first time, all
five root key windows appear, stacked diagonally across the
RegEdt32 root window area. (Yes, five: even
though HKDD is a legitimate root key, RegEdt32
doesn't know about it, doesn't display it, and
won't allow you to open it.) You can manually move the windows
around however you like; the Window menu also offers you several
commands for quickly arranging windows the way you want them:
The Cascade command (Shift+F5) arranges all the open root key windows
in a diagonal pattern. The first window snugs up immediately beneath
the menu bar, and the others are offset down and to the right so that
all their titlebars are visible. The currently active window will end
up at the bottom-right corner of the stack. The Tile command (Shift+F4) sizes and positions the open windows so
that all of them are equally sized and visible simultaneously. The Arrange Icons command neatly aligns any minimized windows along
the bottom margin of the application window.
Besides these commands, RegEdt32 also includes
the root key windows in the Window menu. Each of the five windows has
its own entry, and you can jump to any one by selecting it from the
menu. If you have additional root keys on other computers open,
they'll be displayed too. If you have more than nine open root
key windows, the WindowMore Windows... command appears,
making available a dialog from which you can choose any open window.
There's one more useful window command, but it's not in
the Window menu: RegistryClose. The individual root key
windows don't have the standard "close" icon in
their titlebar, and the tool stripe pop-up menu doesn't have a
close command on it either. However, RegistryClose closes your
windows in two ways. If you select it while the active window is for
a root key on your local machine, all the root key windows for your
machine close, and you have to use the RegistryOpen Local command
to reopen. If you select RegistryClose when the
active window is displaying a root key from another machine, the set
of root key windows for that machine are closed. When you close the
last window to another machine's Registry,
RegEdt32 disconnects from the remote machine
altogether.
5.2.2 Controlling What You See
RegEdt32 includes a View menu that gives you
some degree of control over the way data is displayed in the root key
windows. The commands in this menu affect only the frontmost window,
with one exception (the Refresh All command):
By default, RegEdt32 shows both the tree and
data panes. This corresponds to the View menu's first command,
Tree and Data. If you prefer, you can use the Tree Only or Data Only
commands to limit the display to whatever you're interested in
looking at. The current setting is marked with a checkmark. The ViewSplit command activates the vertical window
splitter bar that separates the tree and data panes. Once you issue
the Split command, you can drag the splitter left or right by moving
your mouse left or right or using the left and right arrow keys. Of
course, this duplicates what you could do by clicking and dragging
the splitter bar itself (that little black square at the bottom of
the splitter). RegEdt32 normally displays data in its native
format. For example, DWORD values are shown as hex numbers, REG_SZ
values are shown as strings, and so on. The ViewDisplay Binary Data command lets you override
this behavior and force RegEdt32 to show
everything as though it were binary data (it actually appears as a
string of hex digits, not in true binary). RegEdt32 may or may not automatically refresh
its display to reflect any added, deleted, or changed keys or values,
depending on your preference. If you've told
RegEdt32 not to automatically update the
display, you must manually ask for updates when you want them. There
are two ways to do so. The first way is to ask
RegEdt32 to update its display of all open root
keys with the ViewRefresh All command or its accelerator,
Shift+F6. As its name suggests, this command tells
RegEdt32 to update every root key window for
local and remote machines. For those times when you care about only
what's displayed in the frontmost window, the ViewRefresh Active command (or its accelerator,
F6) does just that, updating only the values and keys in the
currently active root key window.
The View menu also sports a Find Key command, which is discussed in Section 5.5 a bit later.
5.2.3 Setting Session Options
RegEdt32 lumps a number of useful settings into
its Options menu; these settings give you additional control over how
RegEdt32 behaves. The first one worth mentioning
is actually the last command in the menu: Save Settings on Exit. When
this command is checked (as it is by default),
RegEdt32 remembers the settings of all the other
options in the menu, as well as the positions, sizes, and
minimized/maximized states of all the root key windows.
RegEdt32 stores this information in
HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\RegEdt32\Settings. The other Options menu
commands are a mixed bag:
You can choose the font face and size used to draw the root key
windows and their contents with the OptionsFont... command.
This is a boon for both high- and low-resolution displays, since you
can find a comfortable point size that allows you to read the tree
and data panes without squinting. The Auto Refresh command controls whether
RegEdt32 automatically updates its tree and data
panes to keep them in sync with the actual contents of the Registry.
If this command is enabled, RegEdt32 updates all
open root key windows whenever changes occur. This takes a small, but
noticeable, amount of time. If you turn Auto Refresh off, you can
still use the manual refresh commands in the View menu to force
RegEdt32 to update itself when you think
it's necessary. However, Auto Refresh is convenient and works
fine as long as you don't mind the occasional pause. Note that
when you're connected to a remote Registry you have to use the
manual refresh command, since automatic updating doesn't work. Read Only Mode is, sadly, not turned on by default. When it is on,
RegEdt32 won't let you change anything in
the Registry. You can look at keys and values as much as you'd
like, but you won't be able to add or delete keys or add, edit,
or delete values. Whenever you open a value to edit it,
RegEdt32 presents a polite dialog telling you
that read-only mode is enabled and that your changes won't be
saved. When setting up a new installation, I always make sure to log on as
Administrator, run RegEdt32, make sure
"Save Settings On Exit" is checked, and turn on Read Only
Mode. Savvy users can always turn it off; in the meantime, it's
useful protection against the curious but unschooled. It can also
keep you from making mistakes on your own machine, so I recommend
turning it on there as well. Unfortunately, this setting is saved on
a user-by-user basis, but you can achieve the desired effect by
making the change to the default user profile.
The OptionsConfirm On Delete command is another potential
bacon-saver, which probably explains why it's turned on by
default. When it's on, RegEdt32 warns you
with a confirmation dialog when you try to remove a value or key;
this last-ditch "are you sure?" step has saved many an
administrator from accidentally removing something unintended. For
your own health and safety, please leave this option turned
on.
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