Book details of 'Windows Nt Registry Guide'

Title	Windows Nt Registry Guide
Author(s)	Weiying Chen, Wayne Berry
ISBN	0201694735
Language	English
Publisher	Addison-Wesley Pub Co

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Reviewer amazon.com wrote:
For programmers, Chen and Berry have created an excellent introduction to the Windows NT 4.0 Registry in Windows NT Registry Guide. Lacking a complete catalog of keys, this book's value lies instead in its exhaustive documentation of the Registry API and its examples--included on a companion disk--of accessing and modifying Registry information in Visual Basic and C++ programs, including ActiveX controls. The authors begin with the obligatory explanation of the Registry's functions and documentation of Registry Editor. They quickly move on to provide a full documentation of the Registry API, a helpful tool unfortunately marred by unclear organization. Still, this book partially redeems itself with its discussions of Registry- accessing programs in both C++ and Visual Basic and documentation of the Registry entries related to NT's Internet Information Server (IIS) and ActiveX controls.
Reviewer Rob Slade wrote:
The Registry is the configuration database new to Windows 95 and Windows NT. It replaces the series of initialization and configuration (.INI) files that were such a large part of Windows 3.x. As with its predecessor .INI files, the official Microsoft position is that Microsoft knows best, and you should just keep your hands off. To that end, almost no information is provided about the Registry, and the Registry Editor is not found on the Desktop, or anywhere in the toolbar. The authors, both connected with Microsoft, follow the party line. This book is not intended for the user, but rather for the developer who is writing applications that will need to install and put entries into the Registry. As noted, the Registry exists in both Windows NT and Windows 95. Therefore, despite the title, this book applies to both. Where the two systems are different, details are given for each. Also, despite the exhortation that the Registry is not for users, chapter two, on using the Registry Editor, is admirably clear as to the operation of REGEDIT. There is also a quick, but quite serviceable, explanation of making modifications to the Registry with scripts. They weren't kidding, though, about the intended audience. Chapter three, the longest in the book, covers the Registry API (Application Programming Interface) with plenty of source code to back it up. Chapters four and five extend that by looking specifically at the use of the API in Visual Basic and C++. Chapter six looks at support for ActiveX technology. The final chapter has some interesting implications: it looks at Registry programming that can be used to customize and extend the Windows 95 and NT shell. Unfortunately, the delivery in this chapter is not as good as in other parts of the book, and the explanations are not as clear. There are some interesting nuggets of information, with implications beyond the face value. For example, the authors suggest that you always install the Windows NT operating system to a FAT (File Allocation Table) drive rather than a NTFS (NT File System) drive. Why is this? After all, isn't the NTFS faster and better? (For everyone who isn't still using DOS programs, that is.) Well, it turns out that if you make an error in dealing with the Registry, the operating system won't run. With a FAT drive, you can recover. With an NTFS drive, you can't. No operating system means no NTFS drive. No NTFS drive means you can't fix the error in the Registry. An error in the Registry means no operating system. You get the picture. (Did you notice that the path for the Registry files has only "short" filenames in it? windowssystem32 for Win95 and winntsystem32config for WinNT. On a FAT drive, therefore, you can boot DOS and copy over your backup files.) While intended for programmers, the book nevertheless has value for the intermediate computer user and up. As with AUTOEXEC.BAT, CONFIG.SYS, and the .INI files before it, the Registry will soon be the dividing line between the novice and hobbyist user, danger of system corruption or not. It is too bad that the book takes such a hard line, but it does provide solid information and good basic tutorial material. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1997
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