GetSetting Function

Returns a key setting value from an application's entry in the Windows registry.

The My feature gives you greater productivity and performance in registry operations than GetAllSettings. For more information, see My.Computer.Registry Object.

Public Function GetSetting( _
   ByVal AppName As String, _
   ByVal Section As String, _
   ByVal Key As String, _
   Optional ByVal Default As String = "" _
) As String

Parameters

  • AppName
    Required. String expression containing the name of the application or project whose key setting is requested.

  • Section
    Required. String expression containing the name of the section in which the key setting is found.

  • Key
    Required. String expression containing the name of the key setting to return.

  • Default
    Optional. Expression containing the value to return if no value is set in the Key setting. If omitted, Default is assumed to be a zero-length string ("").

Exceptions

Exception type

Error number

Condition

ArgumentException

5

One or more arguments are not String expressions, or user is not logged in.

See the "Error number" column if you are upgrading Visual Basic 6.0 applications that use unstructured error handling. (You can compare the error number against the Number Property (Err Object).) However, when possible, you should consider replacing such error control with Structured Exception Handling Overview for Visual Basic.

Remarks

If any of the items named in the GetSetting arguments do not exist, GetSetting returns a value of Default.

Because it operates under the HKEY_LOCAL_USER registry key, which is not active until a user logs on interactively, GetSetting requires that a user be logged on.

Registry settings that are to be accessed from a non-interactive process (such as Mtx.exe) should be stored under either the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\ or the HKEY_USER\DEFAULT\Software registry keys.

GetSetting requires ReadRegistry Permission.

Example

This example first uses the SaveSetting function to make entries in the Windows registry for the application specified as AppName, and then uses the GetSetting function to display one of the settings. Because the Default argument is specified, some value is guaranteed to be returned. Notice that Section names cannot be retrieved with GetSetting. Finally, the DeleteSetting function removes all the application's entries.

' Place some settings in the registry.
SaveSetting("MyApp", "Startup", "Top", "75")
SaveSetting("MyApp", "Startup", "Left", "50")
Console.WriteLine(GetSetting("MyApp", "Startup", "Left", "25"))
DeleteSetting("MyApp")

Smart Device Developer Notes

This function is not supported.

Requirements

Namespace:Microsoft.VisualBasic

**Module:**Interaction

Assembly: Visual Basic Runtime Library (in Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll)

See Also

Concepts

Common Registry Tasks

Reference

DeleteSetting Function

GetAllSettings Function

SaveSetting Function

ArgumentException

RegistryPermission