How to enumerate all registered file types in the Windows registry

INDEX

How to enumerate all registered
file types in the Windows registry

     The windows registry contains a list of all registered file types based on their extension. The API also provides a method for enumerating through the list of extensions, locating all registered types, finding their associated application and a plain english description of the application along with the icon associated with the application for that file type.

     By selecting 'RUN' from the start menu and then entering the program name 'REGEDIT' it is possible to view the registry. The graphic above shows in the first image the registry key associated with a certain file extension. In this case it is 'AIM' which is associated with that AOL online chat system that comes bundled with Netscape. The file extensions and related information are stored in the ' HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT ' key. The fact that a key is a registered file extension is indicated by the period at the beginning of the key name. When the key ' .aim ' is opened a string is displayed on the right, in this case 'aimfile'. This string is the name of another key which contains the plain english description of the program plus its icon (and is also located further on in the ' HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT ' key). The next image shows the 'aimfile' opened and the plain text description of the application associated as the text for this key. The last image shows the subkey 'DefaultIcon' opened in the 'aimfile' key which indicates where the icon to be displayed for such a file type is to be found.

      The demo project included below shows how to scan the registry for all registered file extensions in the procedure EnumRegKey. The file extensions are identified by the period at the beginning of each key name and then stored in a string list ExtSL. After the enumeration is complete the keys must then be read to find the second key which contains the description of the application as well as its icon. The program uses this stringlist of file extensions to read each key and find the name of the Associated application key in the registry procedure GetAssocAppInfo. The stringlist EXTSL then becomes a comma delimited list, of the form FILE EXTENSION, ASSOCIATED APP KEY NAME. Using this key name it then finds and opens each Associated Application key in the registry to find the plain English text description of the Application associated with each file extension in the procedure GetDescStrings. These will wind up being stored in a stringlist NamesSL in comma delimited form as File Extension, Plain text description of associated application, which will then be ready to be transferred to a ListView for display. Next in Procedure GetIcons the program uses this second comma delimited list (NamesSL) to find the icon associated with each file extension and then to post the extension, the description, and the icon to a listview for display. The graphic below shows the end result with all the registered file extensions in the registry and the application string displayed on a ListView.

The code that accomplishes this was created using Delphi 3, and also runs on Delphi 5, and probably other versions as well. You can download the project as a zip file from the following link ... regfiles.zip 13kb

Also of interest is the Shell\Open\Command key...Changing the default program used to launch a certain file type based on the file association in the registry ... Added January 25, 2003...In this simple example the application will become the default for text files, displaying any text file clicked in Windows Explorer in a simple Memo component. You will need to drop two buttons and a memo onto a form and then paste in the code from this text file (remembering to click the buttons to initialize the click event code).

Delphi INDEX

A Unified Field Theory

The Unified Field Theory
is also available as a zip file -> unified.zip

Introduction :The Pioneer Effect and the New Physics. A brief description of the new physics required to explain the 'Pioneer Effect', which is the constant deceleration of space craft as they fly through space.

Principles of Evolution: A Study in the Evolution of Bedbugs

A couple of years ago my bedroom was invaded by bedbugs. There were two variant genetic lines. One type of bedbug was an enlongated, thin, tubular insect, and the second genetic line was a flat, perfectly circular insect. The result of the cross breeding of these two genetically distinct variants was the production of a bedbug with charcteristics of both, an enlongated, flat bedbug with a central bulge (such that the shape of the bedbug was somewhere between 'long' and 'circular'). The long skinny bedbugs were such strange and unfamiliar looking insects that at first I did not recognize them as being bedbugs, and considered them to be a seperate species of insect. However, as the photographs of bedbugs above indicate, enlongated and skinny bedbugs are not uncommon, and the photographs also show the variants that are produced by genetic combinations that result in an insect somewhere in between 'circular' and 'enlongated'.

Therefore it is my hypothesis that evolution occurs by means of the transfer of dominate genes, with the production of such dominant genes being the product of 'biological algorithms', a genetic software program that brings physical characteristics into harmony with behavior, such that when behavior changes, and a conflict then exists, this acts as a trigger and causes the release of dominant genes. The result is rapid evolution of species. The bedbug is a relatively new insect, not the product of millions of years of evolution but rather an insect that is evolving in real time. The newly emerging dominant form of the insect is the flat, round ciruclar insect, well adapted to living in human bedrooms (it is flat, rather than tubular, thus allowing it to hide in the smallest cracks, living a stealthy lifestyle, and it is round, which gives the insect a maximum storage capacity such that it must endanger itself only a few times a month by emerging to feed.

Other examples of rapid evolution include the development of long legs in an invasive species of toad in Australia. As the toads move into the mountainous regions of Australia, and their behvaior changes, making them 'climbing toads', over the course of just a couple of decades the toads in the highlands have grown long legs specially adapted to climbing. It is worth noting here that the toads are poisonous, and are a successful invasive species because they have no natural predators in Australia, and so it would not be the case that the toads with long legs were 'the fittest survivors', because all the toads are survivors, and therefore predation does not explain the rapid emergence and spread of such well adapted, long legged toads. Once again we see evidence for the existence of biological algorithms and the rapid spread of dominant genes through a population, which once introduced proceed to overwhelm the older genes which are being replaced (making toad long legged and a bed bug round and flat).

A Theological Experiment

My interest in pursuing the Unified Field Theory is spurred on by my need to discover the theoretical explanation of a new form of propulsion (as explained on this page: Why the Unified Field Theory?). The experiment involving the bedbugs came out of nowhere.

I also believe that it is possible to justify theological propositions using experimental methods. If a thing is an objective truth then it can be verified and proven true by means of experimentation. Such a theological proposition is of more value than a ‘divine revelation’, since such revelations depend upon nothing more than establishing authority figures which requires the creation of artificial hierarchies, for the only reason why I might be encouraged to believe an authority figure who orders me to believe unsubstantiated opinions is if I could somehow be convinced that this authority possessed a mind that was somehow superior to mine, and thus was fit to express opinions as though opinions were unquestionable facts and thus worthy of being elevated to the status of absolute dogma.

There is a self evident human inequality which is visibly apparent. Some people are ‘beautiful’ and thus are the true elite on this planet, and some people are not. It is this sexual inequality and the degeneration that follows upon beauty that is the true driving force behind all the evil that happens on earth. The need for ruthless oppression and the pursuit of wealth and the consequent creation of suffering and poverty which must follow upon this practice is for the purpose of creating an artificial alpha elite.

The true elites are the young and the beautiful. The artificial elite are the rich and the wealthy. The elite aging rich artificial alpha male has no good looks, for he is physically degenerate, but he will be found escorting beauty because he has a beautiful wallet. If he loses his wallet he will be found at home with all the other unattractive aged beta males sitting in a rocking chair watching reruns of Bonanza. No money, no sex. It is for this reason that the alpha males are found to be so ruthless and so violent in pursuit of their goal. The alpha male has fallen. The beta male has arisen and now the whole planet is full of ruinous destruction for it.

We see in religion a confused and contradictory reaction to this reality. On the one hand religion preaches a sexless heaven where castration and the clitorectomy create ‘pure spirits’. Muslims throw women under sacks. On the other hand religion supports hierarchy and is the prop of the elite alpha male. It is for this reason that religion is incoherent when it comes to speaking about sex.

Now we see this same principle at work in all of nature. Guppies dance and show off their colorful tails and the guppy who dances with the most colorful tail is the sexually successful guppy. Therefore it is the doctrine of the ruthless oppressor which teaches that the solution to human sexual violence is to be found in castration and the creation of pure ghosts. This would be equivalent to damning an aardvark for having the ‘sinful aardvark nature’ or prosecuting an anteater for the high crime of ‘ant genocide’.

Therefore it was my theological hypothesis that the correct solution to this problem is to give every guppy a beautiful colorful tail. I compare this solution to the classic religious solution which is to cut off every tail since having a tail is ‘sinful’. If having a tail is sinful then God must be sinful for no human being has any choice in deciding whether or not they would be born with a colorful tail, or whether they would not.

When I was young I was a beautiful guppy with a lovely tail. So everyone seemed to think. I am older now. My nose became very badly sunburned and destroyed. It seemed good to me to test my hypothesis by using these ‘biological algorithms’ to correct this problem. I healed half my nose as you can see by the line separating the still very dark patch on the side in the photograph below.

I documented my experiment on these pages. one two t hree four fi ve six

I have confirmed to my own satisfaction that my theological proposition is correct and that religious dogma is erroneous, being based as it was upon nothing more than ‘divine revelation’ which is just a form of opinionated speculation. For the time being I am not continuing this experiment, for I must wait until the weather on this planet improves, and the dark clouds of ruthless oppression break letting a little sun shine come through so that I can show the world the truth about God, by showing people how God goes about giving an old guppy back his beautiful colorful tail.

Until then I will have to sit on the sidelines, while all my scientific breakthroughs are deliberately ignored, while I wonder to myself what ever in the world could be wrong with the human race, because what this all will prove at the end of it all is that there definitely was something wrong with the people on this planet.