How To Use RAPI to Add Keys and Values to the Registry on a Remote Windows CE Device (306368)

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WARNING: One or more of the following functions are discussed in this article; VarPrt, VarPtrArray, VarPtrStringArray, StrPtr, ObjPtr. These functions are not supported by Microsoft Technical Support. They are not documented in the Visual Basic documentation and are provided in this Knowledge Base article "as is". Microsoft does not guarantee that they will be available in future releases of Visual Basic.

Performing calls to RAPI functions from Visual Basic can be somewhat complicated. RAPI functions are UNICODE, and Visual Basic automatically converts strings from UNICODE to ANSI when you call API functions. To prevent Visual Basic from doing the conversion, you must use the StrPtr function to get the address of the UNICODE string buffer and pass it to the RAPI functions. The following example illustrates this process:

1. Create a new Standard EXE project in Visual Basic.
2. Place a command button on Form1.
3. Paste the following code into Form1's code module:

   Option Explicit
   
   Private Sub Command1_Click()
          Dim lret As Long
          Dim lcon As Long
          
          ' Initialize RAPI
          lcon = ConnectRapi
          If lcon <> ERROR_SUCCESS Then
             MsgBox "Failure to initialize RAPI"
          Else
             MsgBox "RAPI was initialized successfully"
          End If
          
          lret = CreateCERegistryKeys
          
           ' Uninitialize RAPI
          lcon = DisconnectRapi
          If lcon <> ERROR_SUCCESS Then
             MsgBox "Failure to uninitialize RAPI"
          Else
             MsgBox "RAPI was uninitialized successfully"
          End If
   End Sub
   					

4. From the Project menu, click Add Module to add a .bas module to the project.
5. Paste the following code into Module1:

   Option Explicit
   
   Public Const HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT = &H80000000
   Public Const HKEY_CURRENT_USER = &H80000001
   Public Const HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE = &H80000002
   Public Const ERROR_SUCCESS = 0
   Public Const REG_DWORD = 4
   Public Const REG_SZ = 1
   
   Type RAPIINIT
       cbsize As Long
       heRapiInit As Long
       hrRapiInit As Long
   End Type
   
   Public Declare Function CeRapiUninit Lib "rapi.dll" () As Long
   
   Public Declare Function CeRapiInitEx Lib "rapi.dll" ( _
       pRapiInit As RAPIINIT) As Long
   
   Public Declare Function CeRegCreateKeyEx Lib "rapi.dll" ( _
       ByVal hKey As Long, _
       ByVal lpSubKey As Long, _
       ByVal Reserved As Long, _
       ByVal lpclass As Long, _
       ByVal dwOptions As Long, _
       ByVal samDesired As Long, _
       ByVal lpSecurityAttributes As Long, _
       phkResult As Long, _
       lpdwdisposition As Long) As Long
   
   Public Declare Function CeRegOpenKeyEx Lib "rapi.dll" ( _
       ByVal hKey As Long, _
       ByVal lpSubKey As Long, _
       ByVal ulOptions As Long, _
       ByVal samDesired As Long, _
       phkResult As Long) As Long
   
   Public Declare Function CeRegQueryValueEx Lib "rapi.dll" ( _
       ByVal hKey As Long, _
       ByVal lpValueName As Long, _
       ByVal lpReserved As Long, _
       lpType As Long, _
       ByVal lpData As Long, _
       lpcbData As Long) As Long
   
   Public Declare Function CeRegSetValueEx Lib "rapi.dll" ( _
       ByVal hKey As Long, _
       ByVal lpValueName As Long, _
       ByVal Reserved As Long, _
       ByVal dwType As Long, _
       ByVal lpData As Long, _
       ByVal cbData As Long) As Long
   
   Public Declare Function CeRegDeleteKey Lib "rapi.dll" ( _
       ByVal hKey As Long, _
       ByVal lpSubKey As Long) As Long
   
   Public Declare Function CeRegCloseKey Lib "rapi.dll" ( _
       ByVal hKey As Long) As Long
   
   ' Initialize RAPI
   Public Function ConnectRapi() As Long
       Dim lcon As Long
       Dim lRapiInit As RAPIINIT
       
       With lRapiInit
           .cbsize = Len(lRapiInit)
           .heRapiInit = 0
           .hrRapiInit = 0
       End With
       
       lcon = CeRapiInitEx(lRapiInit)
       ConnectRapi = lcon
   End Function
   
   ' Uninitialize RAPI
   Public Function DisconnectRapi() As Long
       Dim lcon As Long
       lcon = CeRapiUninit
       DisconnectRapi = lcon
   End Function
   
   Public Function CreateCERegistryKeys() As Long
       Dim lret As Long
       Dim phkResult As Long
       Dim phskResult As Long
       Dim subkey As String
       Dim key As String
       Dim lpclass As String
       Dim lpdwdisposition As Long
       Dim Value As String
       Dim sData As String
       Dim lData As Long
   
       'Create a key named "MyKey" under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
       key = "MyKey"
       lpclass = "MyKeyClass"
       lret = CeRegCreateKeyEx(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, StrPtr(key), _
           0, StrPtr(lpclass), 0, 0, 0, phkResult, lpdwdisposition)
   
       If lret <> ERROR_SUCCESS Then
           MsgBox "Failure to create key.  Error: " & lret
       Else
           'Create the subkey
           subkey = "MySubKey"
           lpclass = "SubKeyClass"
           lret = CeRegCreateKeyEx(phkResult, StrPtr(subkey), _
               0, StrPtr(""), 0, 0, 0, phskResult, lpdwdisposition)
           
           If lret <> ERROR_SUCCESS Then
               MsgBox "Failure to create sub key: " & _
               subkey & "  Error: " & lret
           Else
               'Add a string value to the subkey
               Value = "Name"
               sData = "John Smith"
               lret = CeRegSetValueEx(phskResult, StrPtr(Value), 0, _
                   REG_SZ, StrPtr(sData), (Len(sData) + 1) * 2)
               'Add a DWORD value to the subkey
               Value = "Age"
               lData = 23
               lret = CeRegSetValueEx(phskResult, StrPtr(Value), 0, _
               REG_DWORD, VarPtr(lData), 4)
           End If
           
       End If
       
       CreateCERegistryKeys = lret
   End Function
   					

6. Make sure the connection between the device and the desktop is working. You must also have a partnership established.
7. Run the project, and then click Command1.
8. Use the Remote Registry Editor that is included with Microsoft Embedded Visual Tools 3.0 (or included with the Windows CE Toolkit for Visual Basic 6.0 if the target device is running Windows CE 2.0) to view the registry on the device and verify that the registry key was created.