using RegQueryValueEx

First, if you can, use one of the Registry wrapper classes you can find at this web site. Only a masochist would try to use the Registry without one (I know, I did it).

If you can't do that, here's a snippet from my own wrapper class:

// Read a string from the Registry. Returns true to mean the string was there.
bool MyRegistry::ReadValueString(const CString& sValueName, CString& sValue) const
{
VALIDATE;
_ASSERTE(m_hRootKey && "m_hRootKey is NULL");
_ASSERTE(m_hSubKey && "m_hSubKey is NULL");
_ASSERTE(! m_sSubKey.IsEmpty() && "m_sSubKey is empty");

bool bReturn(false);
LONG lnReturn(ERROR_SUCCESS);
DWORD dwType(0L);
DWORD dwDataSize(0);

// First we have to get the size of the string so we know how
// much space to allocate.
bReturn = (ERROR_SUCCESS == (lnReturn = ::RegQueryValueEx(
m_hSubKey, // Handle of key to query
sValueName, // Name of value to query
NULL, // Reserved
&dwType, // Type
NULL, // Data buffer
&dwDataSize))); // Size of value data

if (bReturn) {
BYTE* pData = reinterpret_cast<BYTE*> (sValue.GetBuffer(dwDataSize + 1));

// Now actually get the string.
bReturn = (ERROR_SUCCESS == (lnReturn = ::RegQueryValueEx(
m_hSubKey, // Handle of key to query
sValueName, // Name of value to query
NULL, // Reserved
&dwType, // Type
pData, // Data buffer
&dwDataSize))); // Size of value data

sValue.ReleaseBuffer();
}

return bReturn;
}

LA Leonard - http://www.DefinitiveSolutions.com