Registry Tools

GetSetting and SaveSetting are valuable tools for getting and saving information to the Registry. However, one of the parameters is the application name, which allows for potential discrepancies between (or even within) applications. To avoid these discrepancies, it is probably best to wrap these functions up in your own functions that hide the application name parameter. This way, you ensure a consistent approach to storing information in the Registry.

Another nice feature that you can implement takes advantage of one of the subclassed properties of the App object I mentioned earlier, App.InDesign. If your GetSetting and SaveSetting functions use App.ExeName and you have subclassed the App object, you can store program information in different locations depending on whether you are running in design mode or as a compiled component.

GetSetting and SaveSetting are good for getting and storing program-related information, but sometimes you might need to retrieve information from other areas of the Registry. Functions for doing this require a number of API calls and can be tricky to create. This immediately makes them prime candidates for being written into a common module with more user-friendly parameters than the APIs.

Another example of how subclassing can be used to extend the language would be to add the ability to access any part of the Registry to Visual Basic's Registry functions.