I’ve been working at a client where they have hardened most of their systems in a not so programmer friendly way. One of the things you cannot to is start RegEdit, not even for viewing. Since I need Fiddler2 to poke through their Internet Proxy in order to get access to an external TFS server, and their machines often reboot due to maintenance cycles, sometimes my proxy settings are dead. This tiny app shows you how to get display your proxy settings, demonstrating:
- a bit of LINQ to Registry,
- an extension method that implements String.Contains()
- a method to get set your Code Access Security for reading the registry.
- disposes of your RegistryKey object
Enjoy! (Note, you could have done this with PowerShell in a very easy way too, as it access the Registry just like it was a file system).
When using Fiddler, it shows output like this:
AutoConfigProxy=wininet.dll ProxyEnable=1 MigrateProxy=1 ProxyHttp1.1=1 ProxyOverride=<-loopback> ProxyServer=http=127.0.0.1:8888;https=127.0.0.1:8888;
LINQ to Registry
One of the drawbacks of Registry work is that you need to dispose of your keys. That is handled inside ReadOnlyAccessToRegistryKey.Run which also handles your Code Access Security. This means that the lambda expression (could just as well have been an anonymous method) can just concentrate on the LINQ stuffreturning an enumeration of anonymous types. You need the ‘let’ portion if you also want to perform ‘where’ on the values.
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using BeSharp.Win32;
using Microsoft.Win32;
namespace LinqToRegistryShowProxySettings
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
try
{
run();
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
Console.WriteLine(ex);
throw;
}
}
static void run()
{
const string internetSettingsKey = @"Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings";
ReadOnlyAccessToRegistryKey.Run(Registry.CurrentUser, internetSettingsKey,
registryKey =>
{
var keyValues = from name
in registryKey.GetValueNames()
//let keyValue = new { key = name, value = registryKey.GetValue(name).ToString() } // only if you need the Value in the Where, as it created for all occurences
where
name.Contains("proxy", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase) ||
name.Contains("autoConfig", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase)
select new { key = name, value = registryKey.GetValue(name).ToString() };
foreach (var keyValue in keyValues)
{
Console.WriteLine("{0}={1}", keyValue.key, keyValue.value);
}
}
);
}
}
}
ReadOnlyAccessToRegistryKey
This manages the Code Access Security since you will access the registry readonly. It also disposes the RegistryKey instance. The Code Access Security access and revert must be in the same method, so you cannot create a class that does the Assert in the constructor, and the dispose in the Disposer.
using System;
using Microsoft.Win32;
using System.Security.Permissions;
using System.Security;
namespace BeSharp.Win32
{
public class ReadOnlyAccessToRegistryKey
{
public static void Run(RegistryKey hiveRegistryKey, string subKeyName, Action action)
{
string fullKeyName = hiveRegistryKey.Combine(subKeyName);
RegistryPermission readRegistryPermission = new RegistryPermission(RegistryPermissionAccess.Read, fullKeyName);
readRegistryPermission.Assert();
try
{
using (RegistryKey registryKey = hiveRegistryKey.OpenSubKey(subKeyName))
{
action(registryKey);
}
}
finally
{
CodeAccessPermission.RevertAssert();
}
}
}
}
Extensions for the Registry:
- easy way to get the full names for HKLM, HKCU, etc.
- Combine key names (and insert \ between them)
- implements a Contains method for strings (thanks to StackOverflow); should be in a separate class, will do that in the library.
using System;
using Microsoft.Win32;
namespace BeSharp.Win32
{
public static class RegistryExtensions
{
// Hives: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Registry
public readonly static string HKCC = Registry.CurrentConfig.Name;
public readonly static string HKCR = Registry.ClassesRoot.Name;
public readonly static string HKCU = Registry.CurrentUser.Name;
#if Obsolete
[Obsolete]
public readonly static string HKDD = Registry.DynData.Name;
#endif
public readonly static string HKLM = Registry.LocalMachine.Name;
public readonly static string HKPD = Registry.PerformanceData.Name;
public readonly static string HKU = Registry.Users.Name;
public static string Combine(this string keyName, string subKeyName)
{
string result = string.Format(@"{0}\{1}", keyName, subKeyName);
return result;
}
public static string Combine(this RegistryKey registryKey, string subKeyName)
{
string result = registryKey.Name.Combine(subKeyName);
return result;
}
public static string Combine(this RegistryKey registryKey, RegistryKey subRegistryKey)
{
return registryKey.Combine(subRegistryKey.Name);
}
//http://stackoverflow.com/questions/444798/case-insensitive-containsstring/444818#444818
public static bool Contains(this string value, string substring, StringComparison stringComparison = StringComparison.CurrentCulture)
{
int index = value.IndexOf(substring, stringComparison);
bool result = (index >= 0);
return result;
}
}
}
–jeroen
The Wiert Corner - irregular stream of stuff 