Is there a tool I can use to export the registry to XML?
Big Daddy
the command REG or REGEDIT /e to export the registry but not to XML.
Is there a command line tool I can use to do what I want?
thanks in advance,
John
Ted Davis
> I want to export part of the Windows registry to XML. I know I can use the
> command REG or REGEDIT /e to export the registry but not to XML. Is there
> a command line tool I can use to do what I want?
>
It might help if we had a clue why you want to do that - it's not
something with an obvious (to me) use.
--
T.E.D. (tda...@mst.edu)
Big Daddy
> It might help if we had a clue why you want to do that - it's not
> something with an obvious (to me) use.
>
client computers around the country and send info back to a central
server in order to keep track of the status and health of the clients.
We are trying to send the data in XML because it's easy for us to
process. So being able to get info from the registry could be helpful
(e.g. find out what programs are installed on the client). I guess if
there's no way to get it in an XML format, I could just export it in
plain text using REG or REGEDIT.
thanks
Ted Davis
Plain text has the advantage of using less bandwidth. I know most people
don't care about bandwidth any more, but it's still more efficient to send
the plain text than to put a bulky wrapper around the text and send the
composite.
In any case, I think it would be better still to encrypt and zip the text
file before sending it for security reasons.
I would do the unzip, unencrypt, and text to XML conversion (using gawk or
xgawk) at the last possible point to preserve data security as long as
possible. But then, gawk can analyse the data and generate not just an
XML report (which you would then have to reinterpret), but can also
generate most any report format you might need. If the object is to get a
report, then I would use a report generation language (gawk), use it
against the smallest possible data set, and encrypt the data during
transmission, if at all possible.
The registry will not necessarily list all the installed software, just
most of the Windows specific stuff. I use a number of packages that don't
use the registry at all.
--
T.E.D. (tda...@mst.edu)
Alan Edwards
http://www.arstdesign.com/articles/registryasxml.html
...Alan
--
Alan Edwards, MS MVP Windows - Internet Explorer
http://dts-l.com/index.htm
Horst Franke
> The registry will not necessarily list all the installed software,
> just most of the Windows specific stuff. I use a number of packages
> that don't use the registry at all.
Hi Ted
and why then not use just a plain copy as backup?
Back to the topic: why to use XML?
Plain text is much more convenient...
and can also be used for comparison.
And if required may be converted to what is wanted.
I think registry data should always be in a *.REG format.
Otherwise they would be only infomercial.
This can also be obtained via the *.REG files (=readable).
But the answer of Alan regarding
http://www.arstdesign.com/articles/registryasxml.html
makes sense on seeing differences (INFO only).
Horst
Ted Davis
> But the answer of Alan regarding
> http://www.arstdesign.com/articles/registryasxml.html makes sense on
> seeing differences (INFO only).
It would take only a few minutes to write a gawk script to create the XML
file - not much longer to write one to convert it back to REG format (even
allowing for Unicode). Gawk is free and just generally useful.
--
T.E.D. (tda...@mst.edu)
Big Daddy
> most of the Windows specific stuff. I use a number of packages that don't
> use the registry at all.
>
> --
> T.E.D. (tda...@mst.edu)
Ted, Can you recommend a better way to get a list of installed apps on
the computer with command line tools?
thanks
John
Sjouke Burry
No pollution of the system dir/registery except maybe for a
file ext. link or two?
Installs very simple, and makes removal also quite easy.
Horst Franke
> Big Daddy wrote:
>>> The registry will not necessarily list all the installed software,
>>> just most of the Windows specific stuff. I use a number of
>>> packages that don't use the registry at all.
>>> T.E.D. (tda...@mst.edu)
>> Ted, Can you recommend a better way to get a list of installed apps
>> on the computer with command line tools?
> Copy/paste with all relevant files in one program directory?
NO! This is only valid for Windows Installations usage!
Should say programs installed by any windows installation tool.
> No pollution of the system dir/registery except maybe for a
> file ext. link or two?
> Installs very simple, and makes removal also quite easy.
Sorry your reply is missing basic experience.
Not every program is installed by a win-installer.
Thus there will be not any registry entry!
But this is OT: not related to XML export.
Horst
Ted Davis
If by "installed" you mean set up through the Windows install process,
then the registry has those. If you mean the apps that are present and
functional, perhaps installed through their own installer that just copies
files and generates a config file, I can't think of anything short of an
exhaustive directory search. A manual search, since you would probably
want to ignore secondary EXEs and trivial utilities. Even that might not
get them all: one very important program for this machine is actually a
gawk script that lives on a different machine. Is it an application? It
acts like one. Is it installed? maybe, it acts as if it is.
--
T.E.D. (tda...@mst.edu)