Acad registry key
Stephen Tate
Autodesk
AutoCAD
R14.0
ACAD-2450920:53932865
AltFontNames ...... etc
The "2450920:53932865" looks to me like a date, and it looks like the date
of the last install, is that right?
If it is indeed a date, does it change with upgrades (i.e. 14.01)? Is the
idea that multiple installations are each identified by this date? IOW, can
I examine the registry and find the most recent AutoCAD installation and
would that be the most recent version or the most recently installed?
Again, many thanks in advance.
--
Stephen Tate
Stephen Tate CAD, UK
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Tony Tanzillo
of AutoCAD to exist, each with their own registry settings.
The current product key is stored in the registry at:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R14.0\Curver
I believe that it will always be set to the key of the
last AutoCAD installation that you ran on the machine,
but don't hold me to that.
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Stephen Tate
What I'm specifically after is what the date number is. In the example I
gave (2450920:53932865)
Command: (menucmd "M=$(edtime,2450920.53932865,YYYY/MO/DD HH:MM:SS)")
Returns:
"1998/04/16 12:56:37"
This date is about the time I installed R14 and immediately after I
installed the 14.01 update. It's also about the time that 14.01 was released
here in the UK. So, what I need to know is what is the date - R14 installed,
upgrade installed, or date of last AutoCAD version.
If it is the date of the installation (and not subsequent updates), I could
use this information in a number of different ways - just depends on what
exactly it's the date of.
Many thanks.
Tony Tanzillo
this value when interpreted as a date (of whatever).
There are other ways to determine when the Software
was installed and updated.
--
Stephen Tate
1. Offering a default Acad installation (or a dated list) as part of an
install routine.
2. Checking whether a client who has Acad problems has reinstalled the
software themselves (and voided any warranty)
3. Checking that software is being used on the installation it was installed
and registered on.
My understanding is that if this number changes ACAD must be reinstalled -
so it is a unique identifier for any Acad installation. But that all depends
on what exactly the date is and when/if it is updated.
How would you perform a reliable(ish) check of the install date, more easily
than a quick read of the registry and a little sting manipulation? The dates
of individual files can be changed, I don't think it would be so easy to
change this date number (although, to avoid unnecessarily reinstalling
AutoCAD, I haven't tested it).
It's just another piece of information that can be extracted and put to use
(if I can find out what it is exactly :) ).
Tony Tanzillo
such as using a date as a registry key, because the convention
can change at any time.
It's easy to determine when AutoCAD was last installed. Check
the timestamp of DeIsL1.isu. In fact, you might find that it
matches the product key 'date' very closely.
I don't understand what you mean by 'and voided any warranty'.
What warrenty is voided by installing (or reinstalling) a
any program?
Item number 2 doesn't make sense etiher. If you want to offer
a choice of installations, what point is there to associating
each to an installation date, rather than to a description of
the installation?
You don't need to interpret the key as a date to do this, you
just store the product keys of several installations along with
a description of each in the registry, and then pop up a list
of their descriptions, and let them choose from those.
Ths installation date doesn't really tell you much about a
given installation, does it?
Item 3 makes no sense to me at all.
--
Stephen Tate
How can argue about these things?????
>I don't understand what you mean by 'and voided any warranty'.
>What warranty is voided by installing (or reinstalling) a
>any program?
I'm talking about managed installations by third party installers. If we
install a system and warrant our workmanship and then the user messes it up
and messes it up further by trying to reinstall, then the fix is chargeable.
This has happened in the past.
>Item number 2 doesn't make sense either. If you want to offer
>a choice of installations, what point is there to associating
>each to an installation date, rather than to a description of
>the installation?
It's information Tony ....
Actually, why am I bothering to reply to this? I just want to know what the
date is to save myself the time spent installing AutoCAD and testing it.
Pursuing this conversation is defeating the purpose of it. I thank you for
trying to answer the question, but I must move on now.
Stephen Tate
Developers Guide. It is a date stamp, it's created by the installer and it
is documented. The following does exactly what I require:
(if (setq INSTALLED
(vl-registry-descendents
"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Autodesk\\AutoCAD\\R14.0"))
(mapcar
'(lambda (X)
(cons X
(menucmd (strcat "M=$(edtime,"
(substr (vl-string-subst "." ":" X) 6)
",YYYY/MO/DD HH:MM:SS)"))))
(acad_strlsort INSTALLED))
NIL
) ; End IF
--
Stephen Tate
Stephen Tate CAD, UK
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Stephen Tate wrote in message <6rc5k5$2l...@adesknews2.autodesk.com>...
Kenneth Tam
>I'm talking about managed installations by third party installers. If we
>install a system and warrant our workmanship and then the user messes it up
>and messes it up further by trying to reinstall, then the fix is
chargeable.
That's interesting thought. Suppose I bough your software and I also
subscribe to VIP, every quarter I install some bonus tools from the CD and
somehow my system skew up, it can be VIP conflict with your or it can be
stupidity of mine. Who is going to fix up the thing, you or the VIP guy or
me? or your software would stated "...Void if use with other software, even
from AutoDesk..."
Stephen Tate
It's about managed systems. We undertake all administration, installation &
upgrades for a company. This work is warranted. If a client wants to
subscribe to a quarterly subscription that's fine, we'll install it and
warrant that installation on a regular visit. If they want to install it
themselves, they can always discuss their requirements over the phone before
they attempt the install, we'll talk them through the process as they do it.
What we cannot do is send engineers out free of charge to repair systems
that have been 'tampered with' without prior consultation. That's the whole
point of a managed system, the client pays an annual fee for the maintenance
of a system. If the client chooses to format his hard drive, that's ok, but
the cost of the restore is chargeable. The focus is on preventative
maintenance. The clients generally do not have any experience in IT, they
just need to do their jobs. All this is subject to the terms of the
contract.
Our software is well tried and tested, of course if there is a conflict with
our software we endeavour to fix it as quickly as possible. It all comes
down to common sense, we appreciate that some of our clients are newbies and
give the benefit of the doubt whenever we can. But if a client reports a
failed printer, when asked they tell us it has paper in it, but when we
arrive on site we find it doesn't, then we have to charge for the
unnecessary callout. But, if it's our fault we fix it, free of charge and no
argument.
Kenneth Tam
Point well taken
Cheers