2

I'm trying to save some Delphi setup info to speed up Delphi installation and I'm getting very confused with registry key value order behaviour. I exported my Delphi XE2 registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Embarcadero\BDS\9.0\Known Packages

to the *.reg file. After deleting it from the registry, and reloading the reg file, Delphi complains about missing bpl's. When I look at the key list, it is now all in alphabetical order - it is NOT in that order in the reg file. I presume that where packages depend on another, the depended package must be listed first. Am I right?

I then used Inno Setup to create three key values in this order - B,A,D. After running it, the registry displays A,B,D key order.

As a component installer I've rarely had dependent packages. What method can I use to leave the keys in the order I chose? Something must have done that because I have a reg file in the order that Delphi requires. It seems crazy that an export followed by an import is not symmetrical.

Sertac Akyuz
  • 54,131
  • 4
  • 102
  • 169
Brian Frost
  • 13,334
  • 11
  • 80
  • 154
  • I don't think so.. An application can retrieve the last write time of a registry key but I don't think it will be the same order that is in the reg file. I find it highly unlikely that any ordering would matter. – Sertac Akyuz Oct 19 '12 at 19:00
  • 1
    It *shouldn't* be important, but I've too found (in Delphi 2007) that the order apparently is important. Many of my collegues have had the same issues and recreating registry paths or even moving around bpls solved the issue. Haven't found a real solution, though. – GolezTrol Oct 21 '12 at 23:16
  • I agree with @SertacAkyuz that this is not good behaviour. Can you put in a QC report of this please? – Jeroen Wiert Pluimers Oct 23 '12 at 07:09

1 Answers1

4

As you found out, this indeed is has to do with registry enumeration order versus alphabetical order.

Delphi loads the packages in enumeration order, which is not always the alphabetical order.
I haven't found a registry editing tool yet that shows the enumeration order, they always seem to show the alphabetical order.

This matters especially when:

  1. BPL files are not on the PATH, and Delphi cannot resolve the depending BPL files itself.
  2. The dependency order is different than the alphabetical order

When you cannot put the BPL files on the PATH, then you should add the registry values in the order you want to have the BPL files loaded (you probably need multiple sections with the same key to do that).

Or you should make the dependency order alphabetical (;

Jeroen Wiert Pluimers
  • 23,965
  • 9
  • 74
  • 154
  • This seems plausible, but I'd consider any practice depending on the order of the values a defect since *"the function may return values in any order*" (RegEnumValue). – Sertac Akyuz Oct 22 '12 at 19:30
  • 1
    @SertacAkyuz I've had this behaviour numerous times, so I'm pretty sure this is the cause. – Jeroen Wiert Pluimers Oct 23 '12 at 07:07
  • @Jeroen: Thanks for the clarification. I thought it was me. It seems very dangerous that keys exported and then re-imported using regedit change their position. – Brian Frost Oct 23 '12 at 07:43