Binaryworld - Check whether Microsoft Word is installed ... [ VB.net -> Windows ]

The .NET frameworks provides a set of classes that let you work with the Registry, so it is quite easy to create routine that looks for specific keys to determine whether a program is installed or not. For example, the following code checks whether Microsoft Word is installed on the local computer:

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' this code assumes that you have used this Imports statement
' Imports Microsoft.Win32

' Define the RegistryKey objects for the registry hives.
Dim regClasses As RegistryKey = Registry.ClassesRoot

' Check whether Microsoft Word is installed on this computer,
' by searching the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Word.Application key.
Dim regWord As RegistryKey = regClasses.OpenSubKey("Word.Application")
If regWord Is Nothing Then
Console.WriteLine("Microsoft Word isn't installed")
Else
Console.WriteLine("Microsoft Word is installed")
End If
' Always close Registry keys after using them.
regWord.Close