C# wpf - searching through registry for installed programs does not return office softwrae

Question

Hi,

I am iterating through 3 registries, however I am not able to find the office software installed on my machine.
What am I missing, please advice ?

     private void LoadPrograms(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
        {

            RegistryKey[] arrayofrks = new RegistryKey[3];
            arrayofrks[0] = Registry.CurrentUser.OpenSubKey(@"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall");
            arrayofrks[1] = Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey(@"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall");
            arrayofrks[2] = Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey(@"SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall");

            //arrayofrks[3] = RegistryKey.OpenBaseKey(RegistryHive.LocalMachine, RegistryView.Registry64);
           //arrayofrks[4] = RegistryKey.OpenBaseKey(RegistryHive.LocalMachine, RegistryView.Registry32);



            Registry.CurrentUser.OpenSubKey(@"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall");
            string dispname;
            string ipath;


            for(int i=0; i < arrayofrks.Length; i++)
            {
                using (RegistryKey rk = arrayofrks[i])
                {
                    foreach (string skName in rk.GetSubKeyNames())
                    {
                        using (RegistryKey sk = rk.OpenSubKey(skName))
                        {
                            try
                            {

                                if (!(sk.GetValue("DisplayName") == null))
                                {
                                    dispname = sk.GetValue("DisplayName").ToString();
                                    if (sk.GetValue("InstallLocation") == null || sk.GetValue("InstallLocation").ToString() == "")
                                    {
                                        ipath = "Path not known";
                                    }
                                    else
                                    {
                                        ipath = sk.GetValue("InstallLocation").ToString();


                                    }

                                    listofprogs.Add(new InstalledProgram()
                                    {
                                        DisplayName = dispname,
                                        Path = ipath
                                    });

                                }

                            }

                            catch (Exception ex)
                            {

                            }

                        }
                    }


                    //                //if(dispname !=null)
                    //                //{
                    //                //    listofprogs.Add(new InstalledProgram()
                    //                //    {
                    //                //        DisplayName = dispname,
                    //                //        Path = ipath
                    //                //    });
                    //                //}




                    //                //ListViewItem item;
                    //                //if (displayName != null)
                    //                //{
                    //                //    if (size != null)
                    //                //        item = new ListViewItem(new string[] {displayName.ToString(),                size.ToString()});
                    //                //    else
                    //                //        item = new ListViewItem(new string[] { displayName.ToString() });
                    //                //    lstDisplayHardware.Items.Add(item);
                    //                //}

                    //            }

                    //            catch (Exception ex)
                    //            {


                    //            }

                    //        }

                    //    }



                    //}











                }
            }



            lvprograms.ItemsSource = listofprogs;
            CollectionView view = (CollectionView)CollectionViewSource.GetDefaultView(lvprograms.ItemsSource);
            view.Filter = UserFilter;


        }

Answer 1

One of the ways is with AssocQueryString and a ProgId from Office

For example, with Winword =>

string sProgId = "Word.Document";  
int nLength = 260;  
var sbAssociatedExe = new StringBuilder(nLength);  
HRESULT hr = AssocQueryString(ASSOCF.ASSOCF_NONE, ASSOCSTR.ASSOCSTR_EXECUTABLE, sProgId, null, sbAssociatedExe, ref nLength);  
if (hr == 0)  
{  
    FileVersionInfo fvi = FileVersionInfo.GetVersionInfo(sbAssociatedExe.ToString());  
    MessageBox.Show(string.Format("Winword = {0} {1}", fvi.FileDescription, fvi.FileVersion));  
}  

Declarations :

public enum HRESULT : int  
{  
    S_OK = 0,  
    S_FALSE = 1,  
    E_NOINTERFACE = unchecked((int)0x80004002),  
    E_NOTIMPL = unchecked((int)0x80004001),  
    E_FAIL = unchecked((int)0x80004005)  
}  
  
[Flags]  
public enum ASSOCF : uint  
{  
    ASSOCF_NONE = 0x00000000,  
    ASSOCF_INIT_NOREMAPCLSID = 0x00000001,  //  do not remap clsids to progids  
    ASSOCF_INIT_BYEXENAME = 0x00000002,  //  executable is being passed in  
    ASSOCF_OPEN_BYEXENAME = 0x00000002,  //  executable is being passed in  
    ASSOCF_INIT_DEFAULTTOSTAR = 0x00000004,  //  treat "*" as the BaseClass  
    ASSOCF_INIT_DEFAULTTOFOLDER = 0x00000008,  //  treat "Folder" as the BaseClass  
    ASSOCF_NOUSERSETTINGS = 0x00000010,  //  dont use HKCU  
    ASSOCF_NOTRUNCATE = 0x00000020,  //  dont truncate the return string  
    ASSOCF_VERIFY = 0x00000040,  //  verify data is accurate (DISK HITS)  
    ASSOCF_REMAPRUNDLL = 0x00000080,  //  actually gets info about rundlls target if applicable  
    ASSOCF_NOFIXUPS = 0x00000100,  //  attempt to fix errors if found  
    ASSOCF_IGNOREBASECLASS = 0x00000200,  //  dont recurse into the baseclass  
    ASSOCF_INIT_IGNOREUNKNOWN = 0x00000400,  //  dont use the "Unknown" progid, instead fail  
    ASSOCF_INIT_FIXED_PROGID           = 0x00000800,  //  the Init() pszAssoc value is a ProgId that should not be mapped using the current user defaults  
    ASSOCF_IS_PROTOCOL                 = 0x00001000,  //  the Init() pszAssoc value is an uri scheme (not including the ":") that should be mapped using the current user defaults  
    ASSOCF_INIT_FOR_FILE               = 0x00002000,  //  use this flag when specifying ASSOCF_INIT_FIXED_PROGID if the ProgId corresponds with a file extension based association  
    ASSOCF_IS_FULL_URI                 = 0x00004000,  //  Used to specify that full http/https URI is being passed for target resolution  
    //  Only one of ASSOCF_INIT_FIXED_PROGID, ASSOCF_IS_PROTOCOL or ASSOCF_IS_FULL_URI can be specified at a time.  
    ASSOCF_PER_MACHINE_ONLY            = 0x00008000,  //  Enforces per-machine association look-up only and avoid HKCU.  
    // For http/https uri associations, this enables selecting the OS default browser, that is a controlled by  
    // policy settings, instead of the default browser.  
    ASSOCF_APP_TO_APP                  = 0x00010000,  
}  
  
public enum ASSOCSTR  
{  
    ASSOCSTR_COMMAND = 1,  //  shell\verb\command string  
    ASSOCSTR_EXECUTABLE,        //  the executable part of command string  
    ASSOCSTR_FRIENDLYDOCNAME,   //  friendly name of the document type  
    ASSOCSTR_FRIENDLYAPPNAME,   //  friendly name of executable  
    ASSOCSTR_NOOPEN,            //  noopen value  
    ASSOCSTR_SHELLNEWVALUE,     //  query values under the shellnew key  
    ASSOCSTR_DDECOMMAND,        //  template for DDE commands  
    ASSOCSTR_DDEIFEXEC,         //  DDECOMMAND to use if just create a process  
    ASSOCSTR_DDEAPPLICATION,    //  Application name in DDE broadcast  
    ASSOCSTR_DDETOPIC,          //  Topic Name in DDE broadcast  
    ASSOCSTR_INFOTIP,           //  info tip for an item, or list of properties to create info tip from  
    ASSOCSTR_QUICKTIP,          //  same as ASSOCSTR_INFOTIP, except, this list contains only quickly retrievable properties  
    ASSOCSTR_TILEINFO,          //  similar to ASSOCSTR_INFOTIP - lists important properties for tileview  
    ASSOCSTR_CONTENTTYPE,       //  MIME Content type  
    ASSOCSTR_DEFAULTICON,       //  Default icon source  
    ASSOCSTR_SHELLEXTENSION,    //  Guid string pointing to the Shellex\Shellextensionhandler value.  
    ASSOCSTR_DROPTARGET,        //  The CLSID of DropTarget  
    ASSOCSTR_DELEGATEEXECUTE,   //  The CLSID of DelegateExecute  
                                // a string value of the uri protocol schemes, for example "http:https:ftp:file:" or "*" indicating all  
    ASSOCSTR_SUPPORTED_URI_PROTOCOLS,  
    ASSOCSTR_PROGID,            // The ProgId provided by the app associated with the file type or uri scheme based on user default settings.  
    ASSOCSTR_APPID,             // The AppUserModelID of the app associated with the file type or uri scheme based on user default settings.  
    ASSOCSTR_APPPUBLISHER,      // THe publisher of the app associated with the file type or uri scheme based on user default settings.  
    ASSOCSTR_APPICONREFERENCE,  // The icon reference of the app associated with the file type or uri scheme based on user default settings.  
    ASSOCSTR_MAX                //  last item in enum...  
}  
  
[DllImport("Shlwapi.dll", SetLastError = true, CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]  
public static extern HRESULT AssocQueryString(ASSOCF flags, ASSOCSTR str, string pszAssoc, string pszExtra, [Out] StringBuilder pszOut, ref int pcchOut);  

Answer 2

I suggest you use MSI API to get the list of installed applications, we can use this way to get a more complete list including office software.

        [DllImport("msi.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Unicode)]  
        static extern Int32 MsiGetProductInfo(string product, string property,  
       [Out] StringBuilder valueBuf, ref Int32 len);  
  
        [DllImport("msi.dll", SetLastError = true)]  
        static extern int MsiEnumProducts(int iProductIndex,  
            StringBuilder lpProductBuf);  
  
        static void Main(string[] args)  
        {  
            StringBuilder sbProductCode = new StringBuilder(39);  
            int iIdx = 0;  
            while (  
                0 == MsiEnumProducts(iIdx++, sbProductCode))  
            {  
                Int32 productNameLen = 512;  
                StringBuilder sbProductName = new StringBuilder(productNameLen);  
  
                MsiGetProductInfo(sbProductCode.ToString(),  
                    "ProductName", sbProductName, ref productNameLen);  
                  
                Int32 installDateLen = 124;  
                StringBuilder installDate = new StringBuilder(installDateLen);  
  
                MsiGetProductInfo(sbProductCode.ToString(),  
                    "InstallDate", installDate, ref installDateLen);  
  
                Console.WriteLine("ProductName {0}: {1}",  
                    sbProductName,  installDate);  
            }  
        }  

I got two properties, product name and install date in the example, you can get more if you need, please refer to this document:
MsiGetProductInfoA function (msi.h)

Update:
Maybe you can try WMI, I used this method and got a list of software including Office related.

            ManagementObjectSearcher mos = new ManagementObjectSearcher("SELECT * FROM Win32_Product");  
            foreach (ManagementObject mo in mos.Get())  
            {  
                Console.WriteLine(mo["Name"]);  
            }  

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Answer 3

Try using the wmi add a reference to System.Managment

        var query = new ManagementObjectSearcher("Select * from Win32_Product");
        foreach (var item in query.Get())
        {
            Console.WriteLine(item["Name"]);
        }