How to find if and where is installed firebird in delphi

Question

Problem: I need to modify aliases.conf in firebird but.. as we know the user can install firebird anywhere he want. So I need to programmatically find out where the firebird was installed. I try to do that by registry but it's not good idea because withe almost every one new version of windows (2000, XP, VISTA, 7, 8 and 32 bit or 64 bit and may be 128 bit) the registry keys get change. I try also find out procedure for searching registry like simple text file but no result. I have try to find the "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Wow6432Node\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\SharedDLLs\\aliases.conf" but it's not simple way. It's possible that the problem is not in registry function just in Lazarus but I do not know that. So, may be some one has any idea how to check if and where is installed firebird. Shortly say: I'm going to install my application with database file and have to have silently modify the aliases.conf.

Answer 1

You can find the installation location of Firebird by checking the registry key HKLM\\Software\\Firebird Project\\Firebird Server\\Instances and reading the DefaultInstance value.

The following code should do the trick :-

var
  lReg : TRegistry;
  lStr : String;
begin
  lReg := TRegistry.Create;
  Try
    lReg.RootKey := HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE;
    If lReg.OpenKey('Software\Firebird Project\Firebird Server\Instances', False) Then
      lStr := lReg.ReadString('DefaultInstance');
    lReg.CloseKey;
    ShowMessage(lStr);
  Finally
    FreeAndNil(lReg);
  End;