>I see a lot of messages, faqs, articles, etc. devoted to problems registering OCX controls for VFP applications in Windows. What I have been unable to find is a single statement that explains WHY we should be required to register OCX's in the first place. Having to register everything certainly complicates life if you are developing an application for use on a network. If we want to develop a totally self contained application where we provide all of the necessary files and control access to them in folders that we specify, it seems like we should be entitled to do so.
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>Therefore, my questions are:
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>1. Why is it necessary to register anything for an application to run in windows?
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Registration fires a block of code that intializes values in a shared hierarchical store called thwe Windows registry. the Windows registry is used to resolve information about interfaces and file locations based on identifiers called ProgIDs and CLSIDs to provide location-independent, always commonly resolvable referencing.
Think of registration as a way of writing intialization and reference data where Windows can always figure out how to get the details if it's used consistently. it's an .INI file that can have it's context set relative to a user, to the machine, to the existing system configuration, int he msater list of COM and OLE services...
To use VFP, at a minimum some of the VFP runtime files and the support .DLLs they require must be registered. This is handled properly by a Setup Wizard generated install that includes the runtime. if yiou want to use HTML help, it has files that need to be registered. Setup Wizard will properly register the required HTML Help components if they are included in a Setup Wizard generated install. Any non-default fonts that might not be present on a target system must be isntalled, and that's a different process. As mentioned any ActiveX controlsor COM components, and many third-party add-ons for VFP as well. Face it, if you want to use VFP, the registry is important. As is the casefor VB, VC++, Java and just about any other Win32 product using COM or OLE.,
>2. Is there an alternative to registration for those of us who don't care to play stupid games?
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Don't use any ActiveX controls, COM components, programs that support an OLE automation interface such as MS Word, rely on file associations to trigger the right program when a document is launched, use the Favorites list in your browser or the Start menu, or set anything through the Control Panel, which is nothing more than a user interface set on top of portions of the registry (this can go on nearly indefinitely); IOW, don't rely on any significant Win32 functionality or inter-product cooperation and communcation. You can still run under DOS, or Linux...well, not Linux because ?nix has some hierarchical stores that you probably would object to.
