VB 6.0 - Checking for ADOBE Acrobat Reader... - Asked By Robbe Morris on 22-Aug-01 10:25 AM

...What is the best way to see if this object is installed on the users PC if I DON'T have it referenced in my project file.
Basically, I'm looking for the CreateObject construct for the Acrobat Reader if there is one.
Any ideas?

I'd imagine with checking for any optional program, I'd do something like:
On Error GoTo Handler:
Set o = CreateObject("dllname.class")
'if ya get here, you're successful
Handler:
   If err.description = "invalid class string" Then'or whatever it is
yourfunction = "You don't have acrobat... download it for free here"
Probably a more eloquouent way though, but this should work ...

...Do you know the object and classname for Adobe Acrobat?

Comes up with 
ArcoExch.Document
for version 4... don't know if this is right.   Seems to have a bunch of executables associated with it though.

Thanks.

This code would of course go in a module file to support the API calls.
Const KEY_READ = &H20019;
Const HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE = &H80000002;
Function CheckRegistryKey(ByVal hKey As Long, 
                          ByVal KeyName As String) 
                          As Boolean
    Dim handle As Long
If RegOpenKeyEx(hKey, KeyName, 0, KEY_READ, handle) = 0 Then
   CheckRegistryKey = True
   RegCloseKey handle
 End If
End Function
 Function CheckAdobe() As Boolean
    CheckAdobe = CheckRegistryKey(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, "SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS\CURRENTVERSION\APP PATHS\ACRORD32.EXE")
End Function