Get a list of installed programs with application icons.

Question

Hi experts!

I need to get a list of installed program on local machine with application icons. Below is the code snippet that am using to get the list of installed program and installed directory path.

/// <summary>
    /// Gets a list of installed software and, if known, the software's install path.
    /// </summary>
    /// <returns></returns>
    private string Getinstalledsoftware()
    {
        //Declare the string to hold the list:
        string Software = null;

        //The registry key:
        string SoftwareKey = @"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall";
        using (RegistryKey rk = Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey(SoftwareKey))
        {
            //Let's go through the registry keys and get the info we need:
            foreach (string skName in rk.GetSubKeyNames())
            {
                using (RegistryKey sk = rk.OpenSubKey(skName))
                {
                    try
                    {
                        //If the key has value, continue, if not, skip it:
                        if (!(sk.GetValue("DisplayName") == null))
                        {
                            //Is the install location known?
                            if (sk.GetValue("InstallLocation") == null)
                                Software += sk.GetValue("DisplayName") + " - Install path not known\n"; //Nope, not here.
                            else
                                Software += sk.GetValue("DisplayName") + " - " + sk.GetValue("InstallLocation") + "\n"; //Yes, here it is...
                        }
                    }
                    catch (Exception ex)
                    {
                        //No, that exception is not getting away... :P
                    }
                }
            }
        }

        return Software;
    }

Now the issue is how i can get the installed application icon ?

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Well to determine if its an upgrade, there were be a key called "IsMinorUpgrade". This is present and set to a 1 for updates. If its 0 or not present, then its not an update.

To get an icon from an executable, use this code:

'VB.NET
Public Function IconFromFilePath(filePath As String) As Icon 
    Dim result As Icon = Nothing 
    Try 
        result = Icon.ExtractAssociatedIcon(filePath) 
    Catch ''# swallow and return nothing. You could supply a default Icon here as well 
    End Try 
    Return result 
End Function 

//C#
public Icon IconFromFilePath(string filePath)
{
    Icon result = null;
    try {
        result = Icon.ExtractAssociatedIcon(filePath);
    } catch { }
    return result;
}