Question

I am trying to get the path to AcroRd32.exe by invoking the following code:

 public static string acrobatPath = Registry.GetValue(@"HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\AcroRD32.exe\shell\Read\command", "", 0).ToString();

What I receive is the right value:

"C:\Program Files\Adobe\Reader 9.0\Reader\AcroRd32.exe" "%1"

but I want only the path to AcroRd32.exe without “%1”.
I could now use the split command:

public static string acrobatPath = Registry.GetValue(@"HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\AcroRD32.exe\shell\Read\command", "", 0).ToString();
string[] split = new string[2];
split = acrobatPath.Split('"');
// mask path with ""
acrobatPath = "\"" + split[1] + "\""; //get only path

but the value acrobatPath cannot be changed because of static attribute.

I also cannot use substr() because path can differ e.g. if there is no parameter at the end (“%1”).

How can I extract the path and set the static variable in one go?

Answer 1

Use static constructor for your class, and do all the work for string manipulation there.

class YourClass
{
    public static string acrobatPath;
    // This static constructor will be called before first access to your type.
    static YourClass()
    {
        acrobatPath = Registry.GetValue(@"HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\AcroRD32.exe\shell\Read\command", "", 0).ToString();
        string[] split = new string[2];
        split = acrobatPath.Split('"');
        // mask path with ""
        acrobatPath = "\"" + split[1] + "\""; //get only path
    }
}