Question

I want to check from my code if a particular version of flash player is installed or not.
I used the following code

using Microsoft.Win32

RegistryKey RK = Registry.CurrentUser.OpenSubKey("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Macromedia\\FlashPlayer");

if (RK != null)
{
    // It's there 
}
else
{
    // It's not there 
} 

In registry If I search for flash player with version 10.2.161.23, the location

“HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Macromedia”

is having 2 folders:

1. FlashPlayer and
2. FlashPlayerActiveX.

But, my above code is not working.

Kindly let me know how to check if a particular version of flash player is installed in a system or not USING C#.NET.

Answer 1

Adobe’s old (pre 10) IE Flash detection code used to test in VBScript if it could instantiate object ShockwaveFlash.ShockwaveFlash.<major version>. If it’s just the major version you want to test, you can check for those keys under HKCR, e.g. HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ShockwaveFlash.ShockwaveFlash.10.

SWFObject instantiates the version-less object name, ShockwaveFlash.ShockwaveFlash, and queries its $version property. To do this in C#:

// Look up flash object type from registry
var type = Type.GetTypeFromProgID("ShockwaveFlash.ShockwaveFlash");
if (type == null)
{
  // No flash
  return;
}

// Create a flash object to query
// (should probably try/catch around CreateInstance)
var flashObject = Activator.CreateInstance(type);
var versionString = flashObject.GetType()
                      .InvokeMember("GetVariable", BindingFlags.InvokeMethod,
                                    null, flashObject, new object[] {"$version"})
                    as string;
// e.g. "WIN 10,2,152,26"

// Clean up allocated COM Object
Marshal.ReleaseComObject(flashObject);