Find installation directory of a program

[WJSwanepoel]

Is it possible to find the installation directory of a program programmatically in FreePascal/Lazarus?

[WooBean]

Hi,
try to visit page https://www.freepascal.org/docs-html/rtl/system/paramstr.html
It may be something near you are looking for.

[Bogen85]

Is it possible to find the installation directory of a program programmatically in FreePascal/Lazarus?

Something like this:

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1. program FindBinaryDir;
2.  
3. {$APPTYPE CONSOLE}
4.  
5. uses
6.   SysUtils;
7.  
8. var
9.   ExeName: string;
10.   ExePath: string;
11.  
12. begin
13.   ExeName := ParamStr(0);
14.   ExePath := ExtractFilePath(ExeName);
15.   Writeln('The directory that the application''s binary is in is: ' + ExePath);
16. end.

[Bogen85]

This was answered already here: https://forum.lazarus.freepascal.org/index.php/topic,6309.0.html
(don't reply in there, continue the thread here)

[WJSwanepoel]

This is not what I am looking for. The examples given will give me the path of the running program.

What I for instance want is to find the installation path of say excel.exe or lazarus.exe.

[Bogen85]

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1. program FindBinaryDir;
2. {$APPTYPE CONSOLE}
3. {$mode objfpc}
4. {$H+}
5.  
6. uses
7.   SysUtils;
8.  
9. function SearchPath(const exe: string): string;
10.   begin
11.     result := ExeSearch(exe, GetEnvironmentVariable('PATH'));
12.   end;
13.  
14. var
15.   ExeName: string;
16.   ExePath: string;
17.  
18. begin
19.   if ParamCount > 0 then begin
20.     ExeName := SearchPath(ParamStr(1));
21.     ExePath := ExtractFilePath(ExeName);
22.     Writeln('The directory that the application ', ExeName, ' has its binary is: ' + ExePath);
23.   end;
24. end.

This works on Linux. Not sure about Windows.

Code: Text  [Select][+][-]

1. $ fpc appdir3.pas
2. Free Pascal Compiler version 3.3.1 [2023/01/19] for x86_64
3. Copyright (c) 1993-2023 by Florian Klaempfl and others
4. Target OS: Linux for x86-64
5. Compiling appdir3.pas
6. appdir3.pas(2,2) Warning: APPTYPE is not supported by the target OS
7. Linking appdir3
8. 24 lines compiled, 0.2 sec, 374896 bytes code, 166632 bytes data
9. 1 warning(s) issued

Pass in the executable to search for on the command line:

Code: Text  [Select][+][-]

1. $ ./appdir3 gcc
2. The directory that the application /usr/bin/gcc has its binary is: /usr/bin/

[Bogen85]

So ExeSearch combined with what it is the PATH environment variable might be what you are looking for.

[Bogen85]

It should work on Windows https://www.freepascal.org/docs-html/rtl/sysutils/exesearch.html as the PathSeparator is OS specific, and is what is in the PATH variable.

https://www.freepascal.org/docs-html/rtl/system/pathseparator.html

[KodeZwerg]

On Windows you do usual iterate over the "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\" registry, parse it to your needs and its done within a few seconds.
You do not get the executable name, you get the installation name of product.
key "DisplayName" = this is how a product calls itself
key "InstallLocation" = this is the root folder of installed product

ps: and "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\" registry.... sorry forget to mention earlier.

above is used when product was installed via a setup.exe that add entries to my mentioned registry, lazarus/fpc does not use it, for that you really need to search in a long long long way all your drives for a matching executable name.

[KodeZwerg]

Fastest way on windows machines to find whatever file withing a second is to install "Everything".
That app index all your files and you can search by typing a name.

In attachment a german installation of everything with results for "Lazarus.exe"

[balazsszekely]

@WJSwanepoel

Is it possible to find the installation directory of a program programmatically in FreePascal/Lazarus?

Try attached project.

[KodeZwerg]

@WJSwanepoel

Is it possible to find the installation directory of a program programmatically in FreePascal/Lazarus?

Try attached project.

Perfect translation of what I said with registry! Great job GetMem!

[balazsszekely]

@KodeZwerg

Perfect translation of what I said with registry! Great job GetMem!

Thanks. It was already discussed in the following thread: https://forum.lazarus.freepascal.org/index.php/topic,60440.0.html
However if you compare the results with the list from "Add remove programs" you will find a few differences, not many, just a few. So windows knows something we don't. I'm not motivated enough to find out the secret though. 

[KodeZwerg]

@GetMem, my own tool shows way more, I try to see what you do differently.

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1. Caption := Caption + ' (' + IntToStr(lwInst.Items.Count) + ')';

This I've added as last line to know how many items you find.

In attachment is the result of my own tool visible 80 vs 212 

[balazsszekely]

@GetMem, my own tool shows way more, I try to see what you do differently.

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1. Caption := Caption + ' (' + IntToStr(lwInst.Items.Count) + ')';

This I've added as last line to know how many items you find.

In attachment is the result of my own tool visible 80 vs 212 

My example ignores Microsoft entries by default, see the last parameter of GetInstalledPrograms method. If you set it to false, you will get much more entries.