On Wed, 27 Jan 2010 13:31:35 GMT, Mark wrote:

> Suppose that I have an executable, word.exe, which isn't currently
> running. I know the path to the executable, C:\Applications\word.exe for
> example.
>
> Now I would like to know the name of this exectuable, as it is displayed
> in the start menu and in application lists and windows, i.e. Microsoft
> Word.
>
> How could I do this with VBScript? I have been searching the 'net, but
> haven't found an answer yet.

The start menu is just a bunch of shortcuts. Their names are arbitrary. Aside
from inspecting the .lnk file, you can't associate its name with the app. For
instance, Word is installed on the start menu as "Microsoft Word", but I
rename it to just "Word".

(As for the rest, I dunno. Someone else might.)

--
Crazy, but that's how it goes.

Strange. I see your response but I don't
see the original post.

To the OP:

As Auric_ said, there isn't any standard. You can
enumerate the .lnk files in the Start Menu to match
the file name with the target path.

You can enumerate the Registry key:
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall
and *try* to match the DisplayName value with the
parent folder in the uninstall string, but that's somewhat
far-fetched.

You can enumerate open windows to get title bar text,
but for that the program must be open, and most programs
have changeable title bar text. (For instance, IE will typically
show "Microsoft Internet Explorer" plus the current location,
which changes. But even the first part can be eliminated. If
you clandestinely opened IE on my PC in order to get the
title text you'd get "about:blank", because I erased the
title bar Registry setting and use a blank page for the
homepage.)

There just isn't any list anywhere. If it were me I think
I'd try the following: Walk the Start Menu and match file
names to targets. As a secondary method, taking the
path of the executable, find "Program Files". Then take the
name of the next folder down. That method won't always
work, but it's not bad. Most software uses a descriptive,
relevant folder name. (But not all. I think Adobe, for
instance, puts all of their software in a folder named "Adobe")

>

> > Suppose that I have an executable, word.exe, which isn't currently
> > running. I know the path to the executable, C:\Applications\word.exe for
> > example.
> >
> > Now I would like to know the name of this exectuable, as it is displayed
> > in the start menu and in application lists and windows, i.e. Microsoft
> > Word.
> >
> > How could I do this with VBScript? I have been searching the 'net, but
> > haven't found an answer yet.

>
> The start menu is just a bunch of shortcuts. Their names are arbitrary.

Aside

> from inspecting the .lnk file, you can't associate its name with the app.

For

> instance, Word is installed on the start menu as "Microsoft Word", but I
> rename it to just "Word".
>
> (As for the rest, I dunno. Someone else might.)
>
> --
> Crazy, but that's how it goes.

On Jan 27, 3:53 pm, "mayayana" <mayaXXy...@newsgroup> wrote:

> Strange. I see your response but I don't
> see the original post.
>
> To the OP:
>
> As Auric_ said, there isn't any standard. You can
> enumerate the .lnk files in the Start Menu to match
> the file name with the target path.
>
> You can enumerate the Registry key:
> HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall
> and *try* to match the DisplayName value with the
> parent folder in the uninstall string, but that's somewhat
> far-fetched.
>
> You can enumerate open windows

How exactly would you enumerate the open windows from
VBScript, which the OP listed as a requirement (at the end
of this post). All I can think of by way of window enumeration
is enumerating all IE/Explorer windows through
CreateObject("Shell.Application").windows.

And of just as must interest would be... Is there any way
to enumerate all COM objects? Or even all COM objects of
a given type (such as Excel.Application)?

> to get title bar text,
> but for that the program must be open, and most programs
> have changeable title bar text. (For instance, IE will typically
> show "Microsoft Internet Explorer" plus the current location,
> which changes. But even the first part can be eliminated. If
> you clandestinely opened IE on my PC in order to get the
> title text you'd get "about:blank", because I erased the
> title bar Registry setting and use a blank page for the
> homepage.)

I know you've mentioned the registry key for setting IE's
title bar, but would you mentioned it again, please.

> There just isn't any list anywhere. If it were me I think
> I'd try the following: Walk the Start Menu and match file
> names to targets. As a secondary method, taking the
> path of the executable, find "Program Files". Then take the
> name of the next folder down. That method won't always
> work, but it's not bad. Most software uses a descriptive,
> relevant folder name. (But not all. I think Adobe, for
> instance, puts all of their software in a folder named "Adobe")
>

> > > Suppose that I have an executable, word.exe, which isn't currently
> > > running. I know the path to the executable, C:\Applications\word.exe for
> > > example.

>

> > > Now I would like to know the name of this exectuable, as it is displayed
> > > in the start menu and in application lists and windows, i.e. Microsoft
> > > Word.

>

> > > How could I do this with VBScript? I have been searching the 'net, but
> > > haven't found an answer yet.

Sorry about this difficult-to-read post.
It's my 3rd attempt to get past Microsoft's
daffy filter. For some reason it keeps blocking
this post.
--------------

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