I wrote a small routine:
public IEnumerable<string> RecommendedPrograms(string ext)
{
List<string> progs = new List<string>();
string baseKey = @"Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\." + ext;
using (RegistryKey rk = Registry.CurrentUser.OpenSubKey(baseKey + @"\OpenWithList"))
{
if (rk != null)
{
string mruList = (string)rk.GetValue("MRUList");
if (mruList != null)
{
foreach (char c in mruList.ToString())
progs.Add(rk.GetValue(c.ToString()).ToString());
}
}
}
using (RegistryKey rk = Registry.CurrentUser.OpenSubKey(baseKey + @"\OpenWithProgids"))
{
if (rk != null)
{
foreach (string item in rk.GetValueNames())
progs.Add(item);
}
//TO DO: Convert ProgID to ProgramName, etc.
}
return progs;
}
which gets called like so:
foreach (string prog in RecommendedPrograms("vb"))
{
MessageBox.Show(prog);
}