METHOD FOR AUTOMATICALLY UPDATING A COMPUTER REGISTRY

In a computer system, a method for automatically registering resources required for an application program module to execute. After the application program module is booted, a registration cache is examined to determine its status. The registration cache is stored in association with the application program module and it indicates whether a registry on the computer system needs to be updated, such as after the user has moved files or renamed files such that registry keys in the registry may no longer be valid. If the registration cache indicates that the registry needs to be updated, then a search is made through a predetermined directory, such as the application program module folder. The search is looking for an application file or a dynamic link library file. Upon detecting an application file or a dynamic link library file, then a resource fork in association with the file is opened and it is determined whether there is a self-registration resource in the resource fork. If so, then the self-registration resource is registered by initiating a self-registration dynamic link library. It is also determined whether there is an Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) Type Library (OTLB) resource in the resource fork and if so, then registering the OTLB resource by initiating an OLE call.