A comparison of methods...

[Wombat]

So I'm looking at creating a small script that writes a logbook. It will need to be able to determine if the client machine has either MS office Excel installed or if it has Libre Office installed and then from there use the appropriate functions. I have everything down, except the determining the installed software. I could check for an .exe,  a regkey, or the installed list... but I want to ask the community what you all think is the best solution(s) to best eliminate errors. What method is best advised, or should i use a combination of methods?

Edited December 12, 2013 by Wombat

[markyrocks]

I'm still pretty much a rookie. But I'd probably go for the registry. Not exactly sure how to accomplish that. But if a program is installed my guess it would be in there. https://www.autoitscript.com/autoit3/docs/functions/RegRead.htm

Edited December 12, 2013 by markyrocks

[JLogan3o13]

I tend to favor a mix of approaches, just because I have seen the volume of crap that can be left behind in the registry should the person have had MS Office at one time and then uninstalled. You might combine a look in the registry's Uninstall key, a look under the Explorer key for a specific extension to see what it is set to open with (is .doc set to open with MSWord or the LibreOffice equiv. for example), and then I might do something like this to grab from WMI. You could easily change the msgbox into an "If MS Office Then..." statement:

$WMI = ObjGet("winmgmts:{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" & @ComputerName & "\root\cimv2")
$aItems = $WMI.ExecQuery("SELECT * FROM Win32_Product")

For $element In $aItems
    MsgBox(0, "", $element.Name)
Next

[jdelaney]

Did you know you can create excel spread sheets without excel installed?  You won't be able to view them, but just throwing that out there.  I have a sample in my sig, and pleanty more are out there.

So if you farm out work, as long as the end results of the logging are on a station with excel, there is no need to differentiate with what app to create the logging.

Edited December 12, 2013 by jdelaney

[Wombat]

 

I tend to favor a mix of approaches, just because I have seen the volume of crap that can be left behind in the registry should the person have had MS Office at one time and then uninstalled. You might combine a look in the registry's Uninstall key, a look under the Explorer key for a specific extension to see what it is set to open with (is .doc set to open with MSWord or the LibreOffice equiv. for example), and then I might do something like this to grab from WMI. You could easily change the msgbox into an "If MS Office Then..." statement:

$WMI = ObjGet("winmgmts:{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" & @ComputerName & "\root\cimv2")
$aItems = $WMI.ExecQuery("SELECT * FROM Win32_Product")

For $element In $aItems
    MsgBox(0, "", $element.Name)
Next

 

This is a method worth attempting, but like you said there could be garbage left over in the registry. maybe a combination of the three is required

Did you know you can create excel spread sheets without excel installed?  You won't be able to view them, but just throwing that out there.  I have a sample in my sig, and pleanty more are out there.

So if you farm out work, as long as the end results of the logging are on a station with excel, there is no need to differentiate with what app to create the logging.

 

I have been watching that thread... I would actually prefer this method. Creating the raw xml that would then be readable/editable via excel/libre. This would keep me from having to install libre on a HUGE amount of client machines...

[JLogan3o13]

A combination, probably 2 of the 3, is what I was suggesting. All 3 may be overkill.

[BrewManNH]

I'd use something even simpler, at least for me. Try to use _ExcelNew and see if you get an error, if you do, then it's probably not installed or can't be used by the current user, then try it with whatever Libre/OpenOffice functions that are equivalent and see if that succeeds.

[Wombat]

I'd use something even simpler, at least for me. Try to use _ExcelNew and see if you get an error, if you do, then it's probably not installed or can't be used by the current user, then try it with whatever Libre/OpenOffice functions that are equivalent and see if that succeeds.

 

That's some Occams Razor Shtuff

[BrewManNH]

I looked at it like a FileExists feature, check to see if you can use it, if you can't it's not there. Try it with the next possible program, and if that doesn't work, it's probably not there either. Then if neither are installed, use the direct to file udf mentioned above. It would only require a few nested If statements to get to the working functionality.