Aliasing controls (MyBean.Bean.1 - ProjectX_MyBean.Bean)

Question

Anybody know how to alias an ActiveX-registered Bean or control what the thing will be called in the registry?
I have a number of projects which use my controls, and want to NOT have to search and replace and recompile.
Thanks in advance..

Answer 1

Sure.. Here's the program source for the aliasing... As far as instantiation, just do something like
Set myObj = CreateObject("MyPackage.MyClass")
Source below
--- begin source --
// RegistryAlias.cpp : Defines the entry point for the console application.
#include "stdafx.h"
#include <string.h>
#include <windows.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <shlwapi.h>
void showUsage() {
     printf("Usage: RegistryAlias (-add|-del) <alias> <classid>\n");
     printf("--------------------------------------------------\n");
     printf("This utility will either add or remove a progId from\n");
     printf("the Windows registry, associated with a specific\n");
     printf("class GUID.\n");
void addAlias(char* alias, char* classId) {
     HKEY key;
     HKEY subkey;
     DWORD disposition;
     UCHAR szBuf[80];
     if(RegCreateKeyEx(HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT,alias,0,NULL,
          REG_OPTION_NON_VOLATILE,KEY_ALL_ACCESS,NULL,
          &key,&disposition)!=ERROR_SUCCESS) {
          printf("Error: RegCreateKeyEx failed.\n");
          exit(1);
     if(disposition == REG_CREATED_NEW_KEY) {
          printf("Created a new key\n");
     else
          if(disposition == REG_OPENED_EXISTING_KEY) {
               printf("Opened an existing key\n");
          else {
               printf("Unexpected error on create key\n");
               exit(1);
     strcpy((char*)szBuf, alias);
     if(RegSetValueEx(key,NULL,0,REG_SZ,(LPBYTE)szBuf,strlen((char*)szBuf)+1)!=ERROR_SUCCESS) {
          printf("Error setting the CLSID\n");
          exit(1);
     if(RegCreateKeyEx(key,"CLSID",0,NULL,
               REG_OPTION_NON_VOLATILE,KEY_ALL_ACCESS,NULL,
               &subkey,&disposition)!=ERROR_SUCCESS) {
          printf("Error: RegCreateKeyEx failed on subkey creation.\n");
          exit(1);
     strcpy((char*)szBuf, classId);
     if(RegSetValueEx(subkey,NULL,0,REG_SZ,(LPBYTE)szBuf,strlen((char*)szBuf)+1)!=ERROR_SUCCESS) {
          printf("Error setting the CLSID\n");
          exit(1);
     RegCloseKey(subkey);
     RegCloseKey(key);
void reportError() {
     LPVOID lpMsgBuf;
     if (!FormatMessage(
          FORMAT_MESSAGE_ALLOCATE_BUFFER |
          FORMAT_MESSAGE_FROM_SYSTEM |
          FORMAT_MESSAGE_IGNORE_INSERTS,
          NULL,
          GetLastError(),
          MAKELANGID(LANG_NEUTRAL, SUBLANG_DEFAULT), // Default language
          (LPTSTR) &lpMsgBuf,
          0,
          NULL ))
          // Handle the error.
          return;
     // Process any inserts in lpMsgBuf.
     // Display the string.
     MessageBox( NULL, (LPCTSTR)lpMsgBuf, "Error", MB_OK | MB_ICONINFORMATION );
     // Free the buffer.
     LocalFree( lpMsgBuf );
void delAlias(char* alias, char* classId) {
     HKEY key;
     if(RegOpenKeyEx(HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT,alias,0,KEY_ALL_ACCESS,&key)!=ERROR_SUCCESS) {
          printf("Error opening key %s for deletion.\n",alias);
          exit(1);
     if(RegDeleteKey(key,"CLSID")!=ERROR_SUCCESS) {
          printf("Error deleting subkey %s\n",alias);          
          exit(1);
     if(RegDeleteKey(HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT,alias)!=ERROR_SUCCESS) {
          printf("Error deleting key %s\n",alias);          
          exit(1);
     RegCloseKey(key);
     printf("Deleted alias %s\n",alias);
int main(int argc, char* argv[])
     if(argc<3) {
          showUsage();
          exit(1);
     if(stricmp(argv[1],"-add") == 0) {
          if(argc<4) {
               showUsage();
               exit(1);
          addAlias(argv[2],argv[3]);
     else
          if(stricmp(argv[1],"-del") == 0) {
               delAlias(argv[2],argv[3]);
          else {
               showUsage();
               exit(1);
     return 0;
-- end source --