[Registry Preview] Two values with the same name.

[PesBandi]

Microsoft PowerToys version

0.70

Installation method

GitHub

Running as admin

Yes

Area(s) with issue?

Registry Preview

Steps to reproduce

Create a registry entries file with the following content:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.test]
"test"=dword:00000000
"test"=dword:00000000

Select the .test subkey in the right pane.

✔️ Expected Behavior

A single line should appear with the name test.

❌ Actual Behavior

Two lines with the same content appear. This should not happen, since having two same names in a single key is impossible and after running the file, only one will be added (of course).

Other Software

No response

[randyrants]

Reminds me of similar ask in the past, to support multiple Keys of the same path/name in the same file: the Editor may be able to rationalize it, because it's actually importing the values from top to bottom, but for a Preview of a file that's "presumes" that the REG file was exported from the Editor, making this type of duplicate entry an impossible scenario? Definitely a bug a low bug on the stack, IMHO.

A reoccurring theme for me is that this was built for a Preview of the file, rather than an authoring tool. If I ignore that lingering opinion, I keep thinking that if I wanted to make it an authoring tool, I would have designed it differently. Right now, to check for existing values, I have to traverse the tree, then each of the values: small task for a small file but as the file grows, having to recheck the whole tree and then the attached table with each new line it becomes... painful? That aside, then the next question is the recommended behavior: last one read wins? Show an error for a single entry, calling out the issue? Still show two, with the previous versions as "error" and keep the last one?

It's an interesting error.