New: Gopherus (Feb 14, 2023), Platform 24.1 (Feb 13, 2023)
450+ real apps (49GB), 1 billion downloads, Please donate.
Hey, again I'm sorry to keep you waiting. I'll test the new version on both systems today in the late evening, with and without TrueCrypt.
I've found a minor bug (?) concerning "default" applications (the way some programs, for example Office 2007, map the associations), but I need to take a look at the registry first to understand it before posting. If you've got the chance to install Office 2007 with default associations maybe it will be easier to explain.
I've run the test build on Windows XP 32-bit from my local hard disk as well as from a TrueCrypt disk (with the "Force auto-dismount even if volume contains open files or directories"-Option enabled) and on Windows Vista 64-bit from my local hard disk only. In all cases the tests were successful and PFA cleared the associations and was able to write the configuration to the disk.
I tried the minimize function on Vista 64 and it did minimize to tray correctly .. although iirc it was working with the previous version as well.
edit: minimize does not work 100%: the program can be brought back by pressing ALT-Tab which is not valid for tray icons.
Regarding the bug I mentioned I had no chance to look at it yet, but I'll post again soon 
Hi,
Sorry, holiday...
And I have a bad news about 64 bit tsting: I got a new job, and my new laptop is XP 32, so I won't be able to test PFA on 64... 
To all PFA user:
If you have Windows XP 64, please test PFa on it
I keep on reading other posts..
Fixed profile names allowing illegal characters
but WHY illegal?? can't they simply be called "outstanding"?
Huh? Illegal characters, as in characters that cannot be used as part of a file or folder name.
@Hyalian
Thanks again for all the testing. Please try this version:
I discovered a grave AutoIt documentation omission when I was randomly checking the bug tracker. Apparently, unlike all other programming / scripting languages I know, the '==' equality test FORCES a string comparison. While I could not previously think of a scenario where this really made a difference (usually AutoIt's number-to-string and string-to-number conversions are spot on), turns out this was one of those occasions.
AutoIt converts a hex number like 0x00000001 to a string as "1". So 1 == 0x00000001 evaluates to "1" == "1" and returns True. No problem. But in the windows message functions, the wParam is a Ptr datatype, which evaluates to "1" == "0x00000001" and the test returns False. So while I was testing for the correct thing, the test was failing due to the string conversion. It's fixed now and my shutdown tests worked correctly. I hope you have the same luck!
I also notice you mentioned having Vista 64. Since I haven't heard back from fox_hhinve, can you test and see if the minimize-to-tray works? PFA's Taskbar button should disappear when you minimize it, so it only runs in the tray like on 32-bit windows.
NOTE:
Please don't reply to this particular post, so I can remove the file link later
Sorry, I reply to this post without reading the note...
I try to remove it, but don't know how to do.
-----------------------------------
Hi,
Sorry, holiday...
And I have a bad news about 64 bit testing: I got a new job, and my new laptop is XP 32 based, so I won't be able to test PFA on 64 anymore
To all PFA user:
If you have Windows XP 64, please test PFa on it
I tested this build and it works fine for me (on XP 32)
Regards
Ick, OF2K7 will not go near my laptop. I'm not surprised it does weird things with file associations. Could be a shell extension problem, background process? If you can provide details I'll see if anything can be done, but PFA is pretty straight forward in how it works and I'm not keen to code around other intrusive apps like OF2K7.
Either way, I hope the new shutdown mechanism works for you. And please try to test the minimize-to-tray on your 64-bit system. Thanks!
edit: updated the post above .. concerning minimize problem.
I won't install OF2K7 at home either but have to use it at work.. I'll try to provide some details, maybe even export registry keys .. you can delete them easily afterwards
@Hyalian
Try out this build.
*snip*
I went back to the original minimize-to-tray mechanism (hide the main GUI window) which will hide PFA from Alt-Tab as well. I originally tried other ideas because I was having problems sending messages to the hidden window, they didn't work. I solved that a while back with an extra message only toolbar window, but never reverted the min-to-tray code. This should work on 32 and 64 bit now.
@Hyalian
You have a chance to test build 2.2.0.6 yet?
I tried on both systems (XP32, Vista64) - if needed I can check XP64 at work, though I doubt it will differ. PFA minimizes to tray successfully and stays there without any application switching problems (Alt-Tab). So I think it is safe now
Did you change the shutdown code? I didn't test it again yet..
I think I've got time on Wednesday to go into detail about the default switch I've seen and will think of an easy example for you to recreate.
Nope, didn't change the shutdown code since it is working. Just the minimize-to-tray code. I'll release 2.2.0.6 tomorrow.
Thanks for all your testing!
v2.2.0.6 officially released, see first post.
Hello,
Joined just to comment on this project. This is an area that we really need a good portable app solution.
I tested the current release (2.2.0.6 Dev Test 1) on a WinXP SP3 and Vista SP1 and I couldn't get it to work on either, at all.
Maybe I'm missing something. Didn't really see any documentation to speak of.
Clicking on the association button did nothing. Added via the documents but never got anything to launch. I hope this project makes it!
Furthermore, the GUI is rather cumbersome. I think the single GUI like Xenon has would be much better for the average user--file association, icon, action, etc. . . all in one place.
thx
Try the readme file, it helps. PFA works on Windows 2000+.
Nice... I really like this. One thing though. I know that you can change the default launch type via the command-line, but it would be nice if it made use of, say an INI file in app's main directory to choose the launch method. I.E. I would really like to have the app open/add/start minimized the way that the add_gui command-line parameter works when I click on it in the menu. I can't really see much use in having it just add and quit or remove in this manner, but perhaps an INI with the line ShowConfigGUIAtLaunch=true would launch it the way it normally does, then false would do the same as launching with add_gui. Even if you didn't go with an INI, it would be nice to permanently change the way it opens when launched from the menu, especially when the new menu allows automatic launching of apps when the platform starts, since then the whole process would be automatic when I plug in my drive it would associate the files.
So the new menu allows launching of apps, but no commandline support? That seems silly.
Anyway, I could create some special INI file that if present would read a commandline to execute.
In the meantime, you could try using a BAT file to launch PAF with your commandline, or if the menu doesn't support launching a BAT file, you could write a small NSIS script to do the same thing.
Actually, I don't know if it has command-line support or not... I'll have to dig into it a bit more. In the mean time, yeah I'll make myself a launcher.
Also, I'm having a strange issue with the exit command line, but only in certain circumstances. It seems to exit properly (all associations are restored to local settings and the program closes) but then I get an error that says "incorrect command". I don't run into this when running the command from anywhere except now that I've been trying to integrate it into my U3 menu, and it happens when I put PortableFileAssociator.exe exit into the appstop command. Now before you say this isn't meant for U3, you don't support U3, don't bother. I'm not asking for a bugfix to solve my problem using it on U3, or for U3 help. I can handle it on the U3 end, I'm just trying to understand where this might come from. I don't know AutoIt, so I'm just wondering what is the logic that causes that error to show up? As I said, it closes properly and sets the associations back, so I don't see any error. It gives an error message even though it worked just fine. The only thing I can think is perhaps it is triggered by either the working directory not being the right one or perhaps if there are extra characters in the command-line. Is this possible?
[Edit] Nevermind... I think it was because for some reason it was running the exit command twice so it worked properly then the error came because I was trying to run the exit command and the program wasn't running. Problem solved.
Ok, so now I have it running great, just had another thought. If it's already running and you click on the menu to start it again it just does nothing, right? Well why not make it so that if you try to run the program and it's already running it just brings up the GUI? That way if, say I have it running in the tray and I forgot that it's there, so I go to the menu and click to run it from the menu then it would just act as though I double-clicked on the system tray icon and just bring up the already running GUI.
I could spend all day considering what was launched from where, and when, while what else was doing what. I won't code for every possible combination, just the ones I consider most common and useful. I don't think I want PFA to do what you describe.
I'm glad you've got it working though! I found where that error comes from, and you're right in your assessment.
Well, I was assuming that you'd be running the same program from the same place, i.e. launch it from the menu, then you minimize it, then you click on it in the menu again and it just restores the minimized app instead of doing nothing. But hey, it's your app. If I want to mess around with it I can learn AutoIt and do it myself This is sooo nice with OpenOffice and 7-zip.
Ok, so here's an idea. With profile support, it would be nice to have a way to disable associations that you've created that doesn't require deleting them entirely. You add an entry into the INI i.e. "Enabled=true" then when you create a new association, make it add the association to all profiles, and just adds it as disabled to all of the other profiles, so it doesn't change the other profiles, but then the association is available to all existing profiles without having to recreate it for them. You could even have the "new profile" command make a clone of one of the profiles with all of the associations disabled.
Creating associations across profiles won't happen, nor will cloning in a disabled state.
However disabling an association is an interesting idea I'll explore.
Well, creating the associations across profiles was just an extension of that idea as a means of creating a "master list" of associations then the profiles just selecting them as enabled/disabled (and even editing them on a per-profile basis, as they would only be created the same, not synchronized or anything), but even if you just had the disable feature then I could achieve this by creating all new associations into my default profile and just cloning the default profile any time I want a new profile and start from there. I see from the previous comments that it looks like you've pretty much fixed up all of the major bugs that have come up, so I didn't really have anything to gripe about, just offering ideas
Ideas are good! I hate sounding discouraging though. It's just so many ideas come along (and this project has become more popular than I thought it would) that it's impossible to implement them all without making PAF some monster that it wasn't intended to be. But out of every 10 ideas I hear, there's usually 2 that are good enough to make it in. The profiles really was a good idea, and I think your disable idea is as well.
I don't discourage easily. Mostly what's happening here is I got stuck on my own projects, too lazy to start new ones, so instead I go around giving other people ideas for their projects cus I'm out of them for my own... or rather, as you say, too many of them, just out of ones that I can actually DO 
I was looking at how the drop-down list is populated in the "Add associations" window and realized that you are alphabetizing the list by association name, not listing in the same order as the INI. However, in the icons window, the filetypes ARE listed in the order from the INI. Any chance you could alphabetize the filetypes in the icons window dropdown?
...what exactly happens when you create an association that ISN'T set as "default". It seems to act exactly the same as when default is selected. To me, a non-default association should go in the Open With... section of the context menu and NOTHING else.
What should happen:
Icon is not changed
Double-click on file opens the locally installed program
Right click should show the local default as the default (bold) option
Right clicking and selecting Open With... should list the portable association
What does happen:
Icon is changed
Double-click on file opens portable app
Right click shows portable association as the first and default (bold) option
I'd call this a bug unless I'm really missing something.
What you describe is not how PFA works. It does not deal at all with the Open With... menu.
PFA replaces the right-click context associations of a filetype, and the icon. If you only create one association for a file type, then it is the default due to lack of any other option. If you create more than one association, say two different text editors or two different zip apps, then if you have not picked a default the OS will decide (probably alphabetically) which one to use on dbl-click. Otherwise you can choose one or the other to be the default dbl-click action.
Ok, gotcha. "Default" only applies if you have multiple PORTABLE associations as to which is default. My mistake.
I think this was one of the things I thought went wrong with PFA and the Default setting.
Sadly I've got no time at all to do what I wanted and give you information and thoughts about the things I was thinking about last month
Btw: a feature which came up for you to consider/throw away I think it would work out with PFAs way to handle associations: add another setting (checkbox) to "include host pc associations" for the specified file type. I think you had to restrict this setting to file types with just one association (e.g. "pdf" and not "pdf|ps") to work correctly. And you had to assert it is used only once for per extension.
I think of it as the following:
1) backup the registry key as you do right now
2) create the PFA Association Key as you do right now
3) if checkbox is evaluated true (and you didn't include the association yet), include the host pc reg keys as well and rename the string to "HOST: ", thus you will see (f.e.): "Open with HOST: Acrobat Reader"
4) remove the associations as you do right now
So the only change would be to include step 3. The benefit is that you can run the host pc applications as well, the drawback is that those associations might be changed to be non-default (don't know exactly, just a guess).
/cheer
I was thinking something very similar, and perhaps leave the host association as the default unless overridden by a portable association. And if the host association is the default, the icon shouldn't be changed either (which is just a matter of copying the host association's DefaultIcon key as well as the association itself). This would be really nice for things like images where my default is just the Windows image viewer, and my portable association is GIMPPortable. If I just double-click on the file, it would be nice to just open the viewer (which is WAY faster), but then have the option to open it in GIMPPortable with a right-click.
I'll take a look at this.
Hey, first of all, congrats on everything !!!! the program rocks !
The download link for the new version is not working. Although I'm registered.
Is it possible to create a "Send To" Menu with PFA ?
The reason I need this is because I am using NCONVERT, but with the normal way of doing stuff, NCONVERT gets one process for EACH chosen file. Meaning it runs multiple times, so I can't convert properly.
With the Send To Menu, Windows sends the hole file list as one batch, and so i can convert from *.jpg to ONE PDF file.
is that possible at all ? I mean, instead of "drives" "folders" we have a send to menu !
Something got hosed on Patrick's hosting, because my list of downloads in my download tracking script got wiped out. I'll try to get it back up soon. Dammit.
EDIT - fixed.
Updated to incorporate all current good suggestions, except the SendTo menu. That's next on my list.
This version has a lot of changes and improvements (internal and external), so please report any problems. I did some pretty extensive testing, but I want to be sure I caught everything.
Thanks!
Downloading now. Will test and post results. Looking forward to the new features
Wow, that was quick Check out the Readme for updates on the new configuration dialogs.
Just updated to 2.2.1.0 and in the associations dialog, the path to each app is incorrect. If I attempt to manually fix it, it just reverts back...
After an upgrade -
X:\PortableApps\PortableFileAssociator\PortableApps\AbiWordPortable\AbiWordPortable.exe "%1"
From a clean install -
X:\PortableApps\AbiWordPortable\PortableApps\AbiWordPortable\AbiWordPortable.exe "%1"
What's going on?
How are you trying to fix the path? Manually editing the INI file, especially if PFA is running, might not work. Can you post your INI file, or at least a few sections that are giving you trouble?
Also, after fixing the path or resetting it in the Associations dialog, you have to click 'Save' before changing to another association in the list.
I've tried browsing to the app again and also manually editing the Command field. I haven't manually edited the INI, especially when it's running I also remembered to Save...
The first few lines from the 2.2.0.6 "default_assoc.ini" -
[AbiWord] mode=doc|rtf|txt title=|| Open with AbiWord command='..\AbiWordPortable\AbiWordPortable.exe "%1"' default=4 [FoxitReader] mode=pdf title=|| Open with Foxit Reader command='..\FoxitReaderPortable\FoxitReaderPortable.exe "%1"' default=4
Ok, I was able to reproduce the problem. I'll take a look at it.
Thanks, I think our posts overlapped
Ok, it's a bug in the function that creates the full path. This function is included in the AutoIt distribution....so I have to figure it out and fix it. I'll submit a bug report to the AutoIt devs also. I'm pulling the download until it's fixed. Sorry for the problems
No need to apologize, the new version looks like it's going to be great
This update fixes a critical bug in the function that creates the full paths to applications and icons from the realtive paths stored in the INIs. This bug was present in the internal AutoIt distribution, so I didn't catch it. My apologies to anyone this bug affected.
Notes:
This bug only causes permanent harm if an association or extension change is saved with the wrong path currently displayed, since this will write an incorrect relative path to the INIs. Otherwise the new version will correct the display and application of the relative paths.
If you were unfortunate enough to be permanently affected by this bug, again I apologize. The only resolution is to correct and save your paths and icons with the new version.
Thanks, that's fixed it
May I ask what you used and what parameters because recompiling it is the only way for AVG not to mark it as a virus.(Yeah AVG was the only one to mark it as a virus in virustotal.com, kinda sucks)
It is compressed with UPX, standard to AutoIt compiled scripts. I guess AVG doesn't like UPX today?
The new File Types pane is awesome :). Two quick things though.
First off, in the File Types pane, the drop-down menu is listed in the order the sections are saved in the INI. However, in the Associations pane is sorted alphabetically by section name. I take this to mean that you are able to sort the drop-down menu before displaying it, so could you alphabetize the File Types drop-down alphabetically by file-type?
Also, I really like how the Copy Host Associations works. For the most part, I have set all of my associations to Copy Host Associations with no default, which then works like this:
If that filetype is registered with a program on the host system, then the host association takes precedence so that when I double-click on that file type, it opens with the local program. The local icon is also preserved. However, if the file type does not have a local association, then your program automatically swaps out the icon and a double-click opens the portable app.
However, if I were to set it up this way, but had more than one portable association, I would have no way of choosing which portable app to use as the default (because I have it set as no default). I suggest the following, just put a checkbox under Copy Host Associations labeled Host Association Overrides Default. If you check that box, then it would solve this. IF there was a local program already, the local association automatically becomes default, overriding the portable association checked as default. However, if there is NO local app for that file type, then open the default portable app. If there is no local app and no default app, then just do whatever it does currently (opens the first app in the list?).
if the file type does not have a local association, then your program automatically swaps out the icon and a double-click opens the portable app.
Not quite. If there is no host default, and no PFA default, then the PFA icon is used, but the OS decides how to open the program. It might just be that your PFA associations are generally higher in the list. I honestly don't know how the OS picks.
However, if I were to set it up this way, but had more than one portable association, I would have no way of choosing which portable app to use as the default (because I have it set as no default).
This sounds like a contradiction. You want a default without setting a default? Just set the default PFA association to the program that you want to use. Each association equals one program, so this should be easy.
IF there was a local program already, the local association automatically becomes default, overriding the portable association checked as default. However, if there is NO local app for that file type, then open the default portable app.
I think I see what you're trying to say. But this would only work if the host association is set as the default, otherwise if there was more than one host association, I would have no way of choosing which one to use, leading to unexpected results. Additionally, using "Open With ->" and choosing set default, sets the default in a different part of the registry which I don't check currently, and overrides the keys that create the context menus. Not to mention there's two different ways it can do this also. I'll have to look at this possibility also. I'll see if I can't find a better way to handle this.
I did think of one situation where PFA handles this less than ideally, but I have no way to properly handle it. If there are host associations but no default is set, and PFA has no default set, then it's an OS grab bag. Could be host, could be PFA. But I can't include host associations in the types dialog because they would be different on every machine, necessitating a possibly long configuration on each new PC used.
The next version will have a few cosmetic fixes and tray item state fixes (they weren't being reset when changing profiles), as well as an update check mechanism. Stay tuned.
Basically what I wanted was the ability to have a portable default set, but then if there happens to be a local association already, have that override the portable default. Reasons for this would be it's faster, and some others that I had thought of but have now forgotten. If there isn't a local association, then the portable default works normally. I wanted this effect, but that isn't currently an option, so that is why I tried setting no default, just to see what happens. When I set no default with copy host associations, it appears (though I haven't looked into the behind-the-scenes mechanisms) that because the host association was the default before PFA ever did anything (assuming there was one), then it remains the default because I didn't tell PFA otherwise. This achieves what I want, launching locally if possible, then falling back to the portable app if not.
This works fine with a single portable association per file type. However, I just thought what would happen if I had, say OpenOffice and NotePad++ both portable and both set for .txt with copying host associations and no default. Ok, so it would default to open with local notepad on a double-click (provided notepad was the local default). Ok, so bad example (what computers don't have an association for .txt??), but since I'm too lazy to fix it now, IMAGINE that with this configuration I sat down at a computer that had no association for .txt. Now, which portable app opens the file, since no default is set? I don't know... However, if I were to set one of the portable apps as default, then it would never default to local notepad, which is what I would like to happen.
However, allowing the user to set the host app as default, without knowing what that app is or if it even exists wouldn't work either, so that's why I suggested it be a checkbox to OVERRIDE the portable default, rather than including it as an option for the default. I was thinking have a portable default, just like you have it now, but if a local default exists, allow that to override the portable default. If not, fall back to the portable default and you're golden. From what you said, this could open a can of worms, but it's a thought. Also, it is working this way just fine the way I described (copy host associations, no default), as long as there is only ONE portable association. The icon part, perhaps I was mistaken, but as far as the double-click-what-program-gets-opened, it works
But this would only work if the host association is set as the default, otherwise if there was more than one host association, I would have no way of choosing which one to use, leading to unexpected results.
Well wouldn't it be logical that if there are any local associations at all that it follows that one of them is set as default? (unless something's messed up, of course).
This sounds like a contradiction. You want a default without setting a default? Just set the default PFA association to the program that you want to use. Each association equals one program, so this should be easy.
No contradiction. The reason I set it as "no default" wasn't a contradiction, it was because doing so in conjunction with copy host associations produced this effect that I was looking for. What I want is that IF there is a default local association, then that stays default. If there is not a local default, I want to be able to specify the default PORTABLE association to FALL BACK TO. My question is what happens if there is no local association but more than one portable association.
Local + 1 portable works as described (local becomes default), no local + 1 portable works the way you would expect (portable becomes default). The issue is no local + more than 1 portable.
Here's the thing to understand, and maybe the missing piece in several of your questions. Just because a host asociation exists, does not make it the default. In fact there can be several listed, and none the default. In this case the OS uses the first verb in the list. In a case where only OS default verbs exist (open, edit, print, printto), the OS uses open as the default (I think). But these are not explicitly registered as the defaults.
For more info on the mess MS has made, go to msdn.microsoft.com and search for 'openwithprogids' or 'verb file associations'. It'll make your head spin (and has given me a few headaches). You'll see why getting PFA to act 'right' under all circumstances is so hard.
In fact there can be several listed, and none the default.
That was the part I didn't know, and it suppose it does change things considerably. Ok, I guess I'll say it's awesome and leave that sorting issue as my only real request. My little workaround hasn't blown up in my face yet.
The new file types arrangement is great.
+1 for alphabetical order in the drop down though
I have a few ideas that might work to better handle defaults, like if there isn't one, search for the 'open' verb and use that since it's *supposed* to exist for every file type.
I'll get the sorting...sorted as well.
I guess that's what I was thinking, when I kept referring to the local default, I was thinking of the local open verb. But yeah, "supposed to" doesn't always happen. And I think part of the long-windedness of my posts was actually venting frustration at the fact that I had been playing around with some stuff and totally deleted my entire associations file. Don't worry, not a bug, it was totally me, just... yeah... I had almost 100 filetypes accounted for... and then just the default notepad one
Updated, see first post.
All looking good so far, although 'update check' seems to require access to Google [66.102.9.104 ICMP], no big deal though. Thanks for the great update
Yes, the update pings google to check if you have internet access.
Woohoo! I leave town for a few days and here you are pulling this out... you're good. Downloading now. Gonna give that host association option a run and get back to you.
Here's a parting gift before my vacation. This should fulfill the last outstanding request. This update adds a SendTo configuration to create SendTo context menu shortcuts. There were (again) a lot of changes, so please report any bugs you might find. Enjoy!
Bah, dammit, a Vista+ only function slipped in there...fixing now.
Replaced a Vista+ only function (SHGetKnownFolderPath) with the XP+ version (SHGetFolderPath). Sorry for the goof.
I have a couple of questions about the "INI file could not be read" error.
First, where in the program can this be thrown from? I would assume right at program start, any time you try to save settings or new associations, and on removal.
Second, do the files all get deleted when this happens? This seems to be the case, but I'm not sure.
If you're wondering why I ask, if you use this on a U3 flash drive (on which I'm running both U3 and the PAM) with security enabled, if the computer goes to sleep (depending on which suspend type it goes into, I guess, but not sure...), when you return from suspend, the data partition of the drive has been dismounted... well, kinda... anyway, if this happens, PFA is still running in the tray but when I double-click on it, it immediately pops up the error and bam, all of the settings are gone I'm just trying to figure out what state the app would be in at that point... and I might not have any luck.
Any chance that you could add a backup function where every time it successfully exits and removes the associations (indicating that the INI is fine), create a backup of the current settings files then if something goes weird and brings up the "error reading INI file" revert to the last backup rather than starting from scratch? ...actually, come to think of it, that probably wouldn't help my problem because the backup would also be contained on the kinda-sorta-dismounted drive also... but I still think that would be a better way to deal with a corrupted INI file in most cases rather than just going back to square one. If the backup was unreadable as well then you could fall back to the default the way it does now. Just an added layer of protection.
That error occurs when PFA can't read the main _assoc.ini file. But at no point does PFA delete the INI files and start over. Something else is causing your data loss. After that error, PFA exits normally, and the only INI file written to is the _state.ini.
Ok, good to know. I will look elsewhere for the source of the problem. Probably my own dang fault. I've been writing an app to launch U3 programs from the command-line (since the creators of U3 so brilliantly left the ability to do so out...) so I could use PFA with my U3 apps as well as my PA.c ones and the problem might be on that end.
It seems this application is hosted at http://patrickpatience.com, but the download link does not work.
Fixed. I've been having issues with my download script, and the backup had a wrong path in it.
I found some bugs with PFA.
Whenever I edit the INI file directly from the program's interface, i get some bugs in the ini file.
there are no " " added between the programs path, but only ONE ' in the begining.
path = ../whatever/whater.exe
PFA adds a ' in front of the ..
it become path = '../whataver/whatever.exe which gives me an error. I have to correct it manualy!
I can't reproduce this bug. Please list specific steps.
steps
I copy the new version over the old version
Then I open new version and go to the category menu, then I change some stuff, add some other stuff, normal:
I then save and quit.
go to the INI file, there is a '../ in front of the command instead of the "". Sometimes the ' doesn't even close the command.
Somtimes it replaces the ".. with a '..
I have a WINXP with a MUI over it using french MUI. maybe there is a problem with autoit there ?
The entire command should be wrapped in ' single quotes. I've tried and can't reproduce you're problem. Perhaps it has to do with your French translation, but I have no way to test it. Nothing has changed programatically as far as this is concerned in any of the newer versions. The procedure that writes the command to the INI file is identical.
Thank you for the SendTo Menu, Now I can use your PFA over cafe and convey.
One more thing though.
When I go to a "other" computer, and stick my USB in, I can edit HTML files with my portable apps.
BUT
I cannot launch them wiht my portable browser.
One fast way to fix that was to use a program called defaultbrowser (no spaces) or set browser.
These programs just add a default open with in the file associations of URL's.
I can see the effects of these programs in :
control panel, folder options, file types, [NONE] URL transfer protocol, HTTP Transfe protocol, ect.
DefaultBrowser works for most apps, but not windows messenger,
set browser works for all apps, but i get an error when I open each link.
I was able to fix all that by disabling DDE (Dynamic Data Exchange) and manualy editing these entries.
But doing this all the time is not user friendly.
I was wondering if we were able to add that function in PFA where we can intercept all the URL Call OS functions and redirect them to the portable .exe's, When we are gone, everything is reset back to normal !
You rock my world with this !!!
Hello, Is it possible to choose a personal .exe ?
like for example portable google or iron ?
thanks
Hey !
Thanks for your program, Actually, I don't know what went right... But with the latest version of PFA, I was able to launch my portable firefox by associating the .html .url extensions. weird... It was not happening before.
Also, with your program, defaultffp, did you fix the problems with defaultbrowser and setbrowser ?
thanks for your info !
Since i download the last version, my INI files have been all messed up.
I tried modifiying them manualy, but PFA doesn't catch the modifications in the UI
It changes them back to default settings.
I can no longer set default = number 1 or 4 ?
can you please explain the new features ?
thanks
I've been testing all night long this new version, and I kinda think found something fishy !
Correct me if i'm wrong but if for a File Type :
I don't check "copy host file association",
then no host interference should be made, even if i click or unclick the host precedence.
Example : INI file opened by notepad from HOST.
I create the ini in PFA, and I DON'T CLICK copy host.
So I'm thinking, If i don't copy host preferences, then the PFA preferences should be used and it should open with my portable TEDPAD.
But wrong I was, I have to make it the Default portable app for it to work, which i don't understand because since i didn't copy the host information, then the ONLY app that is supposed to open .ini files is TedPAD
thank you for explaining !
This new default thing is getting on my nerves, it's not working right.
I have a 'Textual' category with .txt and .ini in them along with a lot of other files such as .asm
Before, All i had to do was to set default=1 for the viewer (double click) and default=4 (for the editor), right click.
I could change the category name easily from textual to text with no problems at all.
NOW :
-----
I have to go to ALL the filetypes, .txt .ini .asm and choose the category or they won't open or they would open with the host's default app.
Then, If I decide I want to change the name of the category, or split it, when I change the name of the category, the old one is still there and i have to go to FILETYPES again to choose the new category. This is a MESS ! as I now have TWO categories with the same file types but different names.
==================
My two cents, Make PFA work EXACTLY as before if there are no "copy host associations" checked. And as it does now if this checkbox is checked.
Give us priority numbers ranging from 01 to 09 to set in our category names similar to the default=1 and default=4 in the old version. 01 opens on double click and 02 to 09 is displayed in the right click menu.
Thanks for listening to this because with the new version, filetypes have become the new master menu, before it was the category menu where you set all your filetypes, choose if it's default or not and off you go !!!
Filetypes always should have been the master menu. PFA was adapted from another program I had written earlier that was not originally designed this way. It took a ton of work to fix it, and it's staying the new way.
The new menu design is intended to allow you to have multiple 'categories' as you say with the same file types, and still allow you to be able to choose which 'category' with which to open a file type.
Ok, I understand that you want FileTypes to be the master menu, this leads to WAY more editing for file types.
Let's say you want to go this way, there is some stuff that must be changed so it becomes easier for us to edit the categories and file types
When a category changes names, the names gets changed in all the filetypes associated with the default one (this is not the case actually because it duplicates the category and keeps the old one associated with the filetypes, so i have more categories than listed in the category manager).
Second, Enable us to Multi select the file types arranged by categories and not alphabeticaly so we can assign a different default one.
For example : I multiple select JPG TIFF BMP (17 other file formats) and assign them to be opened with xnview, instead of scrolling down to all of them and doing that.
Last, When there are "No copy" of host settings, if there are no default category assigned, let it behave by opening the associated portable program with PFA.
There's no reason to change a category's name, you're just creating more work for yourself. If you need different schemes for different situations, then create different profiles.
Multi-select is again a whole different UI scheme, probably not going to happen.
Your last request is also not going to happen. I'm not going to guess what you want PFA to do. I went back and forth on how to handle that situation (where the user makes no choices at all) and settled on the current scheme. If you don't choose a default, then no default is written. In this case, the OS decides what to use to open the file type.
I can't reproduce this either. When I choose not to copy host associations, dbl-clicking a filetype opens with my portable app.
Just a general note, in these newer versions, DO NOT hand edit the INI any more. INI formats are subject to change and all changes are handled internally and via GUI. Hand editing is going to mess something up.
If you can while PFA is active, export the registry keys for a file extension that does not open (HKCR\.ext) and the filetype associated with it (HKCR\PortableFileAssoc_ext).
I only hand edit the ini because PFA messes the directories up.
by the way, I had a case where removing the " " from the command parameters fixed the problem while adding them didn't.
example :
"../../../" "%1"
Not working
../../../ "%1"
working.
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