John and I had the following exchange in the Foxit Reader Portable 3.1.3.1030 Released thread:
Foxit adds filetype designation?
imag2 - November 24, 2009 - 10:46pmShould the portable version of Foxit be adding a filetype designation? As soon as I launched the app for the first time, my PDF files suddenly showed the Foxit icon... and the filetype was described as a "Foxit PDF Document."
Double-clicking to open the PDF did NOT cause Foxit to open; I am simply concerned that the program is stealing (or assigning, if not already described in the registry) the filetype designation.
- M.
Temporary
John T. Haller (Homepage) - November 24, 2009 - 11:01pmFoxit itself will do this while running if there is no PDF assocation already, or if it is not complete. The launcher cleans it up on exit.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Good to know... but at least
imag2 - November 24, 2009 - 11:41pmGood to know... but at least in my case, the launcher didn't clean it up.
My system still describes PDF files as "Fixit PDF Document" and uses the Foxit icon, although it is not treated as a "known file extension" (that is, I still see the .pdf file extension, although I have known file extensions hidden).
Forum
John T. Haller (Homepage) - November 24, 2009 - 11:48pmPlease post a note in the forums with all the details so that it can be further researched. It does sound like a bug on your system, unless you told Foxit to become the default PDF reader.
My exact procedure was to launch Foxit Reader via the PA.c platform, open a PDF file by dragging it into the main Foxit window, and then close the PDF file and program (in that order). I have not yet investigated any Foxit settings, or performed any other actions, and I most certainly did not tell Foxit to become the default PDF reader; my system does not have a default PDF reader assigned. I began the above quoted exchange once I realized my PDF filetype association had been altered, since I previously had no filetype association assigned.
- M.
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Could you try removing your file association and then running it again? What is the content of the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\.pdf before and after this occurs? Are you logged in with admin rights? Running regshot before and after can also be handy.
Foxit Portable *should* be monitoring that key for any changes Foxit itself makes and restoring them. If the key does not exist beforehand, it is deleted on exit. A special check for it is also made for default Windows configurations that have they key there but incomplete.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Hmm. Removed the file association, and ran Foxit a second time, with the following result:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\.pdf now says "(value not set)," as it should.
PDF files still show the Foxit icon, which they should not. Running Vista though, so the icon cache may need a reboot to refresh.
The filetype description is now simply "PDF File."
Yes, I am logged in with admin rights.
So... either I somehow did something accidental in Foxit the first time to trigger the odd behavior with the filetype description, or it was an anomalous event.
Head-scratching ensues....
Going back a long ways (about a year or so ago) Foxit has
always done this even if you have a default PDF reader.
I use IconPackager to give various files icons. Back when
I was running Adobe Reader my IP-assigned icons stuck.
Not liking Adobe Reader I found Foxit 2.x. Adobe was still
the default while testing. After awhile I noticed that whenever
I ran Foxit my icons would change. That became annoying as I
would have to re-apply my icon package to fix it.
There are as far as I know no settings within Foxit to stop
it from doing this.
Fed up I wound up going with PDF-XChange Viewer which doesn't
mess with the icons each time.
There's a portable version. A PA.c version would be nice.
Marc
We can use ${RefreshShellIcons} from FileFunc.nsh after the application has finished to force refreshing the shell icon cache to fix that Foxit icon still showing for PDF files (note for John: on the spur of the moment I just added [LaunchDetails]:RefreshShellIcons=none|before|after|both to my PortableApps.com Universal Launcher source, I reckon it could be useful for some apps, like possibly this one).
I am a Christian and a developer and moderator here.
“A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” – Proverbs 15:1
To follow up, after two reboots, the icon association simply disappeared... although if it was a simple Vista cache issue, I can't figure out why the first reboot didn't take care of the problem.
Foxit has a lot of nice features, but I'm not sure it's worth the head-scratching and frustration.
- M.