Revision [20493]
This is an old revision of ApplicationEntry made by darkcity on 2012-02-06 11:37:56.
How to make File Associations
There are two ways to associate file-types in Puppy. The first is the by setting the 'default action' when clicking a certain file type. The second is creating an option in the File 'filename' menu when file is 'right-clicked'.
'Right-click' Association
MIME-Types are used to standardised file-types. The 'Right-click' options are stored in
/root/.config/rox.sourceforge.net/OpenWith
There is a directory for each mime-type in use, for example the MIME-Type directory for image/jpeg becomes .image_jpeg
A shortcut for getting to this directory is to right-click on a jpeg and select
File 'filename.jpg' > Customise Menu ...
Typically the MIME-type directories are filled with links to ROX AppDirs stored at /usr/local/apps
If the application/action you want is already in this directory simply create a link in the MIME-type directory.
If not then create an AppDir. They consist of a directory containing three files-
Appinfo.xml - information about app in xml
AppRun - script to run program
.DirIcon - image file icon for directory (many apps have an icon stored in /usr/share/pixmaps which you can link)
These typically contain the following - using AbiWord as an example-
Appinfo.xml -
<?xml version="1.0"?> <AppInfo> <Summary>Abiword text editor</Summary> </AppInfo>
AppRun -
#!/bin/sh exec abiword "$@"
The "S@" typically passes file clicked on to the app.
To pass a file to a WINE program see the follow example with Irfanview
#!/bin/sh
# Purpose: To convert Unix filename to DOS style to pass as an argument
# to wine when starting IrfanView from filer.
#
FileName="z:"${1//\//\\}
exec wine 'C:\\Program Files\\IrfanView\\i_view32.exe' $FileName'Default Action' Association (and Icon)
To set the 'default action' of a file-type follow the following instructions (modified from this thread)1. Check if your file-type has a MIME-type entry in Puppy Linux. They are stored in the text file /usr/share/mime/globs
If file-type is already associated to the correct MIME-type jump to step 2.
Add or edit your MIME-Type to file-type definition. For example, if you have a file whose extension is .tmd and your making a non-standard MIME-type application/x-tmd append the code application/x-tmd:*.tmd to the globs file. ENSURE you end the line with a 'return' otherwise it won't work.
(The x- in the MIME-type name above is used to indicate that this type hasn't already been
registered with the MIME-type authorities (www.iana.org/assignments/media-types/ media-types). i.e. It is a non-standard/private/local type, not an IANA officially registered one.)
4. You now need to create an executable shell script in /usr/local/bin, which for this example I will call defaultRunTextMaker (though you can call it anything you like), for starting up the TextMaker program.
It should contain the following lines:
Code:
#!/bin/sh
exec /path_to_where_the_program_is/TextMaker.exe "$@"
You don't need the /path_to_where_the_program_is/ part if that directory is already in your Linux PATH environment variable.
5. Finally, you need to tell ROX to open that default Run script should you click on a file of that mime type. To do that you create a short executable shell script in ~/Choices/MIME-types named, for this example, application_x-tmd, which should contain the lines:
Code:
#!/bin/sh
exec defaultRunTextMaker "$1"
!!! NOTE WELL that you DO NOT (and should not) need to set a default Run Action after doing the above; fixing the mime type information was enough. i.e DO NOT right click on the file icon in order to forcibly enter a shell command for the file type; instead leave everything up to the above mime type mechanism.
5b. EDIT: Having said the above, once you have modified the /usr/share/mime/globs file, you COULD alternatively not bother about the above step 5 code at all and just set a Run Action for the file type by right-clicking on the file icon and entering the appropriate shell command (e.g. path_to_TextMaker "$@"). That will automatically create an appropriate application_x-tmd shell script, but ROX stores that in ~/.config/rox.sourceforge.net/MIME-types rather than in ~/Choices/MIME-types. Either way should work I think. However, if you have, for example, an application_x-tmd shell script in both ~/.config/rox.sourceforge.net/MIME-types and in ~/Choices/MIME-types, then the one in ~/.config/rox.sourceforge.net/MIME-types takes precedence (i.e. ROX seems to look there first). The right-click Set Run Action mechanism thus provides a convenient means of quickly (permanently or temporarily) over-riding a previously set up default mime handler (in ~/Choices/MIME-types) for a given file type.
6. That is it!
Now any file with the extension .tmd should be recognised as having MIME type application/x-tmd. [Right clicking on the file icon and selecting Properties shows you the mime type the file is being recognised as].
The appropriate Linux TextMaker application should thus be automatically opened on clicking the .tmd file icon.
[Note, however, that you may need to close the ROX window and reopen it before clicking on the app icon after first doing all the above; I can't remember. I certainly did not need to reboot though].
For a more complicated example, involving two MS applications running over wine, see this post/thread here: http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?p=363429#363429
As forum member davids45 comments in the above "wine-user" related thread:
Related Pages
""AppDirs"" on ROX desktop - in Puppy AppDirs are only used for file associations rather than containing the whole apps
