Revision [22125]
This is an old revision of AssociateFiles made by darkcity on 2012-07-09 14:58:54.
How to make File Associations
There are a few ways to associate file-types to programs in Puppy. The following descriptions are based on the RoxFiler and may not work with other file managers.
Default Action
Default Action loads the file into the appropriate program when it is clicked (left-clicked) depending on its InternetMediaTypes MIME-type. ROX will look for file named after the MIME type, firstly in-
~/.config/rox.sourceforge.net/MIME-types/[MIME-type] then
~/Choices/MIME-types/[MIME-type]
For example, if the MIME-Type is application_x/audacity-project ROXFiler ROX will look for a file called application_x-audacity-project (notice the / is replaced by an _). Typically this file is a script of a link to an executable. Often it is a link to a program's AppsDesktop .Desktop stored in /usr/share/applications.
ROX provides a graphical way to set Default-Action
Right-click Association
Right-click Association loads the program when the user goes - Right-clicks menu > File 'document.doc' > Doc program
Open-with Association
Open-with Association loads the program when the user goes - Right-clicks menu > File 'document.doc' > Open With > Program
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 making a 'right-click' association is in the example of a jpeg, 'right click' on a jpeg file and select
File 'filename.jpg' > Customise Menu ...
Open /usr/local/apps and copy an absolute link of the program you wish to associate
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 "$@"
The "S@" passes the file clicked on to the application.
To pass a file to a WINE program see the follow example using Irfanview
AppRun -
#!/bin/sh
# Purpose: To convert Unix filename to DOS style to pass as an argument
# to wine when starting IrfanView from filer.
#
FileName="z:"${1//\//\\}
exec wine 'C:\\Program Files\\IrfanView\\i_view32.exe' $FileName'Default Action' Association
To set the 'default action' of a file-type follow the following instructions (modified from this thread). Jump to Step 3 if you wish to associate with program already installed.1. Check if your file-type has a MIME-type entry in Puppy Linux. They are stored in the text file /usr/share/mime/globs
If file-type is already associated to the correct MIME-type jump to step 2.
Add or edit your MIME-Type to file-type definition. For example, if you have a TextMaker file whose extension is .tmd and your making a non-standard MIME-type application/x-tmd append the code application/x-tmd:*.tmd to the globs file. ENSURE you end the line with a 'return' otherwise it won't work.
(The x- in the MIME-type name above is used to indicate that this type hasn't already been registered with the MIME-type authorities (www.iana.org/assignments/media-types/ media-types). i.e. It is a non-standard/private/local type, not an IANA officially registered one.)
2. Create an executable shell script in /usr/local/bin , for starting up the TextMaker program and passing the 'clicked on' file to it. In our example, .tmd files will be associated to TextMaker. We'll make a script called textmaker (though it could be anything you like):
textmaker -
#!/bin/sh exec /usr/local/textmaker/tml "$@"
You don't need the path to the executable (in this case /usr/local/textmaker/) if the path directory your Linux PATH environment variable.
If textmaker was a WINE program then the script might be-
textmaker -
#!/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\\TextMaker\\TextMaker.exe' $FileName3. Finally, tell the ROX filer to run that script when you click on your file-type. To do that you create another script in /root/Choices/MIME-types named after the MIME-type. In our example the MIME type was application/x-tmd, so the file becomes application_x-tmd-
application_x-tmd
#!/bin/sh exec textmaker "$1"
An easy way to associate a file-type with a program is (instead of step 3). is to use 'Set Run Action' i.e right click on a file of your type and enter the shell command/ or drag program on to box. In our example it would be exec textmaker "$1".
NOTE this alternative will save MIME-Type run action in /root/.config/rox.sourceforge.net/MIME-types rather than /root/Choices/MIME-types. This method will take precedence over using /root/Choices/MIME-types (i.e. ROX looks to /root/.config/rox.sourceforge.net/MIME-types first).
