Add a favorite external editor to Flare 8 choices?

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Phlawm53
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Add a favorite external editor to Flare 8 choices?

Post by Phlawm53 »

Is it possible to add a specific external editor to the list of choices offered by Flare 8?

The good news is that Flare 8 will open a given file in the Windows default editor for that filename extension.

For example, in Flare 8, in a given project's Content Explorer —> Resources —> Stylesheets, right-click a file then choose Open. Flare 8 opens the stylesheet (or any other right-clicked file) in the CSS editor defined to Windows as the default editor for that file type.

But I'd also like to be able to choose one or more non-default external editors. For example, Open in VIM. Does anyone happen to know if that's a possibility? (This isn't a big deal or insurmountable issue, I'm just curious whether it can be readily done…)

Cheers & thanks,
Riley
Last edited by Phlawm53 on Tue Jun 18, 2013 8:33 am, edited 1 time in total.
wclass
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Re: Add a favorite external editor to Flare 8 choices?

Post by wclass »

Yep - there is a way - slow but workable.
  • In Windows explorer, navigate to one of the files you want to open (your .CSS files, or most of the files in the Projects folder).
  • Right-click and choose "Open with ..."
  • Select "Choose default program..."
  • Then browse to the program you want added to the list. You don't need to make it the default, just open it once and it will find its way to the right-click list in Flare.
  • Repeat for each file type.
  • Close Flare and re-open to make sure it picks up the full list of available editors.
There is probably a way by fiddling with the registry, but I haven't explored that.
Margaret Hassall - Melbourne
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Re: Add a favorite external editor to Flare 8 choices?

Post by SteveS »

It isn't a Flare issues, as such, as Flare uses the programs registered with Windows to show the programs. Margarets workaround is actually registering the programs with the operating system.

A web search found this:

The Open With listing for a file type is populated from the following registry keys:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ FileExts \ .xyz \ OpenWithList
HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ FileExts \ .xyz \ OpenWithProgIDs
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.xyz\ OpenWithList
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.xyz\ OpenWithProgIDs
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\<Perceived Type>\OpenWithList

It was a site that had an 'open with' editor for download, so there are utilities out there if you don't want to hack the registry yourself.

HTH
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Phlawm53
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Re: Add a favorite external editor to Flare 8 choices?

Post by Phlawm53 »

Thanks to both of you who replied. So far I'm going with "wclass's" method — so far it seems to be working, sorta'…

Cheers & thanks 'gain,
Riley
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Re: Add a favorite external editor to Flare 8 choices?

Post by ccardimon »

Thanks. It worked!
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Re: Add a favorite external editor to Flare 8 choices?

Post by BaritoneJP »

Thanks for the info :D ... this may need to be a knowledge base topic too
Thank you for your comments and help with my quandary ...
Jamey
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Re: Add a favorite external editor to Flare 8 choices?

Post by Fidens1 »

Hi all,
I've tried all of these options and I still can't get Paint.net to show in the list.

I'm using Flare 9.

Any other ideas?
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Re: Add a favorite external editor to Flare 8 choices?

Post by SteveS »

Hi Fidens1,

Welcome to the forums. :D

As I indicated before, the method described by Maragaret should work (i've used it countless times).

One gotcha I can think of is you have to have administrative privileges...

The other is you might need to rebbot the computer after installing paint.net and again after registering it for specific file extensions, although I do seem to recall installing paint.net years ago and it tried to claim all the image file types.
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Re: Add a favorite external editor to Flare 8 choices?

Post by Fidens1 »

Hi SteveS,
Thanks for your welcome and your reply. :)

I do have administrative privileges, but it's still not working for me. Other programs work fine (I can add GIMP to the list, for example), but not Paint.net. So, I don't think it's anything I'm doing wrong, it's probably some sort of incompatibility somewhere.

It's also not working for my colleague. It used to work for her, but since moving to Windows 8, it doesn't. I've only ever used Flare on Windows 8 and it's never worked for me. We are both stumped. If you know a different way around it or can even just alleviate my mind by saying it's a known issue, that would be great.
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Re: Add a favorite external editor to Flare 8 choices?

Post by SteveS »

Windows 8 might be the culprit...

I'd suggest lodging a bug report on this. The URL is https://www.madcapsoftware.com/feedback/bugs.aspx.

According to Windows 8:
1. Open Default Programs.
2. Click Associate a file type or protocol with a program.
3. Click a file type or protocol, then click Change pprogram.
4. Select the program you want to use as default.
5. Click OK.

I suspect you have tried this, but its worth mentioning, just in case. :)
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Fidens1
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Re: Add a favorite external editor to Flare 8 choices?

Post by Fidens1 »

Thanks again SteveS.

To be honest, I hadn't tried changing the default program like that.. I just right-clicked on a file type, click Properties, and change it in there.

I did try your method but the file types were was already associated with Paint.net and it still didn't work.

I'll lodge a bug report, but I suspect you are correct in saying that it's Windows 8.


***UPDATE***
I lodged a bug report and tech support were able to replicate it with Paint.net.

If anyone else is having this issue, please reference the report with the number 76425.

Thanks!
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whunter
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Re: Add a favorite external editor to Flare 8 choices?

Post by whunter »

I just moved to Windows 8 and I'm having this issue. I have administrator rights and I have changed the association for the file type - no luck.
Is this still the latest on this issue (a bug has been logged but not yet fixed), or is anyone in the know with any updates? I am using Flare 11.

It's not just that the Flare right-click menu doesn't want to recognize the program I've added...seems like it doesn't recognize any programs other than the built-in Windows picture viewer (for images anyway).
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Re: Add a favorite external editor to Flare 8 choices?

Post by BedfordWriter »

Moved to a new Windows 7 computer yesterday, and bumped into the same problem. The ability to right-click and Open With my favourite image editor (Paint.Net like the others here) isn't something I'm willing to live without, so I dug until I found the solution. Much thanks goes to "Tamnais" and "GiUmaTo" on the Picassa forums for figuring it out over there.

For reasons that I don't understand, Paint.Net does not necessarily create an entry in the registry under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications. And, that's what you need. The steps are as follows. Proceed at your own risk, since editing your system registry is fraught with danger.

1) Run Regedit (Just type it at the Start menu)
2) Browse to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications
3) Right-click on Applications and add a new key. Name it PaintDotNet.exe
3) Right-click on your new key and add a new key, Name it shell
4) Right-click on shell and add a new key. Name it open
5) Right-click on open and add a new key. Name it command.
6) Within the command key, right-click on Default and modify. Add the following string, as written (including quotation marks).
"C:\Program Files\Paint.net\PaintDotNet.exe" "%1"
Save. And, bingo; it now works.
PaintNetRegistry.png
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Re: Add a favorite external editor to Flare 8 choices?

Post by zappy0 »

Thanks BedfordWriter! It's been years since your post, but the solution worked for me on Windows 10 and Corel Paint Shop Pro. In my case, the string was

"C:\Program Files\Corel\Corel PaintShop Pro 2020 (64-bit)\Corel PaintShop Pro.exe" "%1"
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