Standard "Open With..." dialog to choose helperapp

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   Our software manages files, and we want to allow users to select "helper apps" for various types of files.

We would like to present the standard "Open With..." dialog to users from which they can choose the app they want to use.

I understand that this dialog is usually shown by the OS itself when a user attempts to launch an unknown file from Windows Explorer... but is there an API for this dialog so it can be used to set up helper apps?

(MFC, C++, Visual Studio .Net 2003)

Thanks in advance!

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lorax1284 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: 10 September 2005 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 14	Post Options Post Reply Quote lorax1284 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Standard "Open With..." dialog to choose helperapp Posted: 24 June 2009 at 10:19pm
	Our software manages files, and we want to allow users to select "helper apps" for various types of files. We would like to present the standard "Open With..." dialog to users from which they can choose the app they want to use. I understand that this dialog is usually shown by the OS itself when a user attempts to launch an unknown file from Windows Explorer... but is there an API for this dialog so it can be used to set up helper apps? (MFC, C++, Visual Studio .Net 2003) Thanks in advance!
	Ryan Germann Product Manager & UI Designer

mdoubson Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 17 November 2008 Status: Offline Points: 1705	Post Options Post Reply Quote mdoubson Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 28 July 2009 at 8:44pm
	You just need to call ShellExec with you type of file and if it not registrated as already existed association - ShellExec will open you prompt to find target This is a sample from my old code - ext is string of file extention. .............. int j = strFile.ReverseFind('.'); strFile = strFile.Left(j + 1); strFile += ext; if (::ShellExecute(GetSafeHwnd(), "open", strFile, NULL, strPath, SW_HIDE) == (HINSTANCE) SE_ERR_NOASSOC) { AfxMessageBox("No Associations with extension " + ext + "\nYou should create one!"); ShellExecute(GetSafeHwnd(), "open", "rundll32.exe", "shell32.dll,OpenAs_RunDLL " + strFile, strPath, SW_SHOW); }

ijwelch Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 20 June 2006 Status: Offline Points: 262	Post Options Post Reply Quote ijwelch Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 29 July 2009 at 9:59pm
	You can build menu yourself. The info is in registry. This site explains where: http://windowsxp.mvps.org/OpenWith.htm
	ExtremeSuitePro 12.1.1 WinXP SP3

mdoubson Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 17 November 2008 Status: Offline Points: 1705	Post Options Post Reply Quote mdoubson Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 29 July 2009 at 10:09pm
	Sure - but the idea is to give USER a choice to make association - not force him (e.g. our app generate some image of special format we don't have internal viewer but user can have some "universal" image viewer he can choose)