How to get things out of your computer you didnt even know that they are in:
| Category: Net Business Start ups | Date: 2001-09-25 |
ASSOCIATE A FILE TYPE
MS-Windows has come a long way, also in its user- friendliness. Still, there are some things you can make use of only after many hours of trial and error. Or simply, by reading an ezine like this one.
The following might seem banal to connoisseurs but is quite helpful to computer "newbies".
Did you know that you can set your own file associations quite easily? A typical situation where you need to do that is, you bought a new application using any special type of file (say, extension .xyz). Well, most modern applications will register their specific file types automatically when they are installed. But it might well be that you got an application from a friend, without any documentation, without the installation software, etc. - only the pure application.
Still, you can integrate it smoothly in your Windows system.
But before that, make sure you know the exact spelling of the file extension you want to associate, and the exact path and name of your applications executable, from the harddisk
drive down to the sub-sub-subdirectory where it is stored (e.g. "C:\Programs\...\application.exe").
[Editor: it would help the reader if everything between " " is printed in one line!]
All you have to do now is opening your windows Explorer. In its menu bar (top-left) you see a menu "View". When you click on it, a submenu with a menu item "Options ..." pops up. Click on this item, and a tabbed dialog box appears. Click on its tab "File Types" and you see a white list of all the file types registered already and a few buttons ("New Type...", "Remove", "Edit..."). On gray background there is also a box with "File type details" of the currently selected file type. When you click on any of the file types in the white list, the entries in the gray box will be changing.
Click on button "New Type ...". Only one input is required now: "Associated extension:" Type in your new file extension and click "New ..." (beneath the white list). Another dialog box appears. Enter any meaningful one-word description in line "Action:" and click button "Browse". A typical "Open with"- dialog comes up now. In it, double-click all the way down to the sub-sub- subdirectory. Finally, double-click the name of the application to be associated.
Now you are done. Click "OK" in any of the three nested dialogs you have on screen now. When you are finished, double-click on any file of the new file type and the associated application will be launched.
If you feel a bit confused now, let me tell you: I am working on the computer on average some 10 hours a day, for some 16 years now. Thats almost as long as there are Personal Computers on the market. And its the same for me, too. Hardly a day is passing by without learning anything in my system I didnt know before.
About the Author
Article by Gunter Gerdenitsch, owner of 1st Components Design, Universal Software Components for Computer Applications without Programming 1st-components.com, 1CD offers a product line called "DLG" for building applications without programming.
:To contact see details below.
gunter@1st-components.com
http://www.1st-components.com
MS-Windows has come a long way, also in its user- friendliness. Still, there are some things you can make use of only after many hours of trial and error. Or simply, by reading an ezine like this one.
The following might seem banal to connoisseurs but is quite helpful to computer "newbies".
Did you know that you can set your own file associations quite easily? A typical situation where you need to do that is, you bought a new application using any special type of file (say, extension .xyz). Well, most modern applications will register their specific file types automatically when they are installed. But it might well be that you got an application from a friend, without any documentation, without the installation software, etc. - only the pure application.
Still, you can integrate it smoothly in your Windows system.
But before that, make sure you know the exact spelling of the file extension you want to associate, and the exact path and name of your applications executable, from the harddisk
drive down to the sub-sub-subdirectory where it is stored (e.g. "C:\Programs\...\application.exe").
[Editor: it would help the reader if everything between " " is printed in one line!]
All you have to do now is opening your windows Explorer. In its menu bar (top-left) you see a menu "View". When you click on it, a submenu with a menu item "Options ..." pops up. Click on this item, and a tabbed dialog box appears. Click on its tab "File Types" and you see a white list of all the file types registered already and a few buttons ("New Type...", "Remove", "Edit..."). On gray background there is also a box with "File type details" of the currently selected file type. When you click on any of the file types in the white list, the entries in the gray box will be changing.
Click on button "New Type ...". Only one input is required now: "Associated extension:" Type in your new file extension and click "New ..." (beneath the white list). Another dialog box appears. Enter any meaningful one-word description in line "Action:" and click button "Browse". A typical "Open with"- dialog comes up now. In it, double-click all the way down to the sub-sub- subdirectory. Finally, double-click the name of the application to be associated.
Now you are done. Click "OK" in any of the three nested dialogs you have on screen now. When you are finished, double-click on any file of the new file type and the associated application will be launched.
If you feel a bit confused now, let me tell you: I am working on the computer on average some 10 hours a day, for some 16 years now. Thats almost as long as there are Personal Computers on the market. And its the same for me, too. Hardly a day is passing by without learning anything in my system I didnt know before.
About the Author
Article by Gunter Gerdenitsch, owner of 1st Components Design, Universal Software Components for Computer Applications without Programming 1st-components.com, 1CD offers a product line called "DLG" for building applications without programming.
:To contact see details below.
gunter@1st-components.com
http://www.1st-components.com
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