What do I need to do to get Windows to show decent editors in the right-click context menu?

Harry,

If someone can explain that strange unobvious syntax, that would be nice!

Only if you can explain to us whats the so "stange" and "unobvious"syntax.
Or do you expect us to just guess what you might be thinking about ? :-\ :-)

Though I do find it a bit strange to see that %1 twice. Than again, what
needs to be put there is a requirement of that "Shotcut" program*, not
something the OS has any say in ...

*Either check the programs docs, or see if "Shotcut /?" (in a command
window) will show you more to whats needed.

Regards,
Rudy Wieser


-- Origional message:
"harry newton" wrote in message
news

What do I need to do to get Windows to *add* Shotcut as an editing
choice?
http://i63.tinypic.com/2ljhiyu.jpg --- This is what I get
http://i63.tinypic.com/35ix02h.jpg --- This is what I want\

If someone can explain the unintuitive open-with syntax, that would be
nice.

It turns out that the "Open with Shotcut" static menu (it's not context
sensitive) inside the otherwise-context-sensitive right click menu,
suddenly started working to not only start Shotcut (which it did before)
but also to load the right-clicked file inside of Shotcut (which only
happened after updating to the latest version of Shotcut 17.09.04).
http://wetakepic.com/images/2017/10/12/openwithshotcut2.jpg

Apparently, the correct registry key to add is:
HKCR\*\shell\Open with Shotcut\command
Default = C:\apps\editor\vid\shotcut\shotcut.exe %1 %1*
http://wetakepic.com/images/2017/10/12/openwithshotcut.jpg

If someone can explain that strange unobvious syntax, that would be nice!

He who is R.Wieser said on Thu, 12 Oct 2017 08:11:40 +0200:

Only if you can explain to us whats the so "stange" and "unobvious"syntax.

This is obvious syntax:
Default = C:\apps\editor\vid\shotcut\shotcut.exe %1
where it's obvious that %1 is a placeholder for the file.

But this is NOT obvious syntax:
Default = C:\apps\editor\vid\shotcut\shotcut.exe %1 %1

Nor is this:
Default = C:\apps\editor\vid\shotcut\shotcut.exe %1 %1*

Where the purpose and intent of the second %1 and the trailing asterisk is
not obvious to me. Is the purpose obvious to you?

Harry,

This is obvious syntax:
Default = C:\apps\editor\vid\shotcut\shotcut.exe %1
where it's obvious that %1 is a placeholder for the file.

Correct.

But this is NOT obvious syntax:
Default = C:\apps\editor\vid\shotcut\shotcut.exe %1 %1

It isn't ? As I already indicated, it all depends on how that
"Shotcut.exe" program.of yours interprets its aguments. For all I know the
first %1 could be regarded as the source and the second as the target
filename. Which is why I suggested you to take a look at the programs
docs.

Nor is this:
Default = C:\apps\editor\vid\shotcut\shotcut.exe %1 %1*

Again, isn't it ? How do you know ? It might not make any sense to
*you*, but it could very well make sense to your computer and its OS. Have
you aready tried to google it (and if not, why) ?


But now you've pointed out what you're looking at I can look at the same
thing. You see, the problem is that I've got some experience. Experience
which tell me there are scores of people who find something "weird" just
because they simply do not understand what they see (and/or they do not get
the expected result). And than its rather possible *I* think they mean
something #1, but *they* mean something #2, and subsequently the "hilarity"
of not having a clue what the other is talking about ensues (read: a great
deal of frustration on both parties). So at some point I've stopped to
try to second-guess people in this regard, and expect them to *point out*
what they are talking about.

In your case it turns out just to be a typo: that second "1" should not be
there (it should be %* ). Something you *could* have figured out for
yourself by looking at other spots in the registry (under similar "command"
entries) where "%1" is used ... (thats a hint, not an accusation by the
way).

At least, that is my go-to method. Look at something similar, and compare.

Where the purpose and intent of the second %1 and the trailing asterisk is
not obvious to me. Is the purpose obvious to you?

Nope, not really. I however do not claim to know *everything* about
computers (just a bit more than many others). But "%" is the prefix for a
command-line argument (something DOS era .BAT writers know all about), and
"*" is used as a wild-card char in filespecs (just try and type "dir *.txt"
on the commandline). The result is that with that "%*" would most likely
mean something like "any (following) argument". Which a quick google
actually confirms. :-)

Does that answer your question(s) ?

Regards,
Rudy Wieser


-- Origional message:
"harry newton" wrote in message
news
He who is R.Wieser said on Thu, 12 Oct 2017 08:11:40 +0200:

Only if you can explain to us whats the so "stange" and
"unobvious"syntax.

This is obvious syntax:
Default = C:\apps\editor\vid\shotcut\shotcut.exe %1
where it's obvious that %1 is a placeholder for the file.

But this is NOT obvious syntax:
Default = C:\apps\editor\vid\shotcut\shotcut.exe %1 %1

Nor is this:
Default = C:\apps\editor\vid\shotcut\shotcut.exe %1 %1*

Where the purpose and intent of the second %1 and the trailing asterisk is
not obvious to me. Is the purpose obvious to you?

He who is Wolf K said on Sun, 8 Oct 2017 11:32:32 -0400:

I agree, but AFAIK it's a three-way interaction between program, file
type, and context menu. If so, that implies that if the program lacks
some code and/or fails to create some registry key(s), it won't show up
in a context menu.

This "one-way interaction" might be why my MP4 context menu has "Video Pad
Editor" on it when I only used it a couple of times, but it still doesn't
show "Shotcut" even though that's what I *want* to be on my
context-sensitive right-click menu!
http://wetakepic.com/images/2017/10/14/context_mpg.jpg

Meanwhile, when I right click on a JPG, I at least do get what I want to
use for an editor (for the most part).
http://wetakepic.com/images/2017/10/14/context_jpg.jpg

Unfortunately, in *both* cases there's stuff I'd love to *remove* from the
Windows right-click context menu, such as "Windows Photo Viewer".

Is there a way to permanently remove stuff like "Windows Photo Viewer" from
the context menu without actually having to remove the stuff from Windows?