> How do I go about setting up basic file association via
> the registry and how do I get the Rev standalone to recognize that it was
> launched with incoming parameters and access & use those parameters?

For the purposes of this example, I will assume a fictitious app called "TestApp", with a file extension of ".tst" and an installed location of "C:\Program Files\TestApp\TestApp.exe".

1) Create a key in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT for the extension, and use the default value to point to the name of the application:

get setRegistry("HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.tst\","TestApp")

2) Create a key in HKCR for the application itself, using the default value to point to a descriptor of the kind of document used by the app - this will be used in list views to show the kind of file a document of TestApp is:

get setRegistry("HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TestApp\","TestApp document")

3) Create a subkey of HKCR\TestApp to hold the default icon for the application. The value used is the path to the application followed by a comma, followed by the index of the icon resource inside the application. MetaCard/Rev document icons are in the first position and I'll assume for this example that I have used an icon editor to change the icon in the first position of the TestApp executable:

get setRegistry("HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TestApp\DefaultIcon\","C:\Program Files\TestApp\TestApp.exe,1")

4) Create a subkey three layers deep in HKCR\TestApp to hold the command to open the application when the document with the ".tst" extension is launched. The path to the document is defined in the registry as %1. Any other info you want to pass to the application you can add to this line. The nice thing about MC/Rev is that you can create all these keys at once in a single command:

get setRegistry("HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TestApp\shell\open\command\","C:\Program Files\TestApp\TestApp.exe %1")

OK, now you have all the registry settings. The next thing to do is add some code to your app. When you launch an MC/Rev app, any command line information is sent to the application and is retrievable via *environment variables* numbered $0 on up. The $0 variable will always contain the path to the application you just launched, and the $1 will contain the first command-line parameter passed ($2 will be the second, etc.).

So some simple code for this is:

on openStack
  put $0 into theAppPath
  put $1 into theDocToOpen
  answer "The doc to open is: " & theDocToOpen
end openStack

(Note that you'll need to bundle in the answer dialog box to your standalone or you'll never see the message. ;-)

That's it! The next time you create a document with a ".tst" extension, it will take on the icon in the first position in the TestApp executable (the document icon), and if you double-click it, it will launch TestApp and its path will be passed to the standalone as $1.

Hope this clears things up...

Posted 7/24/2002 by Ken Ray to the Use Revolution List   (See the complete post/thread)