Opening files from Finder with a Qt-based application? - c++

Apparently, for Cocoa applications, you're supposed to implement [[NSApp delegate] application:openFile:] or something like that to allow your application to open files double clicked in Finder.
How do you achieve this functionality using Qt, as the name of the file to be opened is not passed on the command line?

QFileOpenEvent (Qt4/Qt5) should do the trick.
Also see https://doc.qt.io/archives/qq/qq18-macfeatures.html

Related

Open Public Documents folder in Windows Explorer

I have the following file I need to open in a windows explorer window
C:\Users\Public\Documents\folder1\test.txt
So far opening this file using the above path is fine and I can read it as usual.
However when trying to open this this folder through Windows Explorer using wxExecute((wxChar **)cmd, wxEXEC_ASYNC, NULL); where cmd is the above path(minus the file), It opens to my user documents.
I've tried various Windows API functions to get the path, some including where Public Documents has it's own ID and these still generate the path I already have. Are there any CLI options I can give to Windows Explorer so that it can actually open Public Documents without reverting to my User Documents folder?
First of all, why do you cast your string to wxChar**? This just can't be right.
Second, you should be using wxLaunchDefaultApplication() instead of "raw" wxExecute() in the first place (FWIW wxLaunchDefaultApplication() is a straightforward wrapper for ShellExecute() under MSW, while wxExecute() is much more complicated).
It's undocumented, but has worked across multiple windows Versions since at least XP with the following command line:
explorer.exe /select,"path-to-open"
Note the comma, and make sure the path is quoted. The path may include a file name, in which case that file gets selected.
(With Windows 10, it's actually a good idea to use a file name, since otherwise the parent folder is opened with the specified sub folder selected)
Should be the same with CreateProcess, ShellExecute, or system(), or whatever comfort wxWidgets offer.
Actually turned out to be an issue with wxExec from wxWidgets. Converting the command to a ShellExecute opened it up just fine. Potentially Widgets 2.9.5 can't handle Windows 10's pseudo folders and weirdness?.

Make a Qt/C++ program show its file types as known on Windows

Using Qt 5.9 I codded a spreadsheet program and then created an installer for it by Qt Installer Framework (QtIFW2.0.1). Then I sent the program to many of my friends. They installed the app on their Windows machine and now using it, but they have all have a common problem:
when they save files of the app, those files are shown as "unknown" files on Desktop.
The problem is only with the shape and appearance of the stored files not their functionality, and they are opened by the app if double clicked.
The question is, what changes in the code is needed to have the program make its files' shape/appearance shown known?
For example, we offer the code a specific shape using an image file or like that, to be mapped on the stored files and that way they are shown known.
This has actually nothing to do with Qt or C++ itself. You just need to register your file extension in Windows shell, so it can be understood by other Windows components/shells.
Here is general information about File Types and File Associations under windows.
You need to make some Windows Registry entries which look like this:
example.reg:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\myfirm.myapp.v1\shell\open\command]
#="c:\path\to\your\app.exe \"%1\""
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\.myextension]
#="myfirm.myapp.v1"
Here you can read how it works in general
change myfirm.myapp.v1, .myextension and path to your .exe to your prefered names.
Now Windows will know what the files with extension .myextension should be opened by your app. And if you double click on this files your app will be run with path to file as an argument. You can get it in your main() function
To set icon for your extension add Registry entry in Software\\Classes\\.myextension\\DefaultIcon and set it default value to the full path to your app, so windows can get an icon for extension from your .exe app file.
You can also do it at runtime directly in your app:
QSettings s("HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\SOFTWARE\\CLASSES", QSettings::NativeFormat);
QString path = QDir::toNativeSeparators(qApp->applicationFilePath());
s.setValue(".myextension/DefaultIcon/.", path);
s.setValue(".myextension/.","myfirm.myapp.v1");
s.setValue("myfirm.myapp.v1/shell/open/command/.", QStringLiteral("\"%1\"").arg(path) + " \"%1\"");
EDIT: One more, to do it with Qt Installer look at the answers here

Open file to display content in C++

I have 2 questions to ask regarding opening files (any kind of files) using C++. I am currently working on a GUI program and I want to add a changelog in txt form. Also I want a menu in my program to open that changelog.txt with the default text editor every user has installed or to simply put it to open that text file. Please keep in mind that I want to open the file for display NOT in the program for input/output.I know I can do that using
system("notepad.exe filepath.txt");
or to open them with the preset program:
system("filepath.txt");
The problem is that both of those open a command line behind the notepad. I know there is another command to open files using Win32 API called CreateProccess() but my compiler doesn't recognise that command (OpenWatcom W32).
So here are my questions:
1) Is there any other command to open files or is there a way to stop the command line from opening when using system command?
2) How do you define in Windows that the text file is in the current program folder? I mean instead of giving the entire filepath which will change from user to user is there any way to "tell" the program that the file is always on the current folder that the program is in?
I am sorry for any errors, if you want any clarification please let me know.
CreateProcess would be the wrong function to use here. That would require you to decide which process to run. The user may prefer to use a text editor other than Notepad, I know I do! The right way to do this on Windows is to ask the shell to open the file with whatever program the user has associated with the file. The ShellExecute function does this.
Call it like this:
ShellExecute(
MainWindowHandle,
"open",
FullyQualifiedTextFileName,
NULL,
NULL,
SW_SHOWNORMAL
);
You will need to include the Shellapi.h header file and link to the Shell32.lib library. If your compiler does not include these files, and I would be surprised if that was the case, then you can get them from the Platform SDK. That said, if you are serious about programming on Windows you should get hold of a tool that gives you access to the Windows API.
I do recommend that you use a fully qualified path for a task like this. Since your text file is located in the same directory as the executable you should simply join that directory to your text file's name. Get hold of the full path to the executable by calling GetModuleFileName passing NULL for the hModule parameter.

How do I execute WinZip from Visual Studio without it's GUI opening?

int sysReturn = system("\"C:\\Program Files\\WinZip\\winzip32\" -a C:\\LOG\\test.zip C:\\LOG\\LOG_7-20-2010_17_8_48_834.csv");
Everything seems to work - as in it creates test.zip
However, it opens the WinZip GUI (that shows how much has been compressed, etc while my program is running.)
How can I skip that part where it doesn't open anything in windows that the user sees? I would like it to be "hidden" so after my program runs, all you see is the zipped file.
WinZip command line parameters reference:
http://www.memecode.com/docs/winzip.html
I'd agree with the other's answers about using a different utility. However, to answer your question: the link that you posted also mentions another option -min to run WinZip minimized. Did you try that? Also, instead of using system, try using ShellExecute and ask for the window to be hidden:
ShellExecute(NULL, NULL, "C:\\Program Files\\WinZip\\winzip32", "-a C:\\LOG\\test.zip C:\\LOG\\LOG_7-20-2010_17_8_48_834.csv", NULL, SW_HIDE);
Your code is very wrong.
To create .zip files, you should use a native .zip library in C++.
Here are some free ones:
http://www.zlib.net/
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/files/zip_utils.aspx
http://www.winimage.com/zLibDll/minizip.html
How about stop using the winzip executable from your c++ code and use a library instead?
For your code to ever have any hope of working on a different system, you can't rely on 3rd party executables being around.
Have a look at this:
portable zip library for C/C++ (not an application)
You want this:
http://www.winzip.com/prodpagecl.htm
Can you use 7-zip? It is free (LGPL license) and can be run from the command line without creating a window.
Try using execlp instead. The few times i've had to do it i had better luck with it over System.
execlp("explorer", "/n, /select,c:\\foo.txt", 0)
See this MSDN page for a detailed example:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/431x4c1w.aspx

Open a Specified File in Excel from a GUI - Borland C++

I am using Borland Builder C++ 2009. I want to add a button to a form that allows the user to open a file in Excel that I specify. I can't think of how to do this. I know how to link with other code and executables -- is there a Microsoft Excel executable that I could use? How could I specify the file then? Any hints on this, or at least a place to look online, would be greatly appreciated.
Assuming that the file type is registered with Excel, you could call ShellExecute() on the file, using the "open" verb. This will cause the file to be opened as if double clicked by the user in Explorer and will invoke Excel.
If that isn't the case, and you can assume that Excel is installed, you could instead pass "excel" to ShellExecute() as the application, and the path of the file as the parameter. (Note that I didn't test this, but it worked from the Run dialog, so I think that it should work from ShellExecute() as well).
Thanks, Andy. I am using ShellExecute() as you suggested, giving Excel as the application and the path of the file as the parameter. It works to open Excel, however, it cannot seem to find the file. I have tried moving the file around, typing in the entire path, part of the path with no change. Here is the code I use:
ShellExecute(NULL, "open" ,"Excel.exe", "C:\\Documents and Settings\\Lab1\\My Documents\\Waypoint Tool.xls", NULL, SW_SHOWNORMAL);
So, I need to figure out why it isn't able to find this file.
Thank you for the suggestion to use ShellExecute though. I think I am on the right track!
Try:
print("ShellExecute(NULL, "open" ,"Waypoint Tool.xls", "C:\\Documents and Settings\\Lab1\\My Documents\\", NULL, SW_SHOWNORMAL);");
Looking at this page: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb762153(VS.85).aspx
It seems like it wants the file you are wanted to execute the open on as the third parameter and the directory for the fourth.
System() command should be enough i think.
For any Windows application, we can open any file using the Location of .exe file and the File Path.
Eg.,
system("PATH C:\\Program\ Files\\Microsoft\ Office\\OFFICE11;%PATH% & excel \"C:\\Documents and Settings\\User\\Desktop\\ExcelFile.xls\"");