Default Programs Editor

After taking a bit of a break from the project, I'm reopening development of Default Programs Editor, with a couple of great ideas in mind. The feedback since I launched 2.0 almost a year ago has been outstanding, and has guided six minor releases in the mean time. For version 2.7 development I'm openly soliciting ideas to make the next version even better.

Download Default Programs Editor, and poke around. Mess with stuff. Make little tweaks to your system, then reverse them. What feels right? What gets annoying? What could be better? Let me know!

• Add a comment to this post
• Vote on open ideas at Default Programs Editor's official UserVoice Feedback forum
• Send me an email

I discovered a couple stupid bugs right after I posted 2.5, so here's a quick 2.6 update to resolve them.

Version 2.6.1837.1459 (February 14, 2010)

Bugs Fixed:

- Fixed a discrepancy between value data types when saving to a .reg file vs saving to the registry when changing a context menu item name.

- DDE Message was not deleted if the program was running with elevated privileges.

- File type icon would sometimes not be detected correctly when the icon source was the default program.

Crashes Fixed:

- Deleting a context menu item would sometimes result in a crash.

- Inputting invalid character for context menu item name sometimes caused a crash.

- In some cases, opening the autoplay handlers page for some media types caused a crash.

- Saving context menu changes after editing a command label (including implicit edits) caused a crash.

Download now

Default Programs Editor 2.5 was posted this week. The changelog is monstrous; this version has the most bug and crash fixes to date. If you've got an idea or gripe, head over to DPE's UserVoice forum and talk about it!

Version 2.5.1823.2023 (February 9, 2010)

New Features:

+ Added support for DropTarget objects as context menu commands.

+ Added support for DelegateExecute objects as context menu commands.

+ Added support for Dynamic Data Exchange messages invoked with context menu commands.

+ On the Icon page, the raw resource path is now viewable and can be manually changed. It is also now possible to specify a file's own image in one click.

+ When changing an extension's file type, a revamped file type selection process shows all file types, even unused ones.

+ Added a checkbox to select/deselect all extensions on the extension selection page for Default Programs associations.

+ Added file path display to the final success page when changes are saved to file.

Bugs Fixed:

- Fixed a bug where the exported command path wouldn't be a normal string like it should have been.

- Fixed a bug where the wrong context menu item would be detected as the default.

- Fixed blank autoplay handler showing on the media options list after cancelling the creation of a new handler.

- Fixed incorrect default context menu item detection in some cases.

- Fixed a bug where an exported context menu .reg file could have a malformed key path.

- Saving edited file type Descriptions and Icons to file now correctly saves only those changed properties.

- The .reg file comment for Description and Icon changes will now also correctly describe which property is edited.

- The main instruction text on the Delete Extension page now reads appropriately.

- The link button to set a context menu item as default now enables or disables uniformly with the other controls.

- Some resource strings were not resolved properly (such as certain file type descriptions).

- Missing publisher information added to Control Panel uninstall data.

- Burnable Blu-ray discs now show correctly in the Autoplay media list.

- Fixed wrong capitalization for Blu-ray disc entry in the Autoplay media list.

- The behavior of the Done button on the Success page was not uniform for all page paths when launched from the Control Panel.

- The page history is cleared on the Success page to prevent old pages appearing as current.

- Fixed some extensions not being correctly detected as being registered for a Default Program.

- Fixed some extensions with blank descriptions on the Default Programs registration page.

- Additional small internal improvements, optimizations, and interface adjustments.

Crashes Fixed:

- Fixed a crash when saving a new file type without an icon set.

- Saving Autoplay settings after cancelling the creation of a new handler would cause a crash.

- Clicking the Help button would sometimes result in a crash on some systems.

- Attempting to install while another instance of the program was running caused a crash.

- Selecting a new default verb sometimes caused a crash when saving changes to file.

- Viewing certain file type descriptions sometimes caused a crash on the Extension Selection page.

- In certain cases, the program crashed when attempting to add or edit a context menu item where the destination registry key didn't yet exist.

- Adding a new file type but not entering optional details caused a crash when saving changes to file.

- Fixed a crash after clicking the Next button on the Default Programs selection page.

Holy cow! With the addition of DelegateExecute, DropTarget, and DDE support, Default Programs Editor is now the most powerful and easy to use file association utility on the planet.

Download now at http://defaultprogramseditor.com
Have an idea or feature request? Put it on the feedback forum: http://defaultprogramseditor.uservoice.com

I'm pleased to announce the first stage of my roadmap to fully open Default Programs Editor with the release of Aero.Wizard and Aero.Controls.

Aero.Wizard is an WinForms implementation of an Aero Wizard Dialog. Aero.Controls is a package of a half dozen WinForms controls, intended for use with an Aero Wizard Dialog. These are some of the components I wrote for the creation of Default Programs Editor 2.0 with the revised user interface, and I'm now freely releasing them to the public.

Aero.Wizard Info Screenshot

Aero.Wizard Features:

• History/Navigation handled automatically
• Page contents are children of separate container controls, which can be created in design time like a regular Windows form
• Glass title area degrades gracefully when running a theme without glass, or on XP
• Blank Wizard Page template included
• Use with Aero.Controls pack to make Windows UX Guidelines compatible user interfaces

Aero.Controls Info Screenshot

Aero.Controls Includes:

• Main Instructions Label
• Command Link button
• Instant Search Box
• UAC Shield Button
• Split Button
• Listview with Mixed State checkbox
• Aero Link Label

Both of these projects strive to adhere to the Windows User Experience Guidelines, freely available documentation from Microsoft which provided the basis for the DPE 2.0 restructuring.

I debated for some time on this issue, trying to figure out a permissive license where I could retain some amount of ownership without being overbearing. I settled on BSD, which in my opinion is very permissive and seems to be low-friction for other developers to use this code in their projects.

Both projects are hosted on Bitbucket (Mercurial) and you can either clone the repositories, or download the latest revision as a zip file. I encourage anyone to contribute bug fixes or report issues on each project's public issue ticketing system.

Aero.Wizard on Bitbucket

Aero.Controls on Bitbucket

With the release of this code pack, my plan for fully releasing Default Programs Editor is underway. It is now possible to fully replicate the UI with this release. The next step is for me to continue refining and documenting the base file association library the project is built on, then release that as well as the UI logic for the program itself. Be looking for that in the next few months.

This is a bugfix release, and it fixes one of top reported errors in the program. Pretty much each release knocks at least one of the top reported errors. Feedback has been crucial for this project, and the best way to give feedback is to put your thoughts on Default Programs Editor's UserVoice feedback page.

Version 2.4.1299.1247 (October 6, 2009)
Bugs Fixed:
- On the Delete Extension page, pressing the enter key on the selected item or in the search box, or double clicking the item now performs the primary action as it does on other similar pages.

Crashes Fixed:
- Fixed a crash resulting from not properly detecting the selection when trying to delete an extension.

Download
Leave some feedback on UserVoice

Also, Default Programs Editor was recently featured on both MakeUseOf and The How To Geek. Spread the word!

Version 2.3.1269.2247 (September 15, 2009)
New Features:
+ Option added to view (only) context menu shell extensions, restoring similar functionality that was present in 1.3.

Bugs Fixed:
- Fixed not being able to add autoplay options to media in some situations.
- It was not possible to click "Next" on the Extension Selection page when multiple extensions were selected using the shift key.
- With multiple extensions selected, the context menu page would not show all common verbs.

Crashes Fixed:
- Selecting multiple extensions caused a crash in some cases.

Download now from the main site
Leave feedback and vote on issues at the UserVoice page

Change log for Version 2.2.1238.46 (September 3rd, 2009)

New Features:
+ An option was added on the 'Add Context Menu Item' page to add a command to all file types.
+ Startup time has been modestly improved.

Bugs Fixed:
- Fixed some program names and descriptions not loading properly (such as PowerShell).
- In some cases a message would appear instructing the user to install .Net 3.5 when it was already installed.
- The "Disable 'Search web for unknown extension' Dialog Box" button initially displayed the opposite status of the setting.
- The help button for adding or editing a context menu misreported what page the program was on.

Crashes Fixed:
- Fixed a crash when switching to the Context Menu page for some extensions

Download Now!

Don't forget, you can comment on the program, leave feedback, and brainstorm on new ideas on the Default Programs Editor UserVoice page.

Change log for Version 2.1.1157.2113 (August 25th, 2009)

New Features:
+ Multiple instances of the program should now safely coincide, but this is not particularly recommended.
+ Program options are now stored in the registry.
+ Added an option to toggle whether extremely helpful internal (anonymous) tracing information is reported when the program detects malformed registry values.
+ For registry links, the delay between navigation messages to regedit was extended a bit for users on slower systems

Bugs Fixed:
- Saved .reg file for Default Programs associations incorrectly included unchanged extensions.
- Fixed a condition where non-visible would show in the context menu editor, such as an extra "Print" item.

Crashes Fixed:
- Toggling the "Show 'Jump to registry key' links" when more than one instance of the program was open is fixed.
- Internally, malformed resource identifier strings are now traced and reported instead of crashing during conversion to numeric id.
- If Default Programs associations cannot be changed, the program will now display a message.
- It is now possible to set a newly created context menu item as default successfully as expected.

Download now!

If you've ever clicked on some file in Windows and seen this dialog box, you know what I'm talking about:

The web service is completely useless, and most of the time you already know what program you want to use to open the file. Luckily, it is easy to disable this dialog box with Default Programs Editor (download). Simply launch the program, and click on the Options button:

Options button

Then, click the button that says

Disable 'Search web for unknown extension' Dialog Box

And that's it!

Now, when you try to open a file with an unknown extension, Windows will skip the unknown extension dialog and display the "Open With..." window to choose a program.

For some reason, the download page of defaultprogramseditor.com isn't working. Until this issue is resolved, you can download the file directly from:

http://defaultprogramseditor.com/files/DefaultProgramsEditor.zip

Just over a year since the very first release, I’m pleased to announce the second major release of Default Programs Editor. In case you forgot, Default Programs Editor is a powerful but simple freeware context menu editor, autoplay editor, and default programs association editor: basically everything in the “Default Programs” control panel page:

Control Panel: Default Programs

So what exactly can it do?

• File Type Settings:
  • Add, Edit, and Delete context menu items
  • Edit file type information (such as icon and description)
  • Change an extension’s associated file type
• Autoplay Settings:
  • Add, Edit, and Delete autoplay handler programs
  • Change which autoplay options are available for any media type
  • Change the default autoplay handler
• Default Programs Settings:
  • Add or Remove default associations (possible to check, but not un-check, in Windows)
• Additional Features:
  • Disable the “Search web for unknown extension” dialog
  • Standalone utility, or install as a Control Panel applet
  • Make direct changes to the system registry, or export edits as .reg files
  • Designed for Vista and Windows 7 with UAC support

But that’s all boring compared to the HUGE UI MAKEOVER FACELIFT! With the 1.x versions, what we had on our hands was something along these lines:

Simplicity in Design

And so, I completely rewrote the UI to reduce the number of control surfaces at any given point to reduce information overload, and provide the user with only the necessary parts at for any given task. This has come together as an implementation of the Aero Wizard interface. Additionally, I have unified the interface for each section of the program; where before, File Type settings, Autoplay settings, and Default Programs settings all had their own little UI scheme, with 2.0 the same principles apply across all areas of functionality:

Context Menu Page

Autoplay Media Options Page

And about user documentation: There is some now! Each page has a help button, which links to per-page online documentation. For most pages, this means explaining valid inputs for the controls. I’m using UserVoice for feedback, as they provide a great (free) feedback forum which allows for voting and discussion on new features. You can get to it at http://defaultprogramseditor.uservoice.com or clicking the Feedback tab on any page of the new site. Which brings me to the last point: A new site! Default Programs Editor can now be found at http://defaultprogramseditor.com.

Download now!

Another week, another data loss. New host (same resellers, they’ve been handling the situation well and it’s not their fault), though.

Again, no program code loss, but parts of defaultprogramseditor.com must again be written. This has given me more time to squeeze a couple extra features into 2.0 that otherwise would have had to wait until 2.1, such as a “jump to verb” link, as in 1.3.

My web host was offline for the past few days after an unfortunate data loss, and I’m slowly restoring things from backup. Most of my utilities and other projects should be back up in a couple days, but the latest work on defaultprogramseditor.com is gone forever and I’ll have to just sit down and rewrite it. Finishing that site with screenshots and user documentation are pretty much all that’s left to do before the 2.0 release. No program code was lost at all, and the beta has been pretty successful and will probably be one of the last builds.