Getting clicked file's name in an exe application - windows

I created an exe application which I want to have as a default program for special file types. Currently I run the program from cmd as follows: "myapp.exe filename" and I got the file from argv. I set myapp.exe to be the default application and double clicked the file. What happened is that myapp.exe was ran without the file as input.
How do I get the file that was double clicked and ran the exe?

Related

Running a selfwritten ruby program outside of an IDE

I was wondering if it was possible to run a selfwritten ruby program just like any other program by double-clicking an icon of some sort.
And if it's possible, how do I do it?
I wrote a little program for a friend but I don't want him to have to use the command line to run it, because that's rather inconvenient (unless there is a way to just double-click and the command line opens the program itself..).
Thanks for your help!
The simple answer that should work for all versions of Windows is to just create a simple batch launcher.
Create a .bat file. I usually just create a new .txt file via "right click > new > text document". Then rename it, highlight everything, including the extension, and rename it to something like run.bat. The .bat part is important. Once you rename it, the icon should change to gears. If you can't overwrite the extension, or Windows is still treating it as a text document, you'll need to either manually save it as a bat, or disable "hide file extensions" in the explorer settings so the extension can be changed.
Edit the bat file, and put into it something like:
#echo off
YOUR RUN COMMAND HERE THAT YOU WOULD NORMALLY TYPE MANUALLY
pause
Paste the command that you would normally run manually where the capital text is. The first line is so it doesn't repeat the commands back, and the pause is so if an error happens, the command prompt doesn't immediately close. This gives you a chance to read the error.
Save it and close it. Now, if you double click on the bat file, your program should run.
Multiple ways
if it's for occasional use and for one script only I would pack it
to a Windows executable with Ocra, then you can double click
the .exe itself or a link to it
same as above but use jRuby and create a .jar file, not for beginners though
the easiest: if you configure Windows to start/run .rb files with your ruby.exe you can double click the .rb files itself and they
will execute, they will have the red Ruby stone icon
if you run a .reg file to enable drap and drop on .rb files you can combine the previous technique to drop files on the script and
they will be the parameters to the script, see my answer here for the reg file
my favorite: copy the .rb to your windows "C:\Users\your_user\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo\"
folder, then you can right click file(s) or folder(s) and select
sendto and select your script, the files or folder will again be the
parameters for your script
you can create a .bat or .cmd file that starts with the path to your ruby.exe and the script as parameter, use rubyw.exe if you
don't want output

How to open a file in a specified program using window comand prompt

How can I open a file from the command prompt in a specified program rather than the default program for opening the file.
like in MAC terminal
open main.js -a "Sublime Text"
currently I only do
start filename.extension
which opens the file in the default program.
please what command can I use to achieve this?
With Windows, you type application first.
So with Notepad, which is on the Windows path, you can type
notepad filename.extension
By 'Windows Path' I mean a list of directories that Windows looks in for your application. If your app is in one of those folders, then you only have to type the application name. If your app isn't, then you need the full path to the application.
Most of the Windows native apps (like Notepad, MSPaint, etc) are automatically on the path. However apps that are installed afterwards sometimes don't update the path and you need the full path. You can usually get this by right-clicking on the application and getting properties. Often you'll need quote marks - specifically if there are spaces in the path, which there usually are because "Program Files", so:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Notepad++\notepad++.exe" filename.extension
Note the quote marks go around the path to the application file itself - not all the way to the end of the line. An easy way to check that you've got the full path to the file is with the dir command:
dir "C:\Program Files (x86)\Notepad++\notepad++.exe"
Some applications expect instructions about what to do with the file, and you may need to figure out what else to put on the command line. Usually google will tell you this.
For example, to execute an SQL script, with one tool I use, just putting the filename on the command line won't work, you do something like:
"C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\9.4\bin\psql.exe" -U user -d dbName -f filename.extension

Executing a command-line .exe file

I have a .exe file converted from a .jar.
It is a command based application, so I have to start it with a batch script. Here is the batch script:
#echo off
cd C:\desktop\plant-text-adventure-win
start planttextadventure
pause
When I double click on the batch script, this happens: Windows could not find 'planttextadventure'. Please confirm if you have input the correct name and retry.
I don't know what is happening, I have no idea about cmd as I use Mac, but I can confirm I have an executable called planttextadventure.exe in a folder called plant-text-adventure-win.
You should test your batch file by executing it within a shell.
Simply enter within the start menu the command cmd to open up a shell. Within this black box you could now simply enter the commands from your batch script and lookout for some error message.
If you look at your script I would guess that the cd command (to change the current directory) is not correct. Maybe you should replace it with
cd %USERPROFILE%\Desktop\plant-text-adventure-win
because the desktop folder is on a default installation not directly under the root drive but within the user profile available.
Another solution to get this thing to work, is by opening the windows explorer, going to the .exe file you wish to execute and drag & drop the .exe file with a right mouse click onto the desktop.
Then a context menu appears and you select the option Create shortcut here.

my.bat is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file

I created a .bat file that opens up a specific webpage I use for work in app mode on Chrome (so it removes the tabs and address bar to save space). I wanted to convert this .bat file to .exe (for a number of reasons that may seem pedantic). I used iexpress to convert the .bat to .exe. When I try to run the .exe the DOS window very briefly flashes and then crashes. I was able to grab a screenshot of the message as it was closing. The message is in the Title.
The script in my .bat is as follows:
#echo off
set "SystemPath=%windir%\System32"
if not "%ProgramFiles(x86)%"=="" set "SystemPath=%windir%\Sysnative"
start Chrome.exe --app=http:XXXXXXXXX
I added cmd /c to the "install program to launch" because I'm on Win 7. I opened the file in Notepad++ and it's encoded without BOM. I haven't been able to find another reason why my .bat file isn't being recognized.

Why does a program started by a batch file using command start not run while it runs via Windows Explorer?

::Checks if there is a JRE installed
start "%USERPROFILE%\Downloads\ConfCompiler\Tools\CheckJre.exe"
When I copy and paste the file location above into Windows Explorer it works fine. But the program does not run from the batch file I have created.
The purpose of CheckJre.exe is to create new keys inside of HKEY_CURRENT_USER.
The keys are created when I simply run it from Windows Explorer. But the keys are NOT created when running it from the batch file. The batch file just results in displaying a command prompt window with showing CheckJre.exe with full path in title bar.
Does anyone have a hint why?
Command start interprets the first double quoted string as title for the command line window to open. For all options of command start enter in a command prompt window either start /? or help start.
You need to explicitly specify a title in your batch file because of the double quoted string to run CheckJre.exe.
Use in batch file:
start "Check JRE" "%USERPROFILE%\Downloads\ConfCompiler\Tools\CheckJre.exe"

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