Options - File Associations
These options allow you to create File Associations for AQT for a number of different file types.
When you create a File Association, there are two modes in which the File Association is created:
File Association
When this is checked, an Open with AQT association is created for the file type. When you right-click a file of this type in Windows Explorer, an Open with AQT option will appear in the drop-down list. Click on this to open the file in AQT.
You can remove the File Association by un-checking the box.
Default
When this is select, AQT becomes the default application for that file type. When this is done:
- you can open the file in AQT by double-clicking the file in Windows Explorer
- the AQT icon will be displayed with the files
- for Chart files, the file-type description is set to "AQT Chart File"
These settings are removed when the Default box is un-checked.
Some Notes
- Clicking on File Association is "harmless" as it will just add another file association for the file type. This will be removed when you de-select this option. By contrast, clicking on Default will override your existing default file association and icon for the file type. This cannot be undone by de-selecting Default, as the original settings will not be re-established. Use Default with caution if you have an existing file association for the file type.
- You should not set Default for MS Access or Excel files if you have MS Access or MS Excel installed on your PC. However it is OK to set a File Association for these.
- You may need Administrator privileges to create File Associations.
What Happens when you open a file?
This depends on the file type:
Some Technical Notes
File Associations are created by adding some entries into the Windows Registry (HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT). File Associations are very complicated, as there are a number of different ways these can be set up in the registry.
AQT uses a relatively simple way of setting up File Associations. This is shown in the image below. Note that other applications may set up their File Associations in a different way. If you have other applications with File Associations on the same file-types as AQT, they may do it in a way which is not compatible with AQT. The result is that you may not see the File Association for AQT or the other application.
![v9_file_assoc](v9_file_assoc.jpg)
When the File Association button is checked, the following entries are created.
- .xcf is the entry for the file type. This points to the xcf entry
- the xcf entry must have a shell entry. There can be multiple entries underneath shell. Each of these entries gives an action for the file type. In this example, there is only one entry (AQT).
- the value for the AQT entry gives the Title for that entry ("Open with AQT"). You see this when you right-click a file in Windows Explorer.
- the AQT entry has a command sub-entry. This gives the command that is used to start AQT.
When Default is checked, the following steps are also done:
- the shell entry is given a value of "AQT". This specifies which of the sub-entries is the default action for the file type.
- the DefaultIcon entry is created. This specifies the icon to be used to represent files of this type.
- the xcf entry is given a value of "AQT Chart File". This is description of the file type in Windows Explorer.
Command String
Except for SQL files, the command string to open a file with AQT is:
aqt "%1"
where aqt is the fully-qualified name of the aqt executable.
For SQL files, starting AQT in the above way will run the SQL file as a batch script; AQT will appear not to start. To open the SQL for editing (eg. in the Run SQL window), the following command is used :
aqt -e "%1"