When associating a file type with .net installer, what do you use as the argument?

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Again my newb nature with installers is probably showing, but I am finding that the msdn walkthroughs for file types on their installers is terribly lacking. I can't find anything in there that explains how to get the file you just clicked on as a value that your code can then recognize. I had hoped that the default value on the arguments property of a given verb/action would do what I need. The file type starts with &open as the only action (which is fine by me). That action/verb has an arguments parameter that is set to "%1". That didn't look all that useful to me, but I had hoped that it would somehow be what I need.

I have code at the initialization of my WPF application that gets the command arguments as follows:

var args = Environment.GetCommandLineArgs();
            String fileName = "";
            if (args != null && args.Length > 0)
                fileName = args[0];
			InitializeComponent();
            _application = new ApplicationViewModel(fileName);

When I pass a string into that viewmodel, it knows to open the file. If it fails it displays a prompt saying what file it failed to open. No surprise, the prompt is saying it couldn't open a blank or empty string.

Can anyone please help point me to what I need to put as the argument for my file type action to let my code know what the path of the file I just clicked on is?

Posted 25-Apr-11 19:42pm

DannyStaten

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DannyStaten · Accepted Answer · 2011-04-26T15:32:00

The default parameter value provided by the installer is right, but the code above was not the right code to get to the parameter.

For my WPF app, I had to go into the code behind for app.xaml. Override the OnStartUp and you have the parameter in an args property.

C#

public String LoadedFileName = "";
       protected override void OnStartup(StartupEventArgs e)
       {
           if (e.Args != null && e.Args.Length == 1)
           {
               String fileName = e.Args[0];
               if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(fileName))
                   LoadedFileName = fileName;
           }
       }

Then in the code for main window you cast Application.Current as the appropriate class so you can look at the LoadedFileName