Page 1 of 1
Groan: FindExecutable can fail on Win8+
Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2016 5:44 pm
by IdeasVacuum
Well, FindExecutable() was a great way to test if a PDF Reader existed, but not any more. Windows 8.1/10 associates .pdf with the "modern interface" Reader, even if the Desktop version of Adobe Reader is also installed. So the following tried and trusted code doesn't cut it anymore:
Code: Select all
Procedure.i PdfReaderFind()
;#-------------------------
;Returns a value greater than 32 if successful
Protected sTestFile.s = "test.pdf"
Protected sDir.s = GetTemporaryDirectory()
Protected sExePath.s = Space(#MAX_PATH)
Protected iReaderExists.i = 0
If CreateFile(0, sDir + sTestFile)
CloseFile(0)
iReaderExists = FindExecutable_(sDir + sTestFile, #Null, @sExePath)
DeleteFile(sDir + sTestFile)
EndIf
ProcedureReturn(iReaderExists)
EndProcedure
Debug PdfReaderFind()
I imagine that 101 out 100 Users prefer the Adobe Desktop Reader over the 'Modern' Reader, which takes over your screen and generally behaves badly, so I don't mind my app telling the User that a PDF Reader can't be found, at least for now. I suspect though that 'Modern' Reader might evolve quickly to become 'only' Reader. Then what.......
Re: Groan: FindExecutable can fail on Win8+
Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2016 5:24 pm
by Michael Vogel
Only have Windows 8.1, but here it works if an "app" has been associated to the pdf extension (I don't use the Adobe but the pdf viewer but a viewer from tracker-software) - the return code is 42 (sic!)
Code: Select all
Procedure.i PdfReaderFind()
;#-------------------------
;Returns a value greater than 32 if successful
Protected sTestFile.s = "test.pdf"
Protected sDir.s = GetTemporaryDirectory()
Protected sExePath.s = Space(#MAX_PATH)
Protected iReaderExists.i = 0
If CreateFile(0, sDir + sTestFile)
CloseFile(0)
iReaderExists = FindExecutable_(sDir + sTestFile, #Null, @sExePath)
DeleteFile(sDir + sTestFile)
EndIf
If iReaderExists>32
Debug PeekS(@sExePath)
EndIf
ProcedureReturn(iReaderExists)
EndProcedure
Debug PdfReaderFind()
Another approach would be to check the registry (see also
here), the following simple code works for my configuration...
Code: Select all
ProcedureDLL.s ReadRegKey(OpenKey.l, SubKey$, Valuename$)
hKey.l = 0
KeyValue$ = Space(255)
Datasize.l = 255
If RegOpenKeyEx_(OpenKey, SubKey$, 0, #KEY_READ, @hKey)
KeyValue$ = "Error Opening Key"
Else
If RegQueryValueEx_(hKey, Valuename$, 0, 0, @KeyValue$, @Datasize)
KeyValue$ = "Error Reading Key"
Else
KeyValue$ = Left(KeyValue$, Datasize - 1)
EndIf
RegCloseKey_(hKey)
EndIf
ProcedureReturn KeyValue$
EndProcedure
Program.s=ReadRegKey(#HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT,".pdf","")
If Program
Debug ReadRegKey(#HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT,".pdf\"+Program+"\ShellNew","Command")
Else
Debug ": ("
EndIf
Re: Groan: FindExecutable can fail on Win8+
Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2016 5:45 pm
by Little John
Same as Michael Vogel here on Windows 10:
PdfReaderFind() returns 42, and PeekS() inside the procedure shows the correct path to "PDFXEdit.exe" (PDF-XChange Editor from Tracker Software), whch is my default PDF program.
Re: Groan: FindExecutable can fail on Win8+
Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2016 6:00 pm
by IdeasVacuum
I'm sure lots of people will install a desktop reader and assign the files to it, but not most people. Other apps are affected too. I think we need some sort of 'bridging' lib, desktop-to-modern. I avoid making registry enquiries for this sort of thing - it's not reliable information, an un-installed app can be reported as still being present.