Open With & Environment Variables

[Michael Bulgrien]

I created an open with entry for UtlraEdit:

"%ProgramFiles%\IDM Computer Solutions\UltraEdit-32\uedit32.exe" %f

It fails with the following error:

Open With "UltraEdit" failed: The system cannot find the file specified

The command works fine in the Start\Run box.
Please ensure that Open With honors environment variables in a Windows environment.

[Chris]

Michael,

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll add this to our list for a future version of Cirrus.

[Michael Bulgrien]

I guess you're drawing the proverbial "line in the sand" to get the public beta out the door. I would consider this a defect, not an enhancement for a future version. Nevertheless, I recognize the need to wrap things up and limit the number of changes you add to the list.

[Zoë]

If it's a defect then it's one that's existed since Open With was added in BC 1. And yes, we're now focused on getting the release out, so any bugs that have stood for that long aren't going to get priority.

[Michael Bulgrien]

I haven't played with "Open With" in prior versions of BC. Thanks for the perspective.

From my perspective: I use environment variables whenever I reference such standard Windows paths like this. I am a techie, and have multi-boot systems in which the Program Files folder is on a different drive for each OS. Using environmental variables allow the same path to be used in each environment. Without environmental variables, config files can't be passed from one environment to another without something breaking.

I also develop installation packages for a care management client server application, so must work with environmental variables in support of our customers' many environments...so it is second nature to me. I was surprised that the environmental variables did not work in Cirrus. It was completely unexpected. If its been like that all along, then I understand you hesitancy to prioritize it...but I wouldn't write it off as being unimportant.

Since Cirrus already accepts environmental variables in a folder compare path dropdown, I assumed that implementing it in "Open With" would not require a reinvention of the wheel...that it might be as easy as reusing the routine already developed for the path dropdowns. Perhaps I assumed too much.