I have created an application using Electron, one feature of which is that user can add files to it(copied to application's data directory).
When user wants to open file from application's UI, I am able to open file using Electron's shell module: shell.openItem().
Now I want to give user an option to trigger system's "Open With" dialog(shown below for windows) from where user can choose with which application user want's to open the file. I search docs for Electron and googled it but not able to find a way to trigger this dialog. Any idea how this can be done for all platforms electron supports. Solution which involves calling an OS specific command to trigger this dialog is also as good.
Related
I am writing a short JS script and will make a .exe out of it.
This script simply copies certain files and folders (embedded on the exe file - using pkg module).
Since this is on Node, is there any way I can add a confirmation message first before the actual script is called? Something like "This will copy files to your this and that. Do you want to proceed?" AFAIK, the confirmation prompts are only supported on browser mode.
I am aware of the readline module, but what I need is a more user-friendly UI such as a popup confirmation window.
Help! Thanks!
Using node-notifier#7.0.0's SnoreToast on NodeJS v13.13.0, I am trying to create a Start Menu shortcut to use as appID for SnoreToast's notifications, I have a .BAT file that runs the command node "src\index.js", and I'm assigning this .BAT file as the target application of the SnoreToast shortcut as seen below:
"..\node_modules\node-notifier\vendor\snoreToast\snoreToast-x64.exe" -install "SomeAppName\SomeAppName" "c:\Users\Redacted\Desktop\proj\start.bat" "app.someappname"
The shortcut is successfully installed on the Start Menu in a folder named SomeAppName and the shortcut itself named SomeAppName aswell, and when I open the shortcut, it targets the correct start.bat file, but the start.bat is unable to fullfill it's purpose due to the shortcut opening it on C:/WINDOWS/System32 and ultimately wrongly targets C:/WINDOWS/System32/src/index.js, causing it to fail.
By manually editing the shortcut's "Start in" option on the Properties dialog in File Explorer to the correct path of my project (C:/Users/Redacted/Desktop/proj) and saving, it runs perfectly, but obviously I don't want to make my users have to manually do this work + the application should be portable and runnable anywhere it's stored on the FS, so how would I edit the "Start in" (aka Working Directory) of a SnoreToast shortcut on creation? I've already tried to Google it but all the results are unrelated and SnoreToast's documentation doesn't address this issue either.
A solution that does not require any additional npm packages would be preferred, but one that uses an npm package is acceptable aswell. All help is appreciated.
For a future project, I need to track user activity to record their productivity time. I want to detect which file is currently open in apps like Adobe Photoshop for example and detect when the user switches to other app or another file/tab.
To make my desktop app, I wish to use electron JS
Can you just give me some tracks to follow ?I don't find any nodejs library that allow me to do that, but I know that is possible because it already done with electron apps like:
Chronos https://electronjs.org/apps/chronos-timetracker
Paymo https://electronjs.org/apps/paymo-time-tracker
ScreenAware https://electronjs.org/apps/screenaware
And an other App which not seems to be built with electron :
https://desktime.com/features
Thanks for your help
node.js doesn't have the capabilities you require, however it can call external programs to get the job done. The way I see it, you would need to have a PowerShell script (or C# program) to get the active window from the operating system, and find all open file handles for the process behind that window. You would invoke this script from node, and build your gui around it.
A good starting point is this module active-window which works exacty as I described: a nodejs process calls some external scripts (in bash/PowerShell) that use OS specific primitives to get the active window.
To get the list of files opened by a process, you could use the handle utility from Sysinternals. However you may run into a small problem: apps like Photoshop usually don't keep the file handle open, they just open it when saving the file. This means that you won't always be able to detect open files. I guess trial and error is your friend here.
To find open tabs, it's more complicated. Tabs usually indicate the internal state of an app, and this information is held in memory. Some apps might offer an API, but that's not guaranteed. I guess screenshots are the way to go here.
I am developing an open source application which should mount webdav share to local drive letter just like NETDRIVE and WEBDRIVE using node.js and electron-js, so in my application at present I am downloading all files from webdav share which takes a lot of time and not reliable for heavy data. Is there any other approach so that whenever user access a file, only that particular file should be fetched from webdav share, I’ve tried to display files meta data(dummy) structure in directory and kept that directory under file-watcher. So that when user tries to open a file then watcher should capture file open event to get which file was user trying to access, so that in background of application a service will triggered to fetch that particular file using file-path as reference, but none of them are unable to capture file open event. Is there any other approach to do so, correct me if I am in wrong direction.
Thank's
I think you want virtual file-system and recommend Dokan library.
Dokan is the start point of Windows virtual file-system application.
Open Source : Dokan (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dokan_Library)
Commercial: EldoS CBFS (https://www.eldos.com/cbfs)
Google, Naver use Dokan and NetDrive, RaiDrive(mine) use CBFS.
I have full admin privileges on my Windows 7 machine but when I run my application which creates a file on c:\ drive I get error code 5 (Access is denied). I know windows 7 doesn't allow creating files in protected areas like c drive and program files and file explorer brings up 'administrative' message box if I copy a file there from somewhere else after which it does allows but can my application obtain write level access?
In my application, user gets to pick the folder where they want to create the file so if they choose c:\ drive s/he will obviously get this error which is not desirable.
void CTestDlg::OnBnClickedButtonCreate()
{
CFile f;
CFileException e;
TCHAR* pszFileName = _T("c:\\test.txt"); // here i am hard coding path for simplicity.
if(!f.Open(pszFileName, CFile::modeCreate | CFile::modeWrite, &e))
{
TRACE(_T("File could not be opened %d\n"), e.m_cause);
}
}
As far as I have researched it seems I can't by-pass the UAC dialog which is fine but my application don't even present it (which is understandable as well) but what are my options?
I see my only option is to detect this in my own application if this is Windows 7 OS and than check for file path before creating the file and present a more user friendly message 'windows 7 doesn't like you to create file in this folder, choose a different folder or go back to xp'. Is this scheme the way to go on Windows 7? Is there any other way?
As Kolink noted, your application needs to run with administrator privileges. In order to do that automatically, embed a manifest as explained here.
EDIT: For VS2010: Project Properties > Configuration Properties > Linker > Manifest File Change the 'UAC Execution Level' to the desired value.
Either don't try to write to protected areas, or require that your application be run with permissions (right-click => Run as Administrator).
I know I don't like random files appearing in my root - I like my files organised.
If it's the user who provides the path, then you should inform them that the file cannot be saved to this location and ask to provide another name.
Usually the shell, GetSaveFileName function, checks whether the new file can be created in the selected directory before returning, see flag OFN_NOTESTFILECREATE in description of OPENFILENAME structure.
Another option is to handle such situation and to show UAC confirmation yourself. But this solution requires much more effort than it's really worth. You can't elevate the current process, so the operation of saving the file to a protected area has to be implemented in another process. At the same time your current process has the data to be saved, so you'll have to implement the communication between the two processes. Read Designing UAC Applications for Windows Vista for more information.