======================================================================== F4Menu for all v0.59 ======================================================================== http://www.shannycn.com/ About F4Menu -------------------------- As the name implies, F4Menu pops up a context menu upon pressing F4, the user then chooses an appropriate editor for the selected file. Certainly, it is also possible to run F4Menu in the background without showing the menu and automatically open a file with its associated editors. However, from v0.50 F4Menu is no longer restricted to F4, it support to customize the shortcut key. F4Menu can be launched by any application, particularly it's suitable for using as F4 Editor for Total Commander. F4 is the shortcut key of Total Commander/TC for opening and editing files, it invokes the specified editor to open the selected file. Unfortunately, in TC only one editor can be assigned to F4, so it is impossible to choose other editors for different file types, or to select different editors for one specified file type. F4Menu is the right tool to solve these problems. Features -------------------------- 1. Press a single key and choose the best suited editor to open your file. 2. Use different editors to open different files at the same time. 3. Press a single key to open files with default editor. 4. Selection menu supports drag-and-drop for easy reordering of items. 5. Easy to use and configure to meet your most challenging demands. How to use -------------------------- 1. Launch Mode 1.1 Execute directly F4Menu.exe [-bdfmpq] [filelist] ¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡-b¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Force background mode, regardless of the shortcut setting ¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡-d¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Force default mode, regardless of the shortcut setting ¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡-f¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Force foreground mode, regardless of the shortcut setting -m Menu mode, show main menu if no filelist, for create new file ¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡-p¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Parameter mode, get file list only from parameters but not TC -q Quiet mode, exit directly without any dialog if no filelist. filelist Space-separated filenames, the filename which contains space should be enclosed by quota. And parameters -q, -m are ignored if filelist exist. If there's no any parameter, the configure dialog shows. 1.2 Launched by TC Should set F4Menu.exe as F4 Editor of Total Commander in advance: TC Configuration -> Options -> Edit/View -> Editor for F4 Then press F4 on a file in TC. 2. Run Mode 2.1 Default open mode Open files with default editor directly. By default, press F1 to run F4Menu in this way. It can be changed by Popup Menu -> Settings -> Options -> Run Mode -> Default open mode Note: The shortcut key must also be set in TC or other app which launch F4Menu 2.2 Foreground mode Startup with the selection menu. By default, press F4 to run F4Menu in this way. However, it can also be changed by: Popup Menu -> Settings -> Options -> Run Mode -> Foreground mode a. The first menu item is current file name, if it is shown as "*.xxx", that means there are several files with the same extension. Choose this item to open the files with the system associated program. This item is shown in grey if no program is associated. b. The second menu item is the default editor, which is used to open all unassociated files in background mode. c. Common editors are shown in bold if they are associated with the current file, and in grey if the path is invalid. 2.3 Background mode Open the files directly without selection menu. By default, press WIN+F4 to run F4Menu in this way. It can also be changed by: Popup Menu -> Settings -> Options -> Run Mode -> Background mode a. Open the file with the first matching editor. If there's no matching editor, the default editor is used. If the file is associated with both default and common editor, default editor has higher priority. 3. Shortcuts 3.1 On selection menu The following shortcuts only available on selection menu: Space - Open the file with the first matching editor. If there's no matching editor, the default editor is used. Enter - Open the file with the selected editor. Ctrl+Enter - Associate and open the file with selected editor. Leading char of menu item - Implicit accelerator key, its priority is lower than ampersand(&) accelerator key. 3.2 Launch application The shortcut key can be customized, and must also be set in TC or other app which launch F4Menu, refer FAQ7 & FAQ8 for more details. The following shortcuts is default setting for launching F4Menu: F1 - Open files with default editor directly F4 - Launch application in foreground mode WIN+F4 - Launch application in background mode 4. Settings 4.1 Editors Setting Dialog Set parameters for editors, open this dialog by executing F4Menu directly or via: Popup Menu -> Settings a. Editor's path supports all system environment variables, such as "%ProgramFiles%", "SystemRoot", "COMMANDER_PATH", etc. b. Editor's path support relative path which relative to F4Menu path. c. The extension supports wildcard '*' and '?', the former is used to match any string, and the latter to match any single charactor. d. The extension is separated by comma (,) e. Drag & Drop list items to reorder them. f. Drag & Drop file and shortcut to this dialog to create new entries. 4.2 Options Dialog Set options for application, open this dialog by executing F4Menu directly or via: Popup Menu -> Settings -> Options a. Set the popup position of selection menu, some options are available in TC only. b. Set maximum number of files for once open to avoid misoperation. c. Customize the shortcut key for default open/foreground/background mode. Installation -------------------------- 1. Download F4Menu.zip (39kB, Unicode) from http://www.shannycn.com 2. System requirements: Windows NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista/2008, Total Commander 7.0 or above. 3. Unzip F4Menu to any folder. 4. If using F4Menu with Total Commander, please refer to "How to use 1.2" Frequently Asked Questions -------------------------- 1. Is it possible to associate an editor with empty extension, such as "Makefile"? A: Yes, just leave the extension field empty, for example, "txt,," associates with "txt" and empty extension. 2. In the settings dialog, I removed the first line of editors, but the following lines did not go up, is it a bug of F4Menu? A: No. The first line is the default editor, if the default editor is removed, this line will be empty, but F4Menu does not promote the next editor to be default. You can also drag-and-drop to sort editors in the list. 3. Can F4Menu run VBScript or JScript? A: Yes, just set wscript.exe as the editor and the script as parameter. 4. I selected several files in an archive, but F4Menu only opened one, is this a bug? A: No. Actually, TC cannot open files in archive directly, it must unpack the files to a temporary folder before opening them. TC only unpacks the file under cursor instead of all selected files, so F4Menu can only open the one TC has unpacked. 5. Inside an archive, a "User abort!" message is shown while pressing ESC+F4 to launch F4Menu, why? A: As mentioned in question 4, TC unpacks the file before opening it, during this time, ESC key may be treated as a command to abort, this triggers the message in question. In this case, you can use another shortcut key: CapsLock+F4 (depends on setting). 6. Is it possible to remove the default editor? A: Sure, you can drag & drop it down the list or remove it in both the pop-up menu and the setting dialog box. 7. How to use F4Menu in any other software? A: Actually pressing F4 in TC just launch the specified editor F4Menu, and use the filename under cursor as its parameter. It's the same for any other programs, just need launch F4Menu with filename or filelist as parameter, only may not use F4 as shortcut key. For example, in Directory Opus, can create a new toolbar button, add {allfilepath} as its parameter, and assign any key as hotkey. In windows explorer, it cannot call external programs, but we can associate files to F4Menu, then press Enter to open the file can launch F4Menu and popup the select menu. Certainly, F4Menu also can be used in non-file manager software, for instance, it can be used as source editor of IE or Firefox, then view HTML source in them will launch F4Menu to select. 8. How to customize the shortcut key? A: First we need to set the shortcut key for launching F4Menu in TC or other apps, please refer FAQ7 for more details. For example in TC, by default F4 and Win+F4 can launch the F4 editor - F4Menu, if we need other shortcut key such as F1 in F4Menu setting, we need assign F1 as a shortcut key to launch F4Menu in TC: TC Configuration -> Misc -> Hotkey -> Select F1 -> Set command as cm_Edit Then in F4Menu setting, we can set F1 as the shortcut key for default open mode, F4 for foreground mode, and any other shortcut key such as Win+F4 for background mode. 9. How to use the shortcut key ESC+F4/F4 as before? A: Some users are used to the old shortcut key ESC+F4/F4, actually the new version still supports it: Just need to set 'ESC' as the shortcut key of foreground/background mode, then pressing ESC+F4/F4 can launch F4menu in different mode. History -------------------------- [+]added [!]fixed [*]changed [2010-11-30 0.59] + F4Menu.ini [Option] UseWinAssoc=0 In background mode use Windows associated editor to open the file which has no internal associated editor (thanks to MVV@tc) + Improve the reliability of shortcuts handling (thanks to Daocang@newsmth) * Language update: Russian (thanks to MVV@tc) [2010-11-28 0.58] + F4Menu.ini [Option] ShowMultiMatch=0 Whether to show menu in background mode when multiple editors match current file type: 1-Show, 0-Not show (thanks to MVV@tc) + Parameter: -b/-d/-f£¬Force background/default/foreground mode, regardless of the shortcut setting ! Some shortcuts such as Esc+F4 not handled correctly (thanks to happyTC@tc) ! May crash in a few cases (thanks to happyTC@tc) ! Change homepage to www.shannycn.com ! Adjust the position of menu item "More Programs" * Language update: Romanian (thanks to eugensyl@tc) - Remove "About" from menu [2010-10-10 0.55] + F4Menu.ini [Option] ShellMenu=1 indicate whether show context menu for windows explorer ! Cannot handle the filename parameter which contains space but not enclosed by quota (thanks to Balderstrom@tc) [2010-10-08 0.51] + F4Menu.ini [Option] OpenSel=0 open selected files without regard to cursor position (thanks to byblo@tc) ! Add/Remove editors does not work normally (thanks to MVV@tc) * Language update: Danish (thanks to petermad@tc) [2010-10-01 0.50 final] + Parameter mode: -p, only retrieve filelist from command line and ignore TC selection (thanks to MVV@tc) + Only open the focused file if it is not selected, otherwise open all selected files (thanks to MVV@tc) + Improve the drag experience in editors listview (thanks to MVV@tc) ! Automatic highlight may not work when the default editor is unavailable ! Drag editor may crash/damage the config file (thanks to MVV@tc) ! The focus item incorrect after drag/drop in editor list (thanks to MVV@tc) ! Set current dir as start path if the start path is null in menu mode (thanks to MVV@tc) ! For the filename only parameter, use current dir as its path (thanks to MVV@tc) ! The selection state of focued file should be restored when F4menu exit (thanks to Balderstrom@tc) + Parameter: -a/-r, add/remove context menu for windows explorer, temporarily [2010-09-18 0.50 beta6] ! Greatly improve the startup time (thanks to happyTC@newsmth) ! The position of tooltip may be improper in some cases ! Fix some other minor errors * Start editors with parameter in menu mode (thanks to MVV@tc) * Language update: Dutch (thanks to RolandD) * Language update: Swedish (thanks to Leif Larsson@tc) + FAQ: How to use the shortcut key ESC+F4/F4 as before? [2010-09-07 0.50 beta4] ! Fix may crash if there's no default editor (thanks to MVV@tc) ! Change the editor priority logic for highlight function * Language update: Korea (thanks to dis1hades2) * Language update: Polish (thanks to dong@tc) [2010-09-06 0.50 beta3] ! Open different type files as a list does not work normally (thanks to byblo@tc) * Language update: French (thanks to byblo@tc) * Language update: German (thanks to icfu@tc) * Language update: Danish (thanks to petermad@tc) * Language update: Russian (thanks to MVV@tc) [2010-09-05 0.50 beta1] + Ability to customize the shortcut key! F4Menu may should be renamed (thanks to haytcb@newsmth) + Ability to assign a custom icon for an editor (thanks to icfu@tc) + Default open mode, customize the shortcut key to open files with default editor. + Ability to set editor to be always shown in main menu (thanks to leepg, haytcb@newsmth) + Highlight the proper editor when popup menu is activated (thanks to leepg) + Add system associated app path and param of current file in the tooltip of first menu item + Show file type icon of current file in the first menu item + Add "Associate" and "Always shown in main menu" for right-click context menu ! If file is associated with both default and common editor, default editor has higher priority (thanks to petermad@tc) ! May crash if start without configuration file ! Fix other minor errors - Remove feature: Double press F4 to open files with default editor + FAQ: How to customize the shortcut key? [2010-08-27 v0.25 final] + Language: Swedish (thanks to Leif Larsson@tc) * Language update: German (thanks to icfu@tc) [2010-08-22 v0.25 beta2] ! Fix minor errors (thanks to MVV@tc) * Language update: Russian (thanks to MVV@tc) * Language update: Danish (thanks to petermad@tc) * Language update: Korean (thanks to dis1) * Menu mode: -m, show main menu if no filelist followed, for create new file (thanks to MVV@tc) + New shortcuts Ctrl+Up/Down to move list items in program setting window (thanks to Gustavo S¨¢nchez) + FAQ: How to use F4Menu in any other software ! Menu tooltip sometimes shown with overlap [2010-08-21 v0.25 beta1] + Add sub menu for unassociated programs (thanks to icfu@tc, zeroxia@DRL) + Menu mode: -m, show main menu if no filelist followed, for create new file (thanks to MVV@tc) + New shortcuts Ctrl+Up/Down to move list items in program setting window (thanks to Gustavo S¨¢nchez) + FAQ: How to use F4Menu in any other software ! Menu tooltip sometimes shown with overlap [2010-08-08 v0.20 final] + Set file path as start path if the start path is null + Quiet mode: -q, exit directly without any dialog if no filelist followed ! May open incorrect file if use Shift+F4 to create new file (thanks to Ralph) [2009-05-26 v0.20 rc4] ! Cannot work with open mode "1 - Open all files as a list" (thanks to byblo@tc) ! Shift+F4 does not work on TC 7.0x (thanks to sergeich28@tc) [2009-05-25 v0.20 rc1] + Not restricted to TC use only, can used by any application, such as explorer + Support space-separated filenames as parameter + Double press F4 to open files with default editor (thanks to xuanqing@newsmth) + Press Caps+F4 to launch will not change CapsLock status ! Throughly solve "Cannot find file in Dir" issue ! Incompatible with Shift+F4 function of TC 7.50 (thanks to ehab@tc, matt123@newsmth) ! Double press F4 in TC may open file twice [2008-01-06 v0.15 final] + Language: Korean (thanks to dis1hades2) ! Cannot open UNC file (thanks to SanskritFritz@tc) ! Made option dialog wider [2007-10-02 v0.15rc1] + Language: Polish (thanks to dong@tc) + Ability to Drag&Drop file and shortcut to setting dialog to create new entries. (thanks to lancaster@DRL, icfu@tc) + Show editor path & param in tooltips (thanks to lancaster@DRL) + New selection menu position: right of current file/opposite panel/ center window (thanks to sergeich28@tc, icfu@tc) + Editor support relative path (thanks to redgiant@DRL) + Editor support start path (thanks to eaglesky@DRL, byblo@tc) + Can open all files while selected amount exceed the limitation + Add manifest file (thanks to SanskritFritz@tc) ! Cannot realize non-native unicode file name (partial resolved) ! Cannot open the file in an archive or FTP server ! Cannot set the "maximum number of open files" to larger than 16 ! Cannot open the file in network neighbor (thanks to leepg) ! The entry of setting dialog may automatically move (thanks to icfu@tc) [2007-09-23 v0.141] + Danish Readme (thanks to petermad) + Substitute current undefined language string by internal English string ! crashed when trying to open multiple files in an archive (Raymond@tc, petermad@tc) * Remove the mnemonic-prefix chars for "OK", "Cancel" in language files (thanks to icfu@tc) [2007-09-22 v0.14] + Language: German (thanks to icfu@tc) + Language: Russian (thanks to bayarookie@tc) + Language: French (thanks to byblo@tc) + Language: Romanian (thanks to eugensyl@tc) + Language: Hungarian-magyar (thanks to SanskritFritz@tc) + Language: Spanish (thanks to dott@tc) + Treat leading char of menu item as an implicit mnemonic-prefix char, and its priority is lower than ampersand(&) mnemonic-prefix char. (thanks to zhuangv@newsmth) + Ability to unselect opened files (thanks to TucknDar@tc) + Window option: normal/maximize/minimize (Fantast@DRL, byblo@tc) + Add new shortcuts for Setting listview: Del removes editor, Shift+Del removes editor without confirmation (thanks to icfu@tc) + Add version info in file property (thanks to roentgen@tc) ! The foreground color of InfoText is not consist with system. (thanks to icfu@tc) ! Cannot work in the invisble folder which protected by Universal Shield (thanks to Fantast@DRL) ! Append a stange terminating char for Language name (thanks to petermad@tc) ! In Danish, the initial language name is not consist with setting. (thanks to petermad@tc) ! In French, Selection menu appears at the position of the [Current file] & [Mouse cursor] are inverted. (thanks to byblo@tc) ! Crash when set Winrar as editor (thanks to roentgen@tc) * Revise english language file & readme (thanks to frank@newsmth) * Removed mnemonic-prefix char &A &O &S for selection menu in internal English language. [2007-09-16 v0.13] ATTENDTION! In this verion, the format of ini file is changed. Please run INI_to_v013.exe to update ini before starting F4Menu. + Highlights single file selected by F4, un-highlights it when F4Menu exits. (thanks to zhuangv@newsmth, xuanqing@newsmth) + Use FileDescription as default editor name. (thanks to nevermind@DRL) + Update ini format. (thanks to icfu@tc) + Add language file Danish.lng. (thanks to petermad) + Add language file Dutch.lng. (thanks to RolandD) ! Cannot work on the search result list. * The default ini file is renamed to F4Menu.ini.template, and use %programfiles% as initial path. (thanks to icfu@tc) * Use "MS Shell dlg 2" as default dialog font. (thanks to icfu@tc) * Remove three mnemonic-prefix chars from selection menu (&A, &S, &O). [2007-09-15 v0.12] + Highlights single file selected by F4. (thanks to zhuangv@newsmth) + Open mode: Open each file separately / Open all file as a list. (thanks nevermind@DRL) + Selection menu position: Current file/Mouse cursor. (thanks to render@newsmth, zhuangv@newsmth) ! Cannot work on Vista/2008. [2007-09-13 v0.11] ! F4Menu cannot work if file size displayed in dynamic mode. (thanks to BillGates@newsmth) [2007-09-12 v0.1] Initial release License Agreement -------------------------- F4Menu is a free software and is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. Should the program prove defective, you assume the cost of all necessary servicing, repair or correction. This program can be freely copied/distributed without breaking distribution package integrity. Author -------------------------- Shao Shanny (PRC) http://www.shannycn.com/ Shannycn@gmail.com