open txt file with context menu and vbs

[Hfnet]

We use Maximizer crm and have text files with various import details within tags inside it. My boss has asked if I can make a script for someone to be able to read the information without the tags.

I thought about adding a context menu item so a user can right-click on the file to open it with a vbs exe which will import the relevant data and display it.

I have been playing with various methods but none that seem to work on both XP and Vista. In vista (Which I use and do my coding on) I am unable to use the UserAccounts.CommonDialog function, so my questions are:

1) How to add a right-click context item "open with mxi viewer" via a vbs script
2) How to get the script to recognise the openargs of the file name that was right-clicked so the contents can be read.

Many thanks

 

[dilettante]

I haven't messed with this but it doesn't seem too tough. Well I'm not sure what a "vbs exe" might be, but... A couple of Googles turned a few things up. You might take a look at Verbs and File Associations.

I'd expect that a garden variety script is going to be limited to one of the possible invokation methods:

As a command line call, as specified in a command key.

When you set the command key it would probably have to specify a script host as the target with your script as a parameter since the Shell uses CreateProcess(). You'd specify the file-to-open parameter as "%1" as shown in that article.

[tt]wscript.exe "%ProgramFiles%\fuddco\maxfilterview.vbs" "%1"[/tt]

Aside from that your script runs just as any script started via the command prompt. To get the file-to-open you just use the WshArguments collection, returned by the WScript.Arguments property.


The trickiest part will probably be deployment, but for just a few machines you might walk around with your .VBS and a .REG file to do it manually.

A better option might be an IExpress package, but that's a topic in itself. See:

IExpress Technology and the IExpress Wizard

And don't miss:

Working with Setup Information (.inf) Files

IExpress Wizard is part of Windows XP and later.

In a more managed environment it might be possible to deploy this new Shell Verb's .VBS file and registry entry using GPO.

 

[Hfnet]

Thanks for that. I have actually managed to cobble together a script and got the arguments to work now.

I used exescript which makes the vbs into an executable, thus protecting the code etc.
I also used CreateInstallFree to make an install package, an that has a registry section in which I added to, so now someone can right-click on a Maximizer import file and then click on mxi viewer.

Thanks for the info, the %1 was the bit I was missing to pass the argument, seen it so many times but forgot what it was for!