Associating DACS/NT with file types in the Windows Shell

Product Family: DACS
Target CPU: PC/Windows, 80x86
Language: Ada
Host: PC/Windows

The Windows shell may be configured to automatically launch the DACS Integrated Development Environment (IDE) (version 4.7.15 and newer) when a file is opened from the Windows Explorer or Command Prompt. The DACS GUI supports two methods of opening files.

1) File added to the invocation command line. Using this method, a new instance of the GUI will be launched and the file will be opened in a window of that GUI.

2) Using Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE). Using this method, a DDE conversation will occur between the Windows shell and an existing GUI instance. If the GUI is not already running, a new instance of the GUI will be launched and the Windows shell will start the DDE conversation with that GUI. The Windows shell will then inform the GUI via the DDE conversation about the file to open.

Both approaches require the registry to be updated with information associating the DACS GUI with the file extensions that should launch the tool. The following steps describe the process for adding file associations to the Windows shell.

1. Open the registry. Type regedit in a Command Prompt window.
2. Create/Edit a key in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT for each file extension that should be associated with DACS. Specify the value of the key to be a string such as DACSFile. For example, HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.ada should be set to DACSFile.
3. Create a key in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT named DACSFile.
4. Create a key in DACSFile named shell.
5. Create a key in shell named open.
6. Create a key in open named command.
7. Assign the command key the value "\dacs.EXE" /dde "%1". For the 1st approach using a new GUI for each file, remove the /dde from the invocation command.
8. If the DDE approach is desired, create a key in open named ddeexec, and assign it the value [open("%1")].
9. A DACS icon may also be associated with the file type by creating a key DefaultIcon in the shell key. The value of this key should be the path to dacs.exe followed by a comma and the icon number. The DDC-I logo is icon 1. For example, “\dacs.exe”,1. This should result in the following settings in the registry:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
    .ada	DACSFile
    .alb	DACSFile
    DACSFile
	shell
	    open
	        command	"\dacs.EXE" /dde "%1"
	        ddeexec	[open("%1")]