How can I tell IR that .IR filenames are >8 characters lo

[ElizabethD]

On Windows 2000 I always see the full filename in the IR title bar. Until very recently, IR files migrated back and forth between W2K and XP without loosing the long filename property.

But something changed and I have no clue what it is (*). Consequently, IR window title says things such as 6131-B~4.IR, which is annoying.

(*) perhaps last patch Tuesday, the same one that threw away all my Excel addins and custom made buttons

[johnsfine]

Do you open the .ir files by launching IR.exe then file/open or do you double click the .ir file and the file association launches IR.exe?

For the first way, I have no clue how it could go wrong.

For the second method, there is a registry entry that tells Windows file explorer which way to pass the name to IR.exe. That registry entry could have gone bad, or Windows File Explorer could have had its rules change so the unchanged registry entry could be retroactively bad.

[The Robman]

If you start IR by double click an IR file, you'll get the short "DOS style" name but if you open the file using the File > Open menu item, you'll get the long name.

[johnsfine]

If the registry entry for the file association is correct you ought to get the long name either way.

My file association for .ir is messed up even worse at the moment, so I can't test that nor open .ir files at all by double clicking.

Recently Windows File Explorer had a glitch on my system and trashed most of its own registry settings. I've done only a very partial job of cleanning up the mess.

[The Robman]

I just tried changing the file association by going into Folder Options and changing it there (as the IR extension was pointing to an old version of IR) but now, even though it starts up the very latest version of IR, it doesn't actually open the file.

I then tried changing the file association to point back to the 6.15 and 6.20 versions of IR and the file opened correctly when double clicked (and the full name now gets displayed), so I must conclude that there is something wrong with 7.00 beta3d.

John, are you using beta3d and are you able to double click a file and have it open properly?

[ElizabethD]

I'll recheck at home if there's a difference. Most of the time I double click the file. Rarely I run IR and file > open. But until now, using all v6 IRs it made absolutely NO DIFFERENCE how I opened a file, by double click or file > open.

I haven't yet ventured into IRv7 yet, current one is IR 6.20.

John, I totally lost file associations to IR recently
https://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7594
CCleaner & reinstallation of IR was called for. That also happened within a week of patches.

[ElizabethD]

Facts from home on XP: File > Open works fine. Double click fails always.

Now, here's something that might trigger a thought in someone's head. I think it's going at some temporary file or filename it creates. I double clicked 6131-builder-A.IR and the filename in the IR window title is 614EBE~1.IR I'm not making this up. And the next doubleclick on a different file is 616EBE~1.IR. Finally, a third one of a similar filename came up as 6131-B~3.IR. The only correct part is 6131-B.

[The Robman]

How does it fail, what happens? And what version of IR are you using.

[ElizabethD]

See above IR 6.20
By "FAIL" I only mean the bad (old 8.3) filename display. Nothing wrong with IR functioning properly.

[eaglelil]

Here's a link to the Microsoft Developer Network about disabling the *future* creation of 8.3 file names. The article notes compatibility problems with very old 16-bit apps.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/121007/

To test: After changing the key and rebooting, open IR, load the file in question, use Save As, close IR, and the double-click the file you just saved.

[ElizabethD]

Thanks so much.The kb article was right on the money
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem\NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation (DWORD) flag was zero. Changed to 1 (why do they do double negatives??). Boot, etc. all is well.

Old 16bit apps -- I wonder if running s3c8 asm did me in? It likes the cmd window, it looks like it might be a 16bit app. There might be a connection.

[johnsfine]

I wonder if running s3c8 asm did me in? It likes the cmd window, it looks like it might be a 16bit app.

None of the cmd window based apps that I have distributed for remote control stuff are 16 bit.

Running in what used to be called "DOS Prompt" does not mean it would run in DOS.

[ElizabethD]

Thanks John, I understand.
Now I have another problem. IR files with space in name don't want to open. They used to, or am I imagining? I so rarely have spaces in filenames, this might be normal and I haven't seen it before.

The error is "Invalid command-line parameters", the error window title is "ir". IR runs, and presents me with an empty file for whatever remote I last used. Still on IR 6.20.
HKClassesRoot\Applications\ir.exe\shell\open\command value is ...\IR\IR.exe %1
No quotes anywhere. That should be correct, no?

[johnsfine]

There should be quotes around the %1

Beyond that, I don't recall the detail that determines whether it gets the long name or the legacy name. I just remember it is something in the registry entries that establish that double click rule.