External Tools Options Page

To Display this Options Page

Use the Options | Program Options... command from the main menu (or click its command button) and select External Tools from the list of option pages on the left side.

Setup for External Tool

External tools allow you to specify programs that can be called to display or load files you have selected. When a tool is available it will be displayed on the right-click menu and/or the main menu at Tools | External >. You can match tools to file patterns so that the tool is only available for certain file types.

You can even use the special Internet protocols described below to search the internet for information on a file or file type or even a specific website for a file or type. See Configuring an Internet Tool below for all the details.

Up to one-hundred tools can be defined. If you want to keep a tool definition but don't want it active simply clear the check boxes for both Main Menu and Pop-up Menu.

Also not you may want to create two external tools using the same program. One can be used just for a file that has the current focus and the other for all selected files. (See the Apply Tool to Focus File or All Selected Files section below.)

List of Installed Tools

Displays a list of currently installed tools. The tools will be displayed on the menus in the same order as they are listed here. To change the order select a tool and use the Up and Down buttons.

Creating a new tool by duplicating the current one

To make a copy of a tool highlight it and click the Duplicate button. Making duplicates can save time when configuring the same tool for different purposes such as one instance for all selected files and one that just opens the entry with focus.

Select a tool to modify its attributes in the fields below.

Saving and Loading Definitions for External Tools

The Save and Load button in the upper-right corner...

Select a tool to modify its attributes in the fields below.

Menu Labels

Defines the text that will be displayed on the menus when the tool is active.

To add a shortcut key put an ampersand in front of the desired letter, e.g. &NotePad would display the title as NotePad and pressing the 'N' key would select that tool from the menu.

Program To Execute

Enter the name of the program that executes when this tool is selected. Sometimes, especially when the program is a standard Windows program, only the name is needed. But for other programs it is always best to use a complete path.

If this field is empty and the Arguments field contains "<PathAndFilename>" FileBoss will attempt to open the file using the default program for that type of files. This can be useful for standard file types such as MP3 and TXT files.

Program Arguments

Enter any arguments that should be passed to the program when the tool is selected. Typically the arguments will be some form of the of the highlighted entry's name and/or command switch's that control how a specific program starts.

Available Meta Arguments are:

It is normally best to surround each of the arguments with double quotation marks. If in doubt check the documentation for the tool's program.

Specifying a Start Folder

Enter the folder you want the program to start in. If in doubt just enter <Path> which will be substituted with the folder that contains the program.

Many programs do not use this parameter.

<Path>        e.g. C:\Program Files\FileBoss

Apply To Options

Apply to File or Folders

Determines whether the selected tool will be available for folders or for files. For instance if a file is highlighted and the tool is for folders it will not be displayed on the popup (right-click) menu.

Apply to Focus Entry or All Selected

Determines whether the tool will be applied to just the one file that has the focus or to all selected entries.

Frequently two external tools will be created using the same program. One will be designated to apply to the current file and one to all selected so that you can easily choose which way you want the tool applied from the right-click context menu.

Defining When and Where a Tool will be Displayed

Allows you to specify where and for what files a tool will be displayed. If you are using just a few tools then these fields can be left with their default values. But if you have many tools or special needs you might want to limit when or where the tool will be displayed.

Each time an entry in the contents window is highlighted FileBoss with match the entries name against the list of file patterns entered in these fields. If the file matches one of the file patterns (but not any of the excluded patterns)  and the box is checked the tool will be displayed on the main menu, popup menu or both as appropriate.

In the above example this tool will be displayed on the main menu if the highlighted file's extension is rtf, doc, txt, or wrt. It will be displayed on the popup menu if its extension is rtf or doc and its name does not begin with p or my.

To always display a tool just enter an asterisk (*) for each menu.

Third Party Tools and Viewers Examples

NotePad

url:        <Comes with Microsoft Windows>

Menu Text:        &NotePad

Program:        NotePad.exe

Arguments:        "<PathAndFilename>"

Start Folder:        <Path>

Main Menu / Pop-up Menu File Specs

       *.txt | *.log | *.bat

WordPad

url:        <Comes with Microsoft Windows>

Menu Text:        &WordPad

Program:        write.exe

Arguments:        "<PathAndFilename>"

Start Folder:        <Path>

Main Menu / Pop-up Menu File Specs

       *.doc | *.rtf

Quick View Plus (Version 7)

url:        http://www.avantstar.com

Menu Text:        Quick View

Program:        C:\Program Files\Quick View Plus\Program\qvp32.exe

Arguments:        "<PathAndFilename>" -dn -da -x

Start Folder:        <Path>

Filter:        *

Irfan View (Version 3.95)

url:        http://www.irfanview.net or http://www.irfanview.com

Menu Text:        Irfan View

Program:        C:\Program Files\IrfanView\i_view32.exe

Arguments:        "<PathAndFilename>" /one

Start Folder:        <Path>

Filter:        *.bmp | *.jpeg | *.jpg | *.ico | *.gif | *. png

Filter:        *

Power Point Viewer

Menu Text:        &PP Viewer

Program:        C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\PowerPoint Viewer\PPTVIEW.EXE

Arguments:        "<PathAndFilename>"

Start Folder:        <Path>

Main Menu / Pop-up Menu File Specs

       *.ppt

Confguring an Internet Tool

For the Program Field:

Either WWW, Internet or HTML. Use whichever you wish. There is no difference in the way the are executed.

For the Arguments field:

For the Start Folder field:

Example 1:

Menu Text:        Net Search

Program:        INTERNET

Arguments:        http://www.google.com/search?&q="<Name>.<Ext>"

Start Folder:

If the currently highlighted file is 'FileBoss.Exe'

Will open the default browser go to the url:

       http://www.google.com/search?&q="FileBoss.exe"

Example 2:

Menu Text:        Internet Search

Program:        INTERNET

Arguments:        http://www.google.com/search?&q="<Filename>"

Start Folder:

If the currently highlighted file is 'FileBoss.Exe'

Will open the default browser go to the url:

       http://www.google.com/search?&q="FileBoss.exe"

Example 3:

Menu Text:        FilExt.com Extension Search

Program:        INTERNET

Arguments:        http://www.filext.com/detaillist.php?extdetail=<Ext>

Start Folder:

If the currently highlighted file is 'FileBoss.Exe'

Will open the default browser go to the url:

    http://www.filext.com/detaillist.php?extdetail=exe

Ref: HIDD_OPTIONS_TOOLS

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