Windows Shell Extension for Krita Files

[Alvin Wong]

Hi all,

I've talked to Boudewijn Rempt about this and discussed it a bit, also
I've made a bit more progress, so I think I'd do a writeup here...

New stuff (nothing much really):

1. Made a CMake makefile to replace the VS project. It downloads the
source of the dependencies automatically. Tested with VS2015 and NMake
generators.
2. "Documented" the registry changes here:
https://github.com/alvinhochun/KritaShellExtension/wiki/Registry-Changes
3. Tried making an Icon Handler and it works, but need to decide what
file icons to use. Haven't pushed to github yet.

Things need to be handled:

1. Find out how to set up the installer to register the shell
extensions properly, and also merge the registry changes (see above).
2. May need to integrate it into Krita's source tree. Even though it
already builds with CMake, the Windows x64 build should include both
the 32-bit and 64-bit version. (Even the 32-bit build may need it, in
case some users want to install the 32-bit version on a 64-bit
Windows.) An alternative is to build them separately, since they need
to be packed into the installer in another manual step anyway.
3. New filetype icons? Boud suggested to ask Animtim_ on IRC. Also
need to decide what properties should be reflected on the file icons,
or whether an Icon Handler should be used at all.
May also refer to this:
https://github.com/alvinhochun/KritaShellExtension/wiki/Features

I hope this is clear enough and that I haven't missed anything important.

Best Regards,

Alvin Wong


2016-02-29 23:53 GMT+08:00 Alvin Wong <alvinhochun+krita at gmail.com>:
> Hi all,
>
> I am making a Windows Explorer shell extension for Krita files, which
> I hope would eventually be good enough to be included in the Krita for
> Windows installer starting from 3.x releases.
>
> For those who are not familiar with Windows (and actually, I'm not
> really,) shell extensions provides various information that the shell
> (aka Explorer) and other progams can use to present to users. Typical
> examples include: file thumbnails, previews, metadata (properties),
> dynamically-selected file icons, context menus.
>
> In the shell extension that I am working on, I plan to include support
> for at least (but not limited to) file thumbnails, properties and
> icons. Here I'll try to list out what they could do:
>
> - File thumbnails: Providing thumbnails for Krita files, obviously.
> - Properties: Information like image dimensions and colour depth can
> be extracted from the file for Explorer to display them in file
> tooltip (InfoTip), the preview details pane, as a column in details
> view, and so on. It could also possibly be used by Windows Search,
> although I haven't investigated this yet.
> - Icons: It could provide different icons with a badge representing
> different colour depths, or whether a file has animations in it, for
> example.
>
> I already have one with a working thumbnail provider. You can check it
> here: https://github.com/alvinhochun/KritaShellExtension  I've only
> tested it on my only Windows 7 64-bit environment by the way, so any
> testing on any other systems would be appreciated.
>
> I'll be looking forward to your comments!
>
> All the best,
>
> Alvin Wong