RE: [h-e-w] Multiple versions of Emacs under Windows; How to specify which Emacs should run when file is double-clicked?

[Francis Wright]

David,

I think the only way to add commandline arguments to file associations is by
editing the registry directly. That's how I do it.

Are you running the standard distribution of emacs or the patched version
(EmacsW32, I think)? If the latter then emacsclient(w) might behave
differently from the standard version and advertise itself differently.

Francis

> -----Original Message-----
> From: David Vanderschel [mailto:address@hidden
> Sent: 07 January 2011 5:13 am
> To: Jason Rumney
> Cc: Francis Wright; address@hidden
> Subject: Re: [h-e-w] Multiple versions of Emacs under Windows; How to
specify
> which Emacs should run when file is double-clicked?
> 
> Thank you, Jason, for explaining the difference in behaviour one observes
when
> running the clients in a command window.
> I had not previously realized that, when emacsclientw is waiting, there is
an
> invisible instance of the emacsclientw Windows program that is doing so.
> However, now that I think to 'ask', I must say that I cannot see such
instances as
> processes in the Task Manager; but, if it is true, I have been leaving a
lot of those
> lying about by failing to release the buffer.  It is not clear to me how
to add the --
> no-wait modifier in the context of the file association, and it would
probably
> make sense to do so.  (But see my last paragraph in this message.)
> 
> As it turns out, I had made a mistake; and it is true that one should use
> emacsclientw for the file assocation.  What confused me was that I had
correctly
> associated .txt files (and others, long ago) with emacsclientw; but, when
I look
> now at the "Open With" choices offered by Explorer, it does not present
the
> emacsclientw choice as "emacsclientw".
> Indeed it shows "GNU EmacsClient: Client for the extensible
self-documenting
> text editor (patched)", even though the .exe which it is using is that for
> emacsclientw.  So that is why I believed that I had been using
emacsclient.
> (When I browse to emacsclient.exe as my choice for what program to open a
file
> with, yes I do get an objectionable command
> window.)  I suspect that that identifying string for emacsclientw comes
from the
> program itself, and that this is something that should be fixed if only to
avoid the
> sort of confusion that afflicted myself.  Also, I actually tried to find
some
> documentation somewhere about the intended difference between the two,
> and I failed; so I did the command line experiment to find out (and got a
> misleading result).  I think something should be added to the Wiki as
well.  The
> Emacs info file has nothing to say about emacsclientw; and it probably
should not,
> as this is strictly a Windows issue.
> 
> I now see that there is a correct explanation of how to associate files in
Windows
> here:
> http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/windows/Installing-Emacs.html
> (I wish I had found that instead of the Wiki when I initially sought such
> documentation; but it still does not explain the difference in the two
programs.)
> 
> One symptom I still cannot explain: When I open a file in Emacs using
Explorer,
> Emacs does not believe that there is any client waiting on the buffer.
Indeed, if I
> try \C-x #, Emacs says, "No server editing buffers exist".  But when I
invoke the
> client (either) from the command line, Emacs does believe there is a
client and
> \C-x # works as advertised.
> Indeed, in the latter cases, I can see the client process
> (either) in the Task Manager's process list.  This seems to imply that
emacsclientw
> is already behaving in the no-wait manner when invoked by Explorer.
> 
> Regards,
>   David V.
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jason Rumney" <address@hidden>
> To: "David Vanderschel" <address@hidden>
> Cc: "Francis Wright" <address@hidden>; <address@hidden>
> Sent: Wednesday, January 05, 2011 4:59 PM
> Subject: Re: [h-e-w] Multiple versions of Emacs under Windows; How to
specify
> which Emacs should run when file is double-clicked?
> 
> 
> "David Vanderschel" <address@hidden> writes:
> 
> > I believe that the difference between emacsclient and emacsclientw is
> > that, with the "w", it is equivalent to emacsclient with the --no-wait
> > option and not whether or not a command window appears.
> 
> No, both versions wait. The difference is that emacsclientw.exe is
compiled as a
> Windows program, and emacsclient.exe is compiled as a console program. At
> least on older versions of Windows a console program always resulted in a
> command window opening when lauched outside of a command window.  And
> being a Windows program, the console window does not wait for
> emacsclientw.exe to terminate before returning you to the prompt, so in
that
> context it does appear not to wait (but for text editors that wait for the
> subprocess to terminate, it should still work the same as
emacsclient.exe).