File Association Bug when Updating your Arduino Environment in Windows

Development Tools IDE 1.x
1

Soory for the noob question. I have IDE 0021 running just fine on Win XP with Uno board.

I see that IDE is now updated to 0022 and want to update.

I have donloaded the zip file, there is no setup file in the Zip that I can find. I'm wondering what the correct update process is. Tried searching forum and Google but no luck. Is it as simple as copying the folder structure into "C:\Program Files" and updating file association for .pde files?

Thanks in Advance,
George

2

Hi George,

Yes it's that simple. You can just have the two unpacked sets of folders (anywhere, not only in C:\programs), and they can coexist.

Your personal sketches are (unless you move them) under MyDocuments/Arduino.

If it wasn't for the Drivers that need to be installed, it would be a SystemUntouched install.

Massimo && Co. seem to have taken to heart Einstein's opinion: “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.”
( Albert Einstein - Wikiquote )

3

Thanks. It did seem that easy. The only problem I have is that file association for .PDE files can not be changed from 0021 to 0022. Editing file assocation from Windows Control Panel->Folder Options->File Types does not resolve the issue.

Any tips?

4

MGeo:
The only problem I have is that file association for .PDE files can not be changed from 0021 to 0022.

Hmm.. I didn't know that because I hardly ever click on PDEs outside the IDE..

Anyone have a handle on this???

5

Thanks for the input.

More searches gave me these:
http://arduino.cc/forum/index.php/topic,6501.0.html
http://arduino.cc/forum/index.php/topic,49644.0.html

The problem seems common. I believe there is a problem with IDE upgrades that is creating a hole in the SystemUntouched philosophy.

I suppose it could thought of as Windows issue but most programs handle this upon install/update.

Back to my research, any tips are welcome. Thanks again for the help.

6

Searching the Windows Registry I found that the .PDE extension redirects to Processing.Document key. Processing document invokes -> C:\Program Files\arduino-0021\Processing.exe "%1". These registry keys must have been installed during the initial Uno installation process. It is strange that there is no actual Processing.exe file in this directory. A simple copy install of a newer IDE will not change these registry keys, and they will not update when you try to change the file association from the control panel. It would be nice if any of this were documented.

I have tried editing this key from arduino-0021 to arduino-0022 in regedit, but exucuting the IDE changes it back to -0021. I am going to stay with -0021 for the time being.

I would recommend that anyone that wishes to retain the "double click on .pde file to start IDE" functionality avoid updating until this underlying issue is addressed.

Best Regards,
George

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7

More reading shows that .pde file association issue in Windows is a known/accepted/high priority defect in Processing that should be addressed with time.

See http://code.google.com/p/processing/issues/detail?id=247

8

You can make the hkcr key for the association read only to prevent the ide changing the association. (remove the write privilege from the key)

9

I had this same issue on Win 7 x64. Here's what worked for me:

  • Open Regedit and navigate to HKey_Classes_Root\Applications\
  • Find the key for "arduino.exe" and delete it
  • Try to change the default program for the pde file as normal and it should work now.

Some other trial and error experiences I had:

  • I orginally changed the default program to arduino as normal and it worked fine.
  • I decided I wanted to move my arduino folder and my pde's lost their default program
  • I tried resetting the default program and it wouldn't select
  • I RENAMED "ardiuno.exe" to "ardiuno22.exe". Magically I could select it as my default program.
  • I changed the name back to "arduino.exe" and it would not allow me to select it as default again
  • I renamed it back to "ardiuno22.exe" and it worked again.
  • I tried changing the properties of "ardiuno22.exe" so that it ran as an administrator. This broke my default program assoication and I was unable to select it.

Currently: I have all other "ardiuno**.exe" keys deleted from my registry and I have unchecked the box to have arduino run as an administrator. NOTE: My "installation" is NOT on my boot drive and the default program association has persisted through restarts. I do still have one registry key for "ardiuno.exe" and the "Processing.Document" one mentioned before...

Hope this helps,
Jeff