"Shell Extension" section

[Vic]

Suggest some changes for clarity

1. Change title to "Context-menu Entry" ?

(I've only accidentally opened that section, and found out about that goodie).

2. Clarification on where to find the extension in case of portable version. This sentence:

To manually install the DLL (which resides in your Notepad++ installation folder), use regsvr32 /i NppShell_01.dll

Appears to be intended for Portable version, or at least for both Portable and Installer, no ? If so, where can they find that NppShell_01.dll ? Unlike in Installer version, a contextMenu folder is not present.

After reading https://community.notepad-plus-plus.org/topic/20564/context-menu-entry-in-the-potable-version-of-notepad/18 ,
I managed to extract the installer (.exe), using 7z, then found inside folder "contextMenu" with NppShell.dll inside.

I could make a pull request myself.

[Vic]

But , after copying NppShell.dll inside the Portable version (of same version, 8.5.4) folder, trying to run regsvr32 /i NppShell.dll leads to error

[PeterCJ]

The procedure in the Manual is the procedure I was given by the developers. If the procedure they have defined doesn't work, you will have to put an issue in the main application issues section, because I have no insight into what the actual procedure might be, or it might be that you've found a bug. Either way, we cannot fix procedures or bugs in the manual -- we just document what it's supposed to do, to the best of our knowledge

[Vic]

I understand. I added the details to explain why the manual needs change there.

[Vic]

According to @GurliGebis notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus#13439 (comment)
the command would be regsvr32.exe NppShell.dll (note the lacking /i ) and that works.

[Vic]

Submitted issue on including the extension inside portable version: notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus#13935

[GurliGebis]

If I recall correctly, it default to /i implicitly if nothing is passed

[Vic]

@GurliGebis the pictures above don't lie. On this platform:

Notepad++ v8.5.4 (32-bit)
Build time : Jun 17 2023 - 20:40:14
Path : C:\Users\Vic\Downloads\editors\npp.8.5.4.portable\notepad++.exe
Command Line :
Admin mode : OFF
Local Conf mode : ON
Cloud Config : OFF
OS Name : Windows 7 Ultimate (32-bit)
OS Build : 7601.24546
Current ANSI codepage : 1252
Plugins :
mimeTools (2.9)
NppConverter (4.5)
NppExec (0.8.4)
NppExport (0.4)
PythonScript (2)

[Vic]

@pryrt , I read this subsection https://npp-user-manual.org/docs/other-resources/#explorer-right-click-menu , which has same intent as Shell Extension.
What do you think of merging it in the Shell extension section, except renamed "Explorer Right-Click menu" or "Explorer Context Menu" or similar?
This way, users for which the NppShell.dll won't work, will read ahead the .reg file approach.

[PeterCJ]

@victorel-petrovich ,

What do you think of merging it in the Shell extension section

There are too many links out there to that specific page to get that specific information. I could add a link from the Shell Extension page to the "Explorer Right-Click Menu" section.

---

Regarding /i vs no-/i, the ss64.com description of regsvr32 (which is more detailed than the MS docs) does distinguish between default behavior and /i behavior:

default: With no other options: Register server by calling DLLRegisterServer.
/i: Call DllInstall(TRUE,[cmdline]) to install the DLL. If the install was successful also call DLLRegisterServer.

So the default behavior just registers the DLL; /i installs it first then registers it.

And regsvr32 is expected to require elevated privileges.

As a result, it would make sense to supply both choices to users, so that they can use the flag that's appropriate for their machine (or have both to try, since for some the /i version worked, even though it didn't for you)

---

To sum up: as a result of this issue, I will

1. Link from Shell Extension to Explorer Right-Click Menu
2. Add the non-/i version of the DLL register command
3. Emphasize the need for administrative privileges to register the DLL
4. Note that around v8.5.1, they dropped the _## suffix from the name and moved it into contextMenu\ subfolder, so it's just NppShell.dll

[PeterCJ]

As you can see from my PR, I actually changed my mind. I decided to do the merge from "Other Resources > Explorer Right-Click Menu" to "Shell Extension > Alternatives" -- I was able to figure out a way to make sure all old links to the Other-Resources version will still resolve in that document, and then they can click to get to the new location.

[Vic]

Very good insights and changes!

Since pages elsewhere that linked to "Shell Extension" would still be directed to https://npp-user-manual.org/docs/shell-extension/ without harm,
and the NppShell.dll is only one of the ways to get the right-click functionality,
I'd choose to still rename the page to "Right Click Context Entry",
then make the first subsection in that page named "Shell Extension" (header ##), with the subsections there in the commit up to "Alternatives" be made one level deeper, correspondingly.

But I won't insist on this if you don't agree.

Feel free to close this issue when you think it's done.

[Vic]

@pryrt
One more thing!
Let's improve there the .reg script for adding the "Edit with Notepad++" to add an icon as well (because it's so much nicer ) .
Based on scripts on https://npp-user-manual.org/docs/other-resources/#explorer-right-click-menu and the suggestion in https://community.notepad-plus-plus.org/topic/18140/how-to-get-windows-explorer-right-click-menu-open-edit-with-notepad?_=1690587272509 , which I've tested on my system w/ Portable, as non-admin user (with right path change),
and is also similar to another recomendation online , it just needs this new line:

"Icon"="C:\\Program Files\\Notepad++\\notepad++.exe,0"

to be placed in those scripts right under the line:

@="Edit With Notepad++"