Re: 21.x feature request: windows shortcut support

[Jason Rumney]

rayz@phonon.com.invalid (Raymond Zeitler) writes:

> As a user, I find it hard to accept that .lnk behavior is described in
> Explorer for three reasons:
> 
> 1.  If you open a command prompt and enter START foo.lnk, the
>     appropriate application for opening the shortcut's target is
>     invoked.  It's true that Explorer is running if only to allow
>     browsing of the desktop, but I don't think CMD.EXE & START depend
>     on Explorer in any way.

The START command depends very heavily on Explorer. Its purpose is to
launch the appropriate application for a file or url, using Explorer's
file associations. The association for .lnk files is rundll32.exe,
which also ties in closely with Explorer.

> 2.  If you edit the File Type of the Shortcut, you will not find any
>     default Actions.

The associations are set up in the registry.

> So the behavior is defined in the registry.  Explorer is merely one of
> the GUI to the registry.

Explorer (or specifically the SHELL32.DLL portion of it) is an
integral part of Windows. The registry is merely a database, used by
Explorer and other programs to store settings.

-- 
Jason Rumney