cklaunch

CompoKit Launcher

The CompoKit Launcher is a small Win32 application for navigating directories, starting programs and opening other files (using external applications). There are some unique features that make it ideal for preparing and hosting competitions in a demoparty context:

• In each directory, a file can be marked to be auto-selected when the directory is entered. This helps against accidentally running the wrong file.

• Sibling directories can be entered directly without going through the parent directory first. This reduces the risk of acidentally exposing the listing of all entries in a compo to the public.

• It maintains its own file extension registry, i.e. it can be configured to open files with other applications than the ones which are set up system-wide.

• There are some shortcuts to transfer control back and forth between the Launcher and a "proper" file manager.

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Controls

Key/Operation	Function
Up / Down / PageUp / PageDown / Home / End	Move the selection cursor.
Backspace	Navigate to the parent directory.
Left / Right	Navigate to the previous or next sibling directory (in lexicographic order, case-insensitive).
Enter	Run the currently selected file. If an application has been configured for the file's extension in the [Actions] section of the configuration file, the configured application is run. Otherwise, the system's default operation is performed, just as if the file was double-clicked in Explorer.
Ctrl+Enter, Shift+Enter, Alt+Enter	If configured in the configuration file, open the currently selected file in an alternate application, independent of its extension.
Space	Mark the currently selected file (or subdirectory) as the default for this directory. When re-entering the directory later, the marked file is automatically selected instead of the parent directory ([..]). A star (*) is shown right of the name of the default file. Press Space on the [..] entry to remove the default mark for a directory.
Esc	Exit the program, but only after being pressed twice.
Ctrl+Q	Exit the program immediately.
Ctrl+C	Copy the selected file's full path into the clipboard; if the [..] entry is selected, copy the current directory's name.
Ctrl+V	Navigate to the file or directory name that's currently in the clipboard.
drag&drop	Dragging a file or directory from another file manager into the CompoKit Launcher window navigates to the dropped directory or selects the dropped file.
F2	Rename the currently selected item. If it's a directory, default file markings for it and its child directories are preserved.
F5	Reload the configuration file and refresh the current directory listing.
alphanumeric keys	Quick navigation in the current directory, like in Explorer.

The current window position, directory and selected item is stored and preserved across sessions.

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Configuration File

The program is configured in a file called cklaunch.ini that resides in the same directory as cklaunch.exe.

Section [Actions]

This section configures "rules" which programs to call for specific file types, or when using a modifier key while activating a file. The general syntax of this section's entries is as follows:

ext [ext...] = ['x'] [command [args...]]

With the following fields:

• ext specifies one or more file extensions, lowercase without preceding dot, separated by spaces or commas, for which the rule shall match.
  • If the "modifier codes" :alt, :ctrl or :shift are appended to an extension, the rule only matches if the specified modifier keys are pressed down while double-clicking the file or pressing Enter on it.
  • Multiple modifier codes can be combined, but must be specified in the exact order as listed above. For example, :alt:shift will work as intended, but :shift:alt won't.
  • If the line consists only of a caret ('^'), followed by a modifier code (or combination thereof), the rule will apply to the same list of extensions as the last rule, except that the specified modifier keys need to be pressed down to activate it.
  • If the extension list contains only a modifier code, the rule matches for any file or directory that's activated while the specified modifier keys are pressed down and there's no other modifier-specific rule for the current file's type.
• 'x' is optional and specifies a single-character "prefix" that is shown in the file list in front of the file names that match the rule. This is ignored for rules containing modifiers.
• command and args specify the program to execute and its arguments.
  • The command part can consist of multiple alternatives, separated by a pipe sign ('|'). This is useful if there are multiple programs that can work with a certain file type, or where there are multiple directories where a program can be installed. The first match that yields an existing executable file is used.
  • Quoting has to be done properly to allow paths with spaces to work.
  • Dollar signs ('$') are replaced by the full path to the file that is to be opened.
  • If the command line doesn't explicitly contain a dollar sign, the file path is automatically added as a last argument.
  • Ampersands ('&') are replaced by the path of the directory where the viewer program has been found. This can be useful if e.g. config files need to be specified with full paths.
  • Question marks ('?') are replaced by the path of the directory where cklaunch.exe resides. (In a CompoKit context, that's usually the CompoKit bin directory.)
  • If not specified, the .exe suffix is implied for command.
  • If a matching command.exe exists in the directory of cklaunch.exe, this is used; otherwise, the PATH environment variable is searched.
  • Environment variables are expanded, e.g. "%OS%" becomes "Windows_NT".
  • If command and args are omitted, the system default program is used for the rule, as is done with files that don't match any rule.

Examples

The following rule marks .exe files with a '*' prefix, but otherwise makes them behave as usual:

exe = '*'

The following rule marks music files with a '>' prefix and plays them back with XMPlay:

mp3 wav ogg = '>' xmplay

Note that the .exe suffix of xmplay.exe isn't needed, and neither is the "$" argument at the end. If there is an xmplay.exe file in the same directory as cklaunch.exe, it is preferred over a system-wide installation.

This set rules makes a few common video file formats playable with any of three players, depending on which modifier keys are held down while activating them:

mp4 mov mkv = '>' mpc-hc
^:alt = mpv
^:alt:shift = vlc

The following rule makes it possible to navigate to any file or folder in Explorer by pressing Ctrl+Enter on it:

:ctrl = explorer /select,"$"

In this case, the explicit dollar sign is required because the path name must not be an argument of its own, but part of Explorer's /select option.

Section [Font]

This section configures the font used in the program.

Option	Function
Name	font face name
Size	font size in pixels
Weight	font weight (400 = normal, 600 = bold)

Section [Colors]

This section configures the colors of the user interface. Colors are specified as HTML/CSS-style 3-digit or 6-digit hex codes with an optional preceding hash sign (#), e.g. #ff3700.

Option	Function
Background	file list background color
Prefix	file type prefix color
Text	file name color
Subdir	directory name color
SelectBackground	selected item's background color
SelectPrefix	selected item's file type prefix color
SelectText	selected item's file name color
SelectSubdir	selected item's directory name color
DirBackground	current directory name background color
DirText	current directory name text color
Scrollbar	scroll indicator color

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Caveats

• Unicode support is a little sketchy because the author was too lazy:

  • No Unicode support at all on Windows versions before 10 1903.
  • UTF-8 strings may be visible with some fonts (e.g. Fixedsys).
  • Case-insensitive sorting, quick search, and sibling directory navigation only works for Latin characters without diacritics.

• The command of an [Actions] rule must be either fully quoted (i.e. enclosed in double quotes) or not quoted at all; partial quoting (like "C:\Program Files"\foo\bar) is not supported.

• Session restoration doesn't work when the program is quit while the drive letter selection was open.

• The source code isn't particularly clean ;)

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Build Instructions

Use Visual Studio 2019 (any edition) to open the .sln file and build the Release|Win32 configuration. The resulting executable will automatically be copied into the bin directory of the CompoKit directory tree.

The program automatically detects if it is run from the source directory in the CompoKit tree, and uses the configuration file, state file, and helper applications from the bin directory in this case.

The Debug configurations open a console window to show some debugging info and non-fatal error messages.