The system shell for Windows Vista has been purposely built by Microsoft such that ...
- When files of various types are selected simultaneously, the option to open them is made inaccessible to the system shell, whether through their context menu or the keyboard (i.e., pressing {Enter}). This is governed by file extensions, not by the program handling the files (e.g., it occurs when *.doc and *.docx files are simultaneously selected).
- When more than 15 (i.e., 16 or more) files of the same type are selected, the same event occurs.
This is documented by Zack Robinson, a Microsoft senior developer, in the post
Opening multiple files.
Here's a workaround that solves both problems and places the solution in the context menu.
It requires only creating a Visual Basic script and creating a shortcut to it in the Send To folder.
- Download the script attached to this post (code posted below):
Code:
on error resume next
nl=vbcrlf
wait=200
set shell=wscript.createobject("wscript.shell")
set filesystem=createobject("scripting.filesystemobject")
set scriptfile=filesystem.getfile(wscript.scriptfullname)
stamp=scriptfile.datelastmodified
stamparray=split(year(stamp)&"."&month(stamp)&"."&day(stamp)&"."&hour(stamp)&"."&minute(stamp)&"."&second(stamp),".")
version=stamparray(0)
for loopversion=1to ubound(stamparray)
versionlength=len(stamparray(loopversion))
if versionlength<2 then stamparray(loopversion)=string(2-versionlength,"0")&stamparray(loopversion)
version=version&"."&stamparray(loopversion)
next
set contents=filesystem.opentextfile(wscript.scriptfullname,1)
contents=split(contents.readall,nl)
unit=4^5
set files=wscript.arguments
if files.count<1 then
do
wait=inputbox(nl&nl&"Set a period, in milliseconds, to wait while files open:",filesystem.getbasename(scriptfile)&" v"&version&" : "&int(scriptfile.size/unit)&"k"&(scriptfile.size/unit-int(scriptfile.size/unit))*unit&"b : "&ubound(contents)&" lines",wait)
if wait=empty then wscript.quit
if isnumeric(wait) then exit do
loop
set scriptfile=filesystem.createtextfile(wscript.scriptfullname)
for loopcontents=0to ubound(contents)
newline=contents(loopcontents)
if instr(newline,"wait=")>0 and isnumeric(replace(newline,"wait=","")) then newline="wait="&wait
scriptfile.write(newline)
if loopcontents<ubound(contents) then scriptfile.write(nl)
next
else
for each file in files
shell.run """"&file&""""
wscript.sleep wait
next
end if
- Create a shortcut to it and place the shortcut in your Send To folder. If you can't find your Send To folder, press Windows+R and run "shell:sendto".
Now, when you right-click on a file or files, choosing the (for example) "0_file_execution" entry in the Send To list will open all selected files.
Running the script directly, instead of passing it files as arguments from the Send To list item, allows you to set the amount of time that separates the opening of each file; if you set this value too low, Vista may fail to open all files.
Note that the arguments list is limited in its length to 260 characters; the lengthier the paths of the files you are opening, the fewer files you can open. This is a limitation of the Windows command line, and I'm working on fixing it now.
10-17-2008
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