Contents->MIME Types

  1. MIME Types
  2. Defining a MIME Type
  3. Referencing MIME Types
  4. "Open With" List
  5. Importing MIME Types
  6. Exporting MIME Types
  7. Defining Global MIME Types

MIME Types

MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) Types were originally used to associate file types sent between Internet E-mail clients, however it has since been extended to other applications including web browsers and file system browsers (such as Endeavour).

Endeavour has a built-in MIME Types engine, that supports objects of different types and uniquenesses to be associated with each other. Each MIME Type has the following properties:


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Defining a MIME Type

To define a new MIME Type, go to View->MIME Types...

You should then see the dialog shown below (it may take a while for all the MIME Types to be loaded):

MIMETypes List Dialog

Suppose, for this example, you want to define a MIME Type for a text file format who's file name extension is .txt and the default program to be executed for it is /usr/lib/endeavour2/bin/tedit, then first select an item in the list at where you want to insert the new MIME Type at and then click on Add...

A new MIME Type will be added and a dialog will appear as shown below:

MIME Type Edit Dialog

The Commands list displays a list of commands in which objects that are associated with this MIME Type will be handled. Each command consists of a name that describes the command and a value that will be executed.

The Name is used to describe the command and will appear in the Open To list (when you go to File->Open To). The Name may contain spaces, upper and lower case, and numbers (no punctuations such as . , or ;). It is matched case insensitive, for example, view is the same as View.

The Command contains the actual command that is to be executed. If it starts with an absolute path to an executable object followed by any sequence of arguments and tokens (such as /usr/lib/endeavour2/bin/tedit "%p") then that object and any arguments will be executed. If it contains the type name of another MIME Type (such as application/text-editor) then the default command for that corresponding application class MIME Type will be executed instead, this is called referencing MIM Types.

The first command in the list is always considered the default, regardless of what its name is. The first command is executed for an object that matches this MIME Type when the user double-clicks on the object or goes to File->Open.

The command who's name is Edit and is not the first one in the list (not the default) can be executed for an object that matches this MIME Type when the user holds down SHIFT and double-clicks on the object.

All the commands are available when the user goes to File->Open To, in which a submenu displaying all the command names appears for the object that matches the MIME Type.

To add a command, first make sure that Handle By is set to Command and then click on Add.

You will then be prompted for the new command's Name and Command. enter the values as shown below:

MIME Type Edit Command Dialog

The Command may contain any of the following tokens for substitution (click on the Tokens >>> button to see the list of all available tokens on the dialog).

Token Substituted With
%cwd Current working directory
%display Display address
%first_name Name of the first selected object (without the full path)
%first_name_wo_ext Name of the first selected object (without the full path or extension)
%first_path Full path to the first selected object
%first_path_wo_ext Full path to the first selected object without its extension
%home User's home directory
%name Name of the last selected object (without the full path)
%name_wo_ext Name of the last selected object (without the full path or extension)
%names Name(s) of all the selected object(s) (without the full path)
%path Full path to the last selected object
%path_wo_ext Full path to the last selected object without its extension
%paths Full path(s) to all the selected object(s)
%pid Process id
%pe Same as %path_wo_ext
%p Same as %path
%s Same as %path

To insert a token into the command, set the cursor position on the Command prompt, then select the token that you want to insert and click on Insert.

Double quotes should be placed around the tokens in the command's value (such as /usr/lib/endeavour2/bin/tedit "%p") so that the substituted value is not unintentionally separated into separate arguments if it had spaces in it.

When opening objects by double-click or going to File->Open the tokens %names and %paths will only describe the one selected object for each instance of the program being executed to open that object. This is because each object is matched with a MIME Type individually and is opened one at a time in this case.

When opening objects by going to File->Open With... the tokens %names and %paths will describe all of the selected objects since only one program is being executed and the MIME Type is being explicitly specified by the user.

To define an icon for this MIME Type, click on the corresponding icon in the Icons frame on the right. You will then be prompted for an icon image file, select an .xpm image file that you want to use and click on Select.

Each MIME Type's icon has the following states:

Endeavour comes with a large set of icons located in:

Large icons are typically 48 by 48 pixels, medium icons are typically 32 by 32 pixels, and small icons are typically 20 by 20 pixels.

Click on OK when you are done.

So in the future, for this example, if you double-click on an object who has an extension of .txt then the following command will be executed:

Where /somewhere/somefile.txt is the full path to the actual object.

Valid extensions include .txt .tar.gz .Z *rc Makefile*. Prefixes or suffixes (without the . deliminator) require a * character after or before the word (respectivly).


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Referencing MIME Types

When you define a command for your MIME Type, you can set that command to either refer to a specific program (as seen in the above example) or you can refer it to another MIME Type who's class is set to Application.

To refer the command of one MIME Type to a Application class MIME Type:

First create a new Application class MIME Type by clicking on Add... and set its values to the following:

For Application class MIME Types, only the first defined command will be used (subsequent commands are ignored).

Click on OK when you are done.

Now go and edit the previous MIME Type that defined the .txt file format and change its command to refer to the type value of the Application class MIME Type you just created.

Command values that do not start with an absolute path imply that the command refers to another MIME Type. For example, a command value of application/text-editor refers to another MIME Type who's type name is application/text-editor.

Now the default command for an object who's extension is .txt will be refered to the new Application class MIME Type who's type value is set to application/text/editor. This will allow you to change your preferred application for a group of MIME Types that all require just one common application by only changing that one Application class MIME Type.


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"Open With" List

The items that appear in the "Open With" list (the list that you see when you go to File->Open With...) are MIME Types who's class is set to Application.

To add an item to the "Open With" list, follow the steps in section Defining a MIME Type. Make sure that you set the MIME Type's class to Application.


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Importing MIME Types

File formats that contain MIME Types which Endeavour can import from are as follows:

To import MIME Types:

  1. Go to View->MIME Types...
  2. Select the MIME Type in the list at the position where you want to insert the imported MIME Types at (or do not select any position to append)
  3. Click on Import, a File Browser will appear.
  4. Select the File Name and the File Type that you want to import, then click on Import.
  5. Depending on the File Type that you selected, an Options Dialog may appear, select the options that you want and then click on Import.

Note that other MIME Type files may not contain the same amount of information as the Endeavour Mark II MIME Types format does. So you may need to edit the imported MIME Types to add more information manually.

Synchronising with the System's Global MIME Types

In some cases you may want Endeavour Mark II to synchronise its MIME Types with the system's global MIME Types. This way, you only need to update the system's global MIME Types and synchronise Endeavour Mark II to them.

For Debian Linux, Redhat Linux, and Mandrake Linux users, to synchronise Endeavour Mark II's MIME Types with the system's global MIME Types:

  1. Go to View->MIME Types...
  2. Unselect all MIME Type in the list.
  3. Click on Import, a File Browser will appear.
  4. Select the global Mailcap file (usually /etc/mailcap) and set the File Type to Mailcap, then click on Import, an Options Dialog will appear.
  5. Make sure that Update and Only Newer are checked, then click on Import.
  6. (wait for the MIME Types to be imported)
  7. Click on Import, a File Browser will appear.
  8. Select the global Media Types file (usually /etc/mime.types) and set the File Type to Media Types, then click on Import, an Options Dialog will appear.
  9. Make sure that Update and Only Newer are checked, then click on Import.

MIME Types that already exist in Endeavour Mark II's MIME Types list will be updated, and newer ones will be appended (there will not be any duplicate MIME Types).

You may still need to add additional information (such as icons), since the Mailcap and Media Types files do not contain as much information as the Endeavour Mark II MIME Types do.

You need to repeat the above procedure each time the system's global MIME Types are updated. Information that you added manually, such as icons, will not be cleared or modified when you synchronise.


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Exporting MIME Types

File formats that contain MIME Types which Endeavour can export to are as follows:

To export MIME Types:

  1. Go to View->MIME Types...
  2. Select all the MIME Types in the list that you want to export.
  3. Click on Export, a File Browser will appear.
  4. Set the File Type to the format that you want to export to and specify the File Name, then click on Export

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Defining Global MIME Types

To define your own global MIME Types, you must have access to the global MIME Types file /usr/share/endeavour2/mimetypes.ini.

Before you begin, you should back up the existing global MIME Types file (if any).

Defining global MIME Types is similar to the Export process, the steps are as follows.

  1. Go to View->MIME Types...
  2. Select all the MIME Types in the list that you want to export (including any current global MIME Types that you want in the new global MIME Types file).
  3. Click on Export, a file browser will appear.
  4. In the Type list, select the Endeavour MIME Types files (.ini) format.
  5. Enter the path of the file you want to export to (this can be a tempory file if do not have access to the global MIME Types file and want to move the exported file to that location later), and then click on OK.

If there were no errors encountered in the above steps and you backed up your old global MIME Types file, then move the MIME Types file you just exported to /usr/share/endeavour2/mimetypes.ini and then restart Endeavour.


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