Using NT registry calls to solve CR-LF issue with text files.

[Gunnar Degnbol]

At 08:20 07-02-2000 +1100, John E. Malmberg wrote:
>Beau Kuiper <ekuiperba at cc.curtin.edu.au> wrote:
> >
> > On Sun, 6 Feb 2000, John E. Malmberg wrote:
>
>Windows actually uses two methods of determining a file type.  The first is
>a registry, and the second is to examine the first two bytes of the file for
>a signature.  Some programs use the signature over the file type.

I have looked at how Windows determines MIME types. The url is 
http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/networking/moniker/overview/appendix_a.asp.

It can be done using FindMimeFromData(), but it won't work.  If the MIME 
type can't be determined more precisely than 'text/plain' (after 
considering the type reported by a web server, magic bytes, whether the 
data looks like a binary or text, and the extension), and the file is 
associated with an application, the type is set to 
'application/octet-stream'.  So, for example, a .C file will not be 
reported as a text file if you have a C++ compiler.  Nothing in the 
registry indicates that it is a text file.

The reasoning behind this behaviour is amazing:

"As an example, this is necessary when downloading, among others, .bat and 
.cmd files, which are plain text files, are frequently identified by the 
server as 'text/plain', and have no associated MIME type in the registry. 
Without the final check for an associated application, these would be 
displayed in-pane, whereas the desired behavior is to launch the command 
interpreter."

The Internet is just like your hard disk, or your LAN, so when you click on 
a .BAT file in your integrated file manager/browser you will obviously want 
to run it before reading it.

I guess this has been fixed many times over (once for each dangerous file 
type).

>Remember the average user thinks all this stuff works by magic.

The average user should not be led to believe it is possible to 
successfully ignore how computers work.


Gunnar