hello,

i'm using dolphin a lot for accessing my server via sftp, and if a file does not have an extension (like most config files, for example for apache), they are shown as binary files. if i double click on them, i get in the "open with" dialog: i'm asked how to open them and i have to type each time "kwrite" or whatever i want to use.

i'd love to configure a default that opens anything that i double click on with kwrite if the system doesn't know better (because there's an extension or it had looked at the local file).

how can i do that? it seems that this must be possible but i haven't found where to tweak around...

i already blindly type kwrite each time, but i'd love to loose that habit

thanks in advance for any hint!

kim

this should help, its not a default for all unknown file types but will be remembered for any file type you do this for

right click the file in Dolphin -> open with -> other -> type preferred app in field -> click remember application association -> ok

fyi - Kate is like Kwrite but with tabs

In case you are interested, the reason why this occurs is because KDE cannot perform the advanced mimetype detection it normally performs with local files on remote files - this is especially the case with sftp/ftp which provide no method of retrieving the mimetype.

Hello,

thanks so much to both of you for your quick replies!

google01103 wrote:this should help, its not a default for all unknown file types but will be remembered for any file type you do this for
right click the file in Dolphin -> open with -> other -> type preferred app in field -> click remember application association -> ok

Thanks, google01103, but somehow, i don't have this.
When i right click and choose "open with", i don't have an "other" option (i only have it if the system has at least recognized one file type), but don't thinks that this is important. so i just click on "open with" and then i can type my prefered app (kwrite) and i have the following checkboxes below:
run in terminal
do not close when command exit (greyed out - gets available if i check 'run in terminal')
no option "remember..."!
maybe i got a wrong version (dolphin 1.7, kde 4.7.4)?

google01103 wrote:fyi - Kate is like Kwrite but with tabs

thanks for the hint. just a short remark on that: i'm not a tab person. i never got the point of it, in particular for browsers. i want to alt-tab through all my windows and having to alter between alt-tab and ctrl-tab goes way beyond my brain capacities and i always tend to "loose" windows in some hidden tabs. but i don't want to start any flame war. i admire people who are able to use them

bcooksley wrote:In case you are interested, the reason why this occurs is because KDE cannot perform the advanced mimetype detection it normally performs with local files on remote files - this is especially the case with sftp/ftp which provide no method of retrieving the mimetype.

yeah, thanks. i guessed that it was something about that.

but how can i tell the system: just open anything you don't know with a specific application? i tried in the system settings, file associations and i added kwrite to "all" and "allfiles", but i'm being ignored by the system. oh, and btw, i got the same problem with executables even on my local drives. i would also like them to open with kwrite by default (because i do a lot of script programming - and some, for example, python scripts are executable, others are just called by python x.py or imported by others, and i tend to double click on the executable ones, too, and i execute them by accident...), but somehow i fail to see where to configure it.

any more ideas where to check?

thanks
kim

If you right click on the Unknown file > Properties, Then click on the Wrench beside "Type: Unknown" you should be able to add KWrite there. KDE uses a special file association for remote, unknown files I believe.

great! thanks a lot, bcooksley, that was it!

i hadn't even noticed before that the wrench was a button.
this even worked for my executable scripts!
i thought that there had to be an easy solution

i'm happy i deared to write on this forum...

thanks again
kim