Thread: Open file by drag and drop

Hi,
I'm writing a program that basically reads some data from a file, processes it, then outputs to another file.
When openning files, I always depended on 1 thing: The file is in the same directory. The user simply types in the file name, so the program searches in the same directory of the program*.

I want to make it easier to open files, and even open up the opportunity to open multiple files in the same execution (not at the same time of course).
If I use the simple method mentioned above, the user will have to put all the files in the same directory*, and he will have to type all there names which is a big hassle.

So I experimented a little with arguments. I figured out that when you drop a file on the program executable (the actual file), the file name is passed as an argument.
However, this is a bit unusual. I personally have never seen a program that does that, and it may confuse many users.

So I was wondering if there was a way to input a file by drag and drop. There's no problem with time, I need it at a specific time only - not all the time.

By the way, I'm running windows. I think this information is needed, since the problem sounds system specific.

Thanks


*unless the whole path is input, which is not at all efficient.

so dnd uses the command args. so? what's the problem with that?

(I'm assuming you mean cmd for dnd)

It just feels different. When opening a file from a program, It's not usual to drag the file onto the program's executable file. It feels much more familiar when dropping it into the open window.

oh I see. I misunderstood the question.