Getting path to default PDF viewer?

[johnb41]

In my application, if a user tries to open up a PDF file, I want the
users "default" PDF viewer to open up and display it. By default, i
mean, either the free Acrobat Reader, or the full Adobe Acrobat
licensed software, if installed.

Any idea how I can find out the path name to the .exe? (as it may vary
from user to user)

Thanks!
John

 

[Larry Lard]

In my application, if a user tries to open up a PDF file, I want the
users "default" PDF viewer to open up and display it. By default, i
mean, either the free Acrobat Reader, or the full Adobe Acrobat
licensed software, if installed.

Any idea how I can find out the path name to the .exe? (as it may vary
from user to user)

It's all in the registry. I *think* this is the correct sequence to
follow:

HKCR\.pdfDefault)
This should be "AcroExch.Document"
HKCR\AcroExch.Document\shell\open\commandDefault)
On my machine this is
"C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 6.0\Reader\AcroRd32.exe" "%1"

Substitute your filename in for %1 and there you have the command line
to run.

 

[Oenone]

In my application, if a user tries to open up a PDF file, I want the
users "default" PDF viewer to open up and display it.

A better way to do this than finding the PDF viewer EXE is to simply tell
Windows to open the file with its default viewer. You can do this as
follows:

\\\
Dim proc As New Process
'Set the process details
With proc.StartInfo
'Set the information for the file to launch
.FileName = "C:\YourPDFFile.pdf"
.UseShellExecute = True
End With
'Open the file
proc.Start()
///

 

[Larry Lard]

A better way to do this than finding the PDF viewer EXE is to simply tell
Windows to open the file with its default viewer. You can do this as
follows:

Aaargh and I knew that as well. In my defence, it's very warm here...
our aircon has failed

 

[johnb41]

Thanks Oenone, that's exactly what I needed!

John