How to Associate a File Extension with an Application in C#?

Associate a file extension with an application

To associate a file extension with an application, you can add a key to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT. Here's a reusable method that works on any operating system:

public static void SetAssociation(string Extension, string KeyName, string OpenWith, string FileDescription)
{
    RegistryKey BaseKey;
    RegistryKey OpenMethod;
    RegistryKey Shell;
    RegistryKey CurrentUser;

    BaseKey = Registry.ClassesRoot.CreateSubKey(Extension);
    BaseKey.SetValue("", KeyName);

    OpenMethod = Registry.ClassesRoot.CreateSubKey(KeyName);
    OpenMethod.SetValue("", FileDescription);
    OpenMethod.CreateSubKey("DefaultIcon").SetValue("", "\"" + OpenWith + "\",0");
    Shell = OpenMethod.CreateSubKey("Shell");
    Shell.CreateSubKey("edit").CreateSubKey("command").SetValue("", "\"" + OpenWith + "\"" + " \"%1\"");
    Shell.CreateSubKey("open").CreateSubKey("command").SetValue("", "\"" + OpenWith + "\"" + " \"%1\"");
    BaseKey.Close();
    OpenMethod.Close();
    Shell.Close();

    CurrentUser = Registry.CurrentUser.CreateSubKey(@"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\" + Extension);
    CurrentUser = CurrentUser.OpenSubKey("UserChoice", RegistryKeyPermissionCheck.ReadWriteSubTree, System.Security.AccessControl.RegistryRights.FullControl);
    CurrentUser.SetValue("Progid", KeyName, RegistryValueKind.String);
    CurrentUser.Close();
}

To use this method, you call it with the appropriate parameters:

SetAssociation(".ucs", "UCS_Editor_File", Application.ExecutablePath, "UCS File"); 

NOTE: The code snippet using "CurrentUser" seems to work if you do the same thing using regedit, but not with your application. This is because your application may not have the necessary permissions to modify the registry. You can try running the application as administrator to see if that resolves the issue.

Example usage:

Here is a complete example of how to use the SetAssociation method:

public class FileAssociation
{
    public string Extension { get; set; }
    public string ProgId { get; set; }
    public string FileTypeDescription { get; set; }
    public string ExecutableFilePath { get; set; }
}

public class FileAssociations
{
    // 更新注册表后，需要刷新资源管理器窗口
    [System.Runtime.InteropServices.DllImport("Shell32.dll")]
    private static extern int SHChangeNotify(int eventId, int flags, IntPtr item1, IntPtr item2);

    private const int SHCNE_ASSOCCHANGED = 0x8000000;
    private const int SHCNF_FLUSH = 0x1000;

    public static void EnsureAssociationsSet()
    {
        var filePath = Process.GetCurrentProcess().MainModule.FileName;
        EnsureAssociationsSet(
            new FileAssociation
            {
                Extension = ".ucs",
                ProgId = "UCS_Editor_File",
                FileTypeDescription = "UCS File",
                ExecutableFilePath = filePath
            });
    }

    public static void EnsureAssociationsSet(params FileAssociation[] associations)
    {
        bool madeChanges = false;
        foreach (var association in associations)
        {
            madeChanges |= SetAssociation(
                association.Extension,
                association.ProgId,
                association.FileTypeDescription,
                association.ExecutableFilePath);
        }

        if (madeChanges)
        {
            SHChangeNotify(SHCNE_ASSOCCHANGED, SHCNF_FLUSH, IntPtr.Zero, IntPtr.Zero);
        }
    }

    public static bool SetAssociation(string extension, string progId, string fileTypeDescription, string applicationFilePath)
    {
        bool madeChanges = false;
        madeChanges |= SetKeyDefaultValue(@"Software\Classes\" + extension, progId);
        madeChanges |= SetKeyDefaultValue(@"Software\Classes\" + progId, fileTypeDescription);
        madeChanges |= SetKeyDefaultValue($@"Software\Classes\{progId}\shell\open\command", "\"" + applicationFilePath + "\" \"%1\"");
        return madeChanges;
    }

    private static bool SetKeyDefaultValue(string keyPath, string value)
    {
        using (var key = Registry.CurrentUser.CreateSubKey(keyPath))
        {
            if (key.GetValue(null) as string != value)
            {
                key.SetValue(null, value);
                return true;
            }
        }

        return false;
    }
}

You can then call FileAssociations.EnsureAssociationsSet() to associate the specified file extension with the specified application.

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