Has anyone been able to set up file associations when packaging a compose app (specifically on Mac ....

# compose-desktop

[Casey Brooks]

Has anyone been able to set up file associations when packaging a compose app (specifically on Mac .dmg)? I don’t see anything in the documentation, so I tried adding the jpackage flags manually to the AbstractJPackageTask in my build.gradle.kts. but it still doesn’t seem to be working

[Nik]

Not sure if related, but I am trying to include some .sh scripts with my .dmg so that the application can invoke those files, unsure how to include them from the build.gradle.kts if you’ve had any success with something like that yet

[Casey Brooks]

I think that’s something different. You might be able to just bundle those files in the app resources, and at runtime copy them to a temporary file and exec it with ProcessBuilder

[Nik]

Gotcha, yeah I’m using https://github.com/lordcodes/turtle for the execution, definitely a matter of getting the files into the app resources somehow

[Casey Brooks]

I’m making an app that has a custom file format, and double-clicking that file should directly open the app and start editing that file (think like opening a MS Word file).

[Michael Paus]

Did you have a look here: https://docs.oracle.com/en/java/javase/16/jpackage/support-application-features.html#GUID-8668A806-8A80-435F-970F-7B2BF65863E4

[Casey Brooks]

Yeah, that’s the guide I’ve been following. I have this in the build.gradle.kts:

tasks.withType<AbstractJPackageTask>().all {
    freeArgs.add("--file-associations")
    freeArgs.add(project.file("tdlx.properties").absolutePath)
}

and this in that file

mime-type=application/vnd.sqlite3
extension=tdlx
description=Tidal Game Document

I’ve verified the build is finding the file and it looks like it’s being added to whatever Gradle is doing, as I see the args added to build/compose/tmp/packageDmg.args.txt. But after installing the DMG, it’s still not able to open the file with my app. But I’ve never made any other desktop apps so I really don’t know if this is something I’m doing wrong, or if there’s something with how Compose is running jpackage that’s the problem

[Michael Paus]

This is for JavaFX but it may be related: https://bugs.openjdk.java.net/browse/JDK-8241973 https://bugs.openjdk.java.net/browse/JDK-8239590

[Casey Brooks]

After some more digging into both the jpackage tool and the CfD Gradle plugin source, I’m fairly certain this is an issue with Compose and currently it is not possible to get the --file-associations flag working, at least on Mac (I haven’t investigated other targets)