Opening application with file C# Winforms

Question

So I'm making a Notepad replica in my spare time just for fun, the core of the project is all done. However, I can't open my application from a file. For example, if you had a .txt file, you double click it and it would open the app (by default its Notepad).

I already know how to set the default application, but the code does not support opening the files yet, it can only open files from the menu inside the program.

How would I go about making it so that my application can be opened by files?

Does this answer your question? How do I pass command-line arguments to a WinForms application? — Mark Benningfield

Philippe Paré Philippe Paré · Accepted Answer · 2020-02-21T16:12:08

in you void Main(string[] args) method, the args will contain the path to the file that was opened with your application. You can also get them anywhere in the application by calling string[] Environment.GetCommandLineArgs(). Print the argument in a message box to see what arguments have been passed.

Here's some code you might want to use for that:

//In a form

public void MyButton_Clicked(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    string[] args = Environment.GetCommandLineArgs();
    MessageBox.Show(string.Join(Environment.NewLine, args));
}

Opening application with file C# Winforms

2 Answers