Context menu

Add a right-click "Open with…" entry in Explorer for files, directories, or directory backgrounds.

Applies to: MSI and MSIX.

contextMenu for MSI requires digitalSignature. Under the hood MPDEV deploys a tiny sparse MSIX that gives your Win32 app the identity Windows needs for context menu extensions, and that sparse package must be signed. See Digital Signature for signing setup.

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contextMenu – right-click integration

Properties

Property	Type	Required	Default	Description
fileType	enum	yes	–	One of * (any file), Directory, Directory\\Background. NEW in 2.2.0 – previously a free string.
executable	string	yes	–	Exe to invoke when the menu item is clicked.
name	string	yes	–	Display text in the right-click menu.
icon	string	no	–	Existing path on the target system (post-install). Use $.installDir\… to reference the installed exe. Supported: .ico, .exe, .dll.
arguments	string	no	"%1"	Arguments passed to the exe. Use %1 to receive the selected path.
condition	string	no	–	Regex evaluated against the selected file/folder path to decide visibility.

note

fileType values:

• * – any file.
• Directory – right-click on a folder.
• Directory\Background – right-click on the empty area inside a folder.

Examples

"Open with My Application" on any file

"contextMenu": [
  {
    "fileType":   "*",
    "executable": "$.installDir\\MyApp.exe",
    "name":       "Open with My Application",
    "icon":       "$.installDir\\MyApp.exe",
    "arguments":  "\"%1\""
  }
]

Right-click a folder to open it in My Application

{
  "fileType":   "Directory",
  "executable": "$.installDir\\MyApp.exe",
  "name":       "Open folder in My Application",
  "arguments":  "--folder \"%1\""
}

Right-click in the empty area of Explorer

{
  "fileType":   "Directory\\Background",
  "executable": "$.installDir\\MyApp.exe",
  "name":       "New My Company Note here",
  "arguments":  "--new \"%V\""
}

%V (capital V) is the Windows shell token for the current directory when invoked on a directory background.

Conditionally show only for .txt files

{
  "fileType":   "*",
  "executable": "$.installDir\\MyApp.exe",
  "name":       "Convert TXT to My Company Note",
  "arguments":  "--convert \"%1\"",
  "condition":  "(?i)\\.txt$"
}

The condition is a regex matched against the selected item's path.

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MSI vs MSIX behavior

Aspect	MSI	MSIX
contextMenu	Requires digitalSignature. Implemented as a sparse MSIX overlay that gives your Win32 app identity.	Declared in the MSIX manifest extensions. Always works.
condition regex	Honored at shell extension load time.	Honored.

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Validation rules

Validator	Catch
required	fileType, executable, name are mandatory.
valid path	executable and icon must be syntactically valid paths.
valid value	contextMenu.fileType must be one of *, Directory, Directory\\Background.
digital signature required - context menu	contextMenu for MSI requires a digitalSignature block.

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