add a custom file association for a new mime type

[richpri]

I am running UBUNTU 11.10 and Gnome 3 [not UNITY].

I am attempting to add a custom file association for a application called Rails. This application has nothing to do with "Ruby on rails".

Here are the steps I followed:

1. Placed this Overrides.xml file on /usr/share/mime/packages


<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
<mime-info xmlns="http://www.freedesktop.org/standards/shared-mime-info">
<mime-type type="application/rails">
<glob pattern="*.rails"/>
</mime-type>
</mime-info>

2. Executed update-mime-database /usr/share/mime

3. Placed this desktop file in /usr/share/applications/rails.desktop


[Desktop Entry]
Exec=/home/rich/Rails/rails.sh %U
Version=1.1
Name=Rails for 18xx
GenericName=Rails
X-GNOME-FullName=Rails for 18xx
Comment=This is the 18xx game software
Path=/home/rich/rails
Icon=/home/rich/rails/logo.png
StartupNotify=true
Terminal=false
Type=Application

4. Added this line to /usr/share/applications/defaults.list


application/rails=rails.desktop

5. Logged out and back in.

But when I select a .rails file nothing happens!
What am I doing wrong?

By the way the directory for /home/rich/Rails is


-rw-rw-r-- 1 rich rich 366721 2012-06-13 21:39 18xx.log
-rw-r--r-- 1 rich rich 745 2012-05-30 06:14 AUTHORS
drwxr-xr-x 9 rich rich 4096 2012-05-30 06:14 lib
-rw-r--r-- 1 rich rich 18009 2012-05-30 06:14 LICENSE
-rw-r--r-- 1 rich rich 3467059 2012-05-30 06:14 rails-1.7.5.jar
-rwxr-xr-x 1 rich rich 43 2012-05-30 06:14 rails.sh
-rw-r--r-- 1 rich rich 738 2012-05-30 06:14 README
-rw-r--r-- 1 rich rich 611 2012-05-30 06:14 readme.txt

and /home/rich/Rails/rails.sh contains


#!/bin/bash
java -jar ./rails-1.7.5.jar $1

[mc4man]

I would do a bit differently & not bother with /usr/share/applications/defaults.list
Shown here, talks about doing locally or system wide
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=11924283#post11924283

Quickly did here based on what you did though used a script in ~/bin for something else (irrelevant to process, just needed something

Basically this
created a ~/Documents/rails.xml using your .xml
Then -

sudo xdg-mime install --novendor ~/Documents/rails.xml

sudo update-mime-database /usr/share/mime


sudo gedit /usr/share/applications/rails.desktop
used your .desktop as is just altering paths & icon to me, but added this to bottom

MimeType=application/rails

Then ended with

sudo xdg-desktop-menu install --novendor /usr/share/applications/rails.desktop

screen shows found association, I'm sure you'll get the idea

[richpri]

Thanks for your reply.

I followed your steps exactly and the problem persists.

Right clicking on a rails file does get a menu with
"open with rails for 18xx" at the top but when I click
on that option nothing happens.

Double clicking on the file also produces a null result.

Is there any log or trace of the mime code that could
throw any more light on this situation?

[mc4man]

It works ok here to the extent I can try. (open a script on the dummy .rails file

A few things -
I usually do locally by putting the .desktop in ~/.local/share/applications but works ok here in /usr/share/applications

the "sudo xdg-desktop-menu install --novendor /usr/share/applications/rails.desktop" command is not needed locally & probably not if putting the .desktop in /usr/...
Once you use it then if you edit the .desktop you have to re-run the command to realize the edit

So - the most likely cause of nothing happening is either your Exec= line isn't correct in this instance - opening the file from context menu or more likely the script itself in this instance.
What I might do is uninstall so you could edit the .desktop freely if need be - (any edits should then take immediate effect

sudo xdg-desktop-menu uninstall /usr/share/applications/rails.desktop

Then try adjusting your script or editing your Exec= line to get it to work-
(maybe try quoting the $1

[richpri]

Thanks for your help but I am giving up on this.
I think that I will wait to see if the ability
to add a custom file association for a new mime
type will be restored to gnome 2 like it was in
the old gnome. I sure hope so.