Unable to open TextPad program in new window

[Bu1uHNpCkbBnyvO]

Hi,
TextPad user since 2009 & I'm currently on v9.2.3 (64-bit) running on Microsoft Windows 10 Home.
I'm unable to open TextPad program in new window when I have a file already open.
It opens up the new file in a tab instead of what I would like which is an entirely new window.
Tried modifying TextPad settings/configuration as well as Windows Registry via Regedit.

Can someone help me out please?
Thank you in advance!

Screenshot

TextPad_Screenshot_16_Jul_2023.png (54.83 KiB) Viewed 3386 times

Current License v9.2.3

TextPad_License_16_Jul_2023.png (149.42 KiB) Viewed 3386 times

Keywords: TextPad Command Line Parameters, New Window, EOmqhN9zmsekL2F

[AmigoJack]

TextPad settings/configuration

Ticked the Preferences > General > Allow multiple instances to run checkbox?

Windows Registry via Regedit

Of course via regedit.exe - what else? But which values at which keys in particular? As per help (Reference Information > Command Line Parameters) the parameter -m should start a new instance, redardless of settings. You could edit the Registry by searching for TextPad.exe as part of a value and then add the parameter to that execution line. For example, you could find:

Code: Select all

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
   Textpad.txt
      shell
         open
            command
            - (Default)  REG_SZ  "C:\Program Files\TextPad 8\TextPad.exe" "%1"

...and then edit that value to include the parameter, such as:

Code: Select all

"C:\Program Files\TextPad 8\TextPad.exe" -m "%1"

[Bu1uHNpCkbBnyvO]

@AmigoJack thank you for the quick reply. I did try that but no luck. Never had this issues when using TextPad the past 14 years.

Any other suggestions please?

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[AmigoJack]

You cannot edit the Registry in places without knowing if it is then executed by how you "open" a file or not. If you had "no luck" then you haven't double clicked a "json_auto_file" yet. Have a read on Windows > Desktop Technologies > Desktop Environment > Windows Shell > Registering a File Type and find out which filename extension belongs to json_auto_file to actually test it by double clicking at least 2 files of it, which should spawn 2 instances/processes of TextPad.

[Bu1uHNpCkbBnyvO]

Don't get too caught up in the "json_auto_file" please. I merely used that as an example. My text files (*.txt) are what I've been opening up in multiple windows over the past ~15 years of using TextPad in all previous releases.

My issue only happened when I upgraded to TextPad v9.2.3 recently. Yes, when I have double clicked on various extensions associated with TextPad in the past, it always spawned 2+ instances/processes of TextPad. It was working fine before.

[bbadmin]

Please see https://forums.textpad.com/viewtopic.php?p=45504#p45504 below, for an update to this message.

By default, File Explorer is configured to open files in TextPad by sending it DDE messages. If an instance is not running, it starts one, then sends it messages to open the file. If one or more instances are already running, it sends the messages to the first one it finds.

The attached zip file contains two files which modify the registry to change this behaviour:

• textpad-openmulti.reg - makes Explorer open files by starting a new instance of TextPad with the filename as a parameter.
• textpad-opendde.reg - reverts to the default behaviour using DDE messages.

These are plain text files, so you can view them in TextPad to confirm that they are safe. Double click them in File Explorer to run them.

Note that when the first option is chosen and "Allow multiple instances to run" is not set and TextPad is already running, the new instance will pass the file name to the existing instance and terminate.

[Bu1uHNpCkbBnyvO]

@bbadmin thank you so much - that fixed the problem

In your textpad-regfiles.zip file, I ran textpad-openmulti.reg which updated the Windows Registry fixing my issue:

Code: Select all

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\TextPad.exe\shell\open\ddeexec]

[bbadmin]

Thanks for confirming.

Please note that TextPad's installer creates those entries in the registry, so you'll have to run textpad-openmulti.reg again, after installing a new update.

[Bu1uHNpCkbBnyvO]

Good to know. Thanks again both Moderators AmigoJack & bbadmin

[Bu1uHNpCkbBnyvO]

Hi,
The issue was resolved on 6/22 and no problem from 6/22-8/6.
This morning 8/7 the issue cropped up again.
Tried "textpad-openmulti.reg" again but failed.
Could a recent Windows push cause this functionality to break?

[bbadmin]

TextPad's installer creates registry entries which are used by File Explorer to open files in a single instance of TextPad. This behaviour can be changed by extracting "textpad9-multi-inst.reg" from the attached zip file and double clicking it in File Explorer.

To revert to the default behaviour, do the same with "textpad9-single-inst.reg".

These files are for version 9. The zip also contains similar files for version 8.

Note that the default will be reset each time a new release of TextPad is installed.

[Bu1uHNpCkbBnyvO]

Thanks so much again @bbadmin. Running "textpad9-multi-inst.reg" resulted in the right behavior for the functionality I need. You're exactly right about the update as I recently upgraded to v9.3.0 (64-bit Edition)

[eskimo68]

Hmm, running the multiple reg for TP9 ended up with an endless loop of Just Once as the only option of two textpads.
Selecting open with and then textpad (not sure how) I actually got two instances.

image_2023-08-10_233709365.png (218.18 KiB) Viewed 3090 times

But doubleclicking gives an endless loop, Always open as almost works...

Almost midnight, will look at the registry during the weekend and try to clean away whatever garbage I managed to duplicate with the reg file. Hopefully things will then work...

(and there is setupv9 above the picture in case someone wonders, really seems I've been upgrading every second version for 10+ years lol)