I have been using VLC since the mid-1990’s on a variety of OS’s. I have it installed on haiku now. How do i make it the default application to use for vids/audio? If that isn’t possible, then to have it sit in the “Open with” menu?
thanks
note: i did a brief search for info but couldn’t find anything.
You can set this in the Filetypes preferences application.
https://www.haiku-os.org/docs/userguide/en/preferences/filetypes.html
https://www.haiku-os.org/docs/userguide/en/filetypes.html
If it does not appear here then VLC does not properly expose that it supports a filetype and would need to be fixed.
regards
thanks for that.
it looks like i could have improved my search.
I think that part of the haiku is still being developed, as it isn’t working. the gui is there, but the connections to what is underneath doesn’t seem to exist.
That’s all ok, i know development has a way to go yet.
I’m not sure what you mean here. I’ve definitely changed my preferred applications in FileTypes (not for media applications, but for source code and other such files, but it’s the same logic internally) and it worked just fine. If it doesn’t for you (i.e. you changed preferred applications in FileTypes but it still opens with the old one), that’s a bug…
Yes, it should work. Please specify more directly what you are trying to do, how, and what happens instead : )
thanks for your quick reply. firstly, i am a bit thick, so i may be missing the obvious.
I would like to be able to double click on a video file & have it open up in my preffered player. that’s the goal.
I can start a vid with vlc “extras 2.mkv” in the terminal. i can’t input vlc into the rmb menu “Open” or “Choose an application” box in anyway that works.
What is the filetype of your file? you can test this with listattr and catattr.
OK, sorry. i was using pcmanfm as my front end. i just did it via the default window & it does work. my mistake. so there is no problem here. oops
I had set the appropriate videos to use vlc in the filetypes panel. & it functions in the native OS. not in an outsider like pcmanfm.
Well, then pcmanfm should be patched to use the right mechanism to open the files, so that system preferences are respected. Sounds like it could use a ticket over at HaikuPorts.
do you want me to put a ticket in?
It’s even easier done with the “Open with…” window:
https://www.haiku-os.org/docs/userguide/en/tracker.html#working-with-files
I was trying to use that, but it was empy & associated panels wouldn’t work too. Eventually i discovered it was due to my trying to use those features in pcmanfm. they all work fine (thus far) when using the native software (inside windows).
Right. Never heard of pcmanfm… Go native! 
I’m addicted to using the Worker filemanager as my frontend. been doing that on linux since early 2008. so pcmanfm was imho a vastly inferior substitute that is available in the repos here.
Hopefully it won’t be too far off & Worker will work on haiku the way it should.
Here is the Worker wiki page i wrote for Manjaro linux a very long time ago:
I get that people use what they know, and have been using for decades. But don’t you give up some useful features like BFS attributes, and the whole integration of queries, drill-down navigation, type-ahead filtering, Tracker add-ons… ?
I have fairly simple needs, so i use the twin directory/file listers to access the data that i want. then use the buttons that i’ve configured to do what i want with the files. so that with a very simple openbox window manager menu, that gets use for very little, is all that i need.
i have been growing my knowledge & my configuration file for worker for years. that’s not to say that i’m anywhere near being an expert, cause i’m not. but i can do with it what i wan to do… 
Until pcmanfm is better integrated to use system facilities, you may be able to implement a clumsy workaround by adding a desktop file for a custom context menu item with an Exec=open %f entry. The directory for it is probably ~/config/non-packaged/data/file-manager/actions.