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File Associations

FreeXmlToolkit can register itself as the default application for the file types it edits — XML, XSD, XSLT, Schematron and JSON — so that double-clicking a file in your file manager opens it directly in the toolkit.

Registration is always per user and requires no administrator rights on any platform.

Registering from the app

  1. Open Settings (Activity Bar → gear icon).
  2. Find the FILE ASSOCIATIONS card.
  3. Tick the file types you want (XML, XSD Schema, XSLT Stylesheet, Schematron, JSON).
  4. Click Register.

To undo, select the types and click Unregister — FreeXmlToolkit restores the previously configured default application where it recorded one.

Note: The card is only active when you run the installed application. When the app is started from an IDE or a build directory there is no native launcher to register, and the card is disabled.

What happens per platform

Windows

Windows does not allow any application to make itself the default silently — the actual default choice is protected by the operating system. FreeXmlToolkit therefore:

  1. Registers itself (ProgIds and application capabilities) under HKCU\Software\Classes — visible in every "Open with" menu, no admin rights needed.
  2. Opens the Windows Settings → Default apps page pre-filtered to FreeXmlToolkit, where you confirm the file types with one click.

Unregister removes all registry entries FreeXmlToolkit created.

macOS

The default handler is set directly through Launch Services (the same mechanism as Finder's Get Info → Open with → Change All…) — silent and per user.

Unregister restores the previous default application where one was recorded. If no previous handler is known, use Finder's Change All… to pick another application — macOS offers no way to "clear" a default.

Linux

FreeXmlToolkit writes a desktop entry to ~/.local/share/applications/ and sets the defaults via xdg-mime default (stored in ~/.config/mimeapps.list). Since Schematron files have no MIME type in the shared MIME database, a small per-user MIME definition (application/x-schematron+xml for *.sch / *.schematron) is installed as well.

Unregister restores the recorded previous defaults, or removes FreeXmlToolkit's entries from mimeapps.list.

Installer registration

The native installers (MSI/EXE, DMG/PKG, DEB/RPM) additionally declare the file types at install time, so FreeXmlToolkit appears in "Open with" menus right after installation. This does not make it the default — use the Settings card for that.

Tips

  • Register also repairs: after moving or updating the installation, click Register again — it rewrites all entries with the current installation path.
  • Opening files from the command line works too: FreeXmlToolkit myfile.xml opens the file on startup (and in a running IDE session, ./gradlew run --args="myfile.xml").