File Association and Download Folder

In the past I’ve been using the MAS to sell my apps but this year decided to sell them through my website. Part of which was to have to come up with my own licensing scheme which involved sending the customer a license file. I had set the file association through the File Type and tested it to see that it is working.

For a weird case for just one customer when he downloaded the license file and double click it while it is in the download folder, he claims his MacOS shows that there is no associated application.

However when he drags the license file to the Desktop and double click on it, the file association is recognized and invoke the OpenDocument of the app.

Even when he did invoke the OpenDialog routine with the FileType set to the license file format, the file is greyed out while it is in the download folder and not when it is in some other folder. He used Safari for the download

In general, is there a reason why the file association is not recognized in one folder but it is when it is out in another ?

I don’t have a problem here nor had any complains from the other customers.

I sell my apps both through my web site, and through the MAS. Usually, the MAS represents a much bigger share of my sales.

However, it has been several week where CheckWriter sold much better though the web site.

All this to say, I rather have two outlets than a single one.

[quote=423244:@Michel Bujardet]I sell my apps both through my web site, and through the MAS. Usually, the MAS represents a much bigger share of my sales.

However, it has been several week where CheckWriter sold much better though the web site.

All this to say, I rather have two outlets than a single one.[/quote]

Actually went back to the Mac in 2010ish when the Mac AppStore was announced, sales seems to have tampered down over the years and still survivable. But late last year when I tried releasing a new app, it was rejected as the review team wanted me to create a sort of mini-app store app and use in-app purchase to sell features. Didn’t like the idea although I understand where they coming from. It’s not always possible to merge unrelated apps together for that.

Of course, selling at two places would certainly give me more flexibility as I would not be controlled by the sudden changes in policy from the Apple team.

Suffered a setback through the Windows Store as they one day just discontinued all but one of my app cos it wasn’t meeting their sales quota. I find that although I offered a lower prices on the Windows Store, they rather buy direct from my website. So thought that selling off MAS makes sense too.

In any case, the question is not so much about selling in two places but about File Type Association. It feels kind of weird on that one customer’s mac, the file association for that file doesn’t seems to work when the file is in the downloads folder but work when it is in the desktop.

Initially I thought his download folder could be on a FAT formatted drive but tested it on my computer when I move the license file over to that FAT drive, double click on it and it did open the app. So feel kind of lost.

[quote=423235:@Edwin Lau]In the past I’ve been using the MAS to sell my apps but this year decided to sell them through my website. Part of which was to have to come up with my own licensing scheme which involved sending the customer a license file. I had set the file association through the File Type and tested it to see that it is working.

For a weird case for just one customer when he downloaded the license file and double click it while it is in the download folder, he claims his MacOS shows that there is no associated application.

However when he drags the license file to the Desktop and double click on it, the file association is recognized and invoke the OpenDocument of the app.

Even when he did invoke the OpenDialog routine with the FileType set to the license file format, the file is greyed out while it is in the download folder and not when it is in some other folder. He used Safari for the download

In general, is there a reason why the file association is not recognized in one folder but it is when it is out in another ?

I don’t have a problem here nor had any complains from the other customers.[/quote]

Have you had the user check and see if there is some quarantine info when it’s in the Downloads folder vs not? That’s the only thing that springs to mind here.

Thank you. I’ll keep that in mind.

I wait a while and see if I can ask him. The last few days his email replies came with a lot of explicit and “colorful” words.

There is definitely a problem with filters on MacOS when doing getOpenFolderItem
It’s not easily repeatable, but since this hit me literally two minutes ago…

(MyApp saved a file in Documents, went to open it again using File/Open using a filter that should have selected SQLITE3 files…
The document saved just a minute ago is no longer selectable… it’s grey)

I replaced my Open stuff with the equivalent from MBS and it works properly.
Or remove the filter from ‘getOpenFolderItem’ and just supply “”

[quote]
The last few days his email replies came with a lot of explicit and “colorful” words.[/quote]
Refund him and disable his installation.
You don’t need that kind of treatment.
Trust me, even if you get past this, if he is the kind of person who resorts to that now, he will continue to be a problem in the future.

[quote=423556:@Jeff Tullin]There is definitely a problem with filters on MacOS when doing getOpenFolderItem
It’s not easily repeatable, but since this hit me literally two minutes ago…

I replaced my Open stuff with the equivalent from MBS and it works properly.
Or remove the filter from ‘getOpenFolderItem’ and just supply “”

Refund him and disable his installation.
You don’t need that kind of treatment.
Trust me, even if you get past this, if he is the kind of person who resorts to that now, he will continue to be a problem in the future.[/quote]

Thanks Jeff. It’s actually a small issue since it’s just involved getting the license file imported when double clicking on the file in finder. After which it shouldn’t br an issue hopefully.

I’m actually using the mbs open dialog for the other method of getting the license file in. I’ve added a 3rd option to drag and drop the file in.

I’ll monitor if others faces the issue. If not just take it as a one off.