273917 - Opening Attchments in Thunderbird 0.9 - Can not set or select an appropriate Application

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(Thunderbird :: General, defect)

Description

[Edward Bean]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X Mach-O; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20041107 Firefox/1.0
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X Mach-O; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20041107 Firefox/1.0

When attempting to open any attachment in Thunderbird 0.9 on Macintosh OSX
10.3.6 it is impossible to set/select any alternative application to the ONE
presented. I can not even find where the application presented is coming from
(it is not the system default app.) I can not find any way to add or modify any
helper application through the Thunderbird/Prefeneces/Attachments menu which
unlike Netscape/Mozilla does not allow you to enter new helper applications or
specify new default applications for file types not listed.

Reproducible: Always
Steps to Reproduce:
1.Hold the mouse button down on a PDF email attachment
2 [review].A window opens that asks "What should Thunderbird do with this file?"
3.Select the "Open with" radio button.
4.A single pre selected application appears in a selection list of only one
application (in my case Adobe 6.0 Reader (default))

Actual Results:  
It is not possible select a different application because no other appliation
appears in the list. It is not possible to add any new applications to the list.

I have tried to add new applications via Thunderbird/Prefeneces/Attachments but
the only options presented are to edit an existing option or remove one. Oddly
enough nothing appears for 'PDF' files so there is nothing I can modify (or add).

I have tried changing the default file type at the system level but Thuderbird
does not seem to care.

Expected Results:  
I expect to be able to control add and modify the helper applications for
opening attachments in Thuderbird. I should be able to tell Thunderbird to lauch
any attachment in the  application of my choice (even if it does not make sense
to Thundirbird). I can find no documentation on this nor can I find any way to
fix it.

Comment 1

[Doug Wright]

Does the problem still exist in Thunderbird 1.0?

Comment 2

[Doug Wright]

Over 1 month with no response from reporter -> WFM. Please reopen if bug still
present in a recent build.

Comment 3

[Edward Bean]

(In reply to comment #1)
> Does the problem still exist in Thunderbird 1.0?

Yes the problem still exists in both Firefox and Thuderbird 1.0 versions.

Comment 4

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

This is an automated message, with ID "auto-resolve01".

This bug has had no comments for a long time. Statistically, we have found that
bug reports that have not been confirmed by a second user after three months are
highly unlikely to be the source of a fix to the code.

While your input is very important to us, our resources are limited and so we
are asking for your help in focussing our efforts. If you can still reproduce
this problem in the latest version of the product (see below for how to obtain a
copy) or, for feature requests, if it's not present in the latest version and
you still believe we should implement it, please visit the URL of this bug
(given at the top of this mail) and add a comment to that effect, giving more
reproduction information if you have it.

If it is not a problem any longer, you need take no action. If this bug is not
changed in any way in the next two weeks, it will be automatically resolved.
Thank you for your help in this matter.

The latest beta releases can be obtained from:
Firefox:     http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firefox/
Thunderbird: http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/releases/1.5beta1.html
Seamonkey:   http://www.mozilla.org/projects/seamonkey/

Comment 5

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

This bug has been automatically resolved after a period of inactivity (see above
comment). If anyone thinks this is incorrect, they should feel free to reopen it.

Comment 6

[Edward Bean]

Please read this carefully!

This is a MAJOR PROBLEM for both firefox and thuderbird.

There should ALWAYS be the option for a user to pick ANY application they wish
to use to open a download/attachment (whether or not it is the system default or
previously picked application based preference).

For example somtimes I may wish to open a file PDF file with Adobe Acrobat and
sometimes I may wish to use the Adobe reader plugin. Users currently have a
closed choice of only one application in the selection list (usually the first
one picked)!

Comment 7

[Frank Wein [:mcsmurf]]

Err what now? Are you talking about plugins ("Adobe reader plugin") or
applications ("Adobe Acrobat")?

Comment 8

[Edward Bean]

The issue has nothing to do with Adobe (plugin was a bad choice of words).

The issue is... I do not have a choice to freely pick ANY application I have to
open a document with.

I may want to open a PDF document with the Apple Preview application one time
and Adobe Acrobat the next, and/or Adobe Reader the next or even a different
version of the software to see how they handle them differently.

The same goes for ANY type of file. I may want to open a text file with MS-Word
or I may want to open it with text editor A, B, or C. I need the ability to pick
ANY application directly and not be restricted to a finite list to which I can
not add any applications.

Comment 9

[jra]

As of Tbird 2.0.0, which I've just installed, there appears still to be no way to specify, through the UI, a new helper application for attached files, either by extension or MIMEtype.

I can change the helper apps for attachement types tbird knows about already, or remove a mapping, but I cannot add a mapping.

Attempting to open files not in the typelist in Firefox gives the expected "Open With/Save As (always for this type)" dialog, but the equivalent action in Thunderbird goes directly to a "Save As (only)" dialog.

Like Ed, I consider the ability to manage the Helper App list completely through the UI to be fundamental functionality -- both from the point of launch, and from the Tools->Options subdialogue, which should have an Add button to go with it's Edit and Remove buttons -- and (though I'm not equipped to code this myself), I heartily encourage whomever owns this code to add this.

Please mark as confirmed.

Comment 10

[Gary Kwong [:gkw] [:nth10sd] (NOT official MoCo now)]

(In reply to comment #9)
> Attempting to open files not in the typelist in Firefox gives the expected
> "Open With/Save As (always for this type)" dialog, but the equivalent action in
> Thunderbird goes directly to a "Save As (only)" dialog.

Opening an attachment in Thunderbird latest trunk nightly in Leopard gives me the "Open With/Save As" dialog, for an attachment of file type not in the TB typelist.

Reporters, please check if the issue still exists in Thunderbird 3 Beta 1 or the latest Shredder nightlies.

Comment 11

[Joshua Cranmer [:jcranmer]]

RESO INCO per lack of response to previous question. If you feel this change was made in error, please respond to this bug with your reasons why.