annoying error when opening xml files

I have this annoyance of getting an error message saying ""There was a problem sending the command to the program" whenever I open an XML file, no matter how I open it. Knowing the quality of Adobe installations, my suspicion is that this is an installation issue with Adobe's Dreamweaver CS4.

Ultimately, the XML file opens just fine, but I get the silly error message, plus the xml file then also opens in Notepad. I did a bit of research, and it turns out that xml file handling is quite complex, with a Microsoft Office handler getting involved first, which then passes the file on to other programs, depending on the contents of the file.

Does anybody know a solution for this? As far as I can tell, the relevant registry entries for the associated file classes look reasonable.

 

xml is just text. no clue what handlers you got on your system that do like it's more. but by default, xml should just open in notepad or your other text editor of choice (visual studio in my case). it should never "depend on content", for that, other file extensions should be used. xml is for raw data.

then again, you mentoyed adobe. they're .. lets say strange. so yeah, i automatically blame them when ever something's wrong on a system, too

 

O.k., I fixed it. Here's the story: The problem was indeed caused by the Adobe CS4 install, which had created a corrupt ddeexec key.

Other than that, yes, .xml is "just" text, just like .html is "just" text, but it can do a lot more than arbitrary text files. For that reason, Microsoft Office installs a special default handler for the xmlfile file type (MSOXMLED.EXE). This thing scans the xml file for special headers that indicate certain kinds of content that can be handled by, say, Word, or Excel, or Access. If it finds those headers, it passes the file to those applications, and only if those headers are not there does the file get passed to the actual default program as configured (which was Dreamweaver for me, which is nuts in any case, for my purposes anyway, so I changed that too while I was at it...).

 

no, html is more than text. it's text and a defined rule-set. xml has no such rule set. it has no keywords and nothing. that's a big difference. it's a bit like a zip-file for text-information. it in itself has no structure, no information, nothing.

that's why you don't open a zip in word. that's why it's docx (it's just a zip with xml files in )

but yeah, there are cases of abuse of it. there should not be any need to parse the file to know how to open it. sadly, both adobe and as it looks (never noticed this) office doesn't follow that rule.