Notepad3: Add feature: Edit / Convert / File System Path to URL

[ThomasHeinrichSchmidt]

Notepad3 can detect links in text and offers to open or jump to the target (e.g. https://www.rizonesoft.com/downloads/notepad3/), very nice!
But - Windows UNC path names have to be (externally) converted to be usable within Notepad3.
A Windows path like C:\Thomas\Collection\Haushalt\Technik\Geräte\Kopfhörer\Hören.txt needs to be changed into
file:///C:/Thomas/Collection/Haushalt/Technik/Ger%e4te/Kopfh%f6rer/H%f6ren.txt.
You may use a service like Online UNC to URI Path Converter. While this works (more or less, see below), it is time consuming and maybe a privacy threat. You may also use PowerShell like this
([system.uri](Get-Item "$UNCPATH").FullName).AbsoluteUri to provide the conversion, maybe also time consuming.
Both methods yield a result URI like this
file:///C:/Thomas/Collection/Haushalt/Technik/Ger%C3%A4te/Kopfh%C3%B6rer/H%C3%B6ren.txt, which is not usable in Notepad3. You need to change the encoding from the two bytes UTF-8 representation to the one byte Unicode encoding. Maybe there is more to it when it comes to Asian or other multi-byte character sets, I didn't try.
Now my proposal:
Add a feature: Edit / Covert/ URI Encode that takes a Windows UNC path from selection and converts it into a clickable link, replacing the selected text.
This would make it quick and convenient to paste UNC paths from Windows explorer into Notepad3 and convert it into a clickable link.

[RaiKoHoff]

Hello @ThomasHeinrichSchmidt,
there is already a feature Menu->Edit->Convert->[URL Encode|URL Decode] implemented.
Unfortunately, the Hyperlink Ctrl+Click resp. Alt+Click does no decoding (yet).
I will take care for this ...

[ThomasHeinrichSchmidt]

Thanks for your answer Rainer,
yes I've noticed the two commands, but I was not able to use them to convert a Windows path string into a clickable link.
I can URL Encode a string like C:\Thomas\Collection\Haushalt\Technik\Geräte\Kopfhörer\Hören.txt into C%3A%5CThomas%5CCollection%5CHaushalt%5CTechnik%5CGer%C3%A4te%5CKopfh%C3%B6rer%5CH%C3%B6ren.txt but this is not the format Notepad3 actually needs: file:///C:/Thomas/Collection/Haushalt/Technik/Ger%e4te/Kopfh%f6rer/H%f6ren.txt.

Is your proposal to make Notepad3 detect and use a string like C:\Thomas\Collection\Haushalt\Technik\Geräte\Kopfhörer\Hören.txt as a working Hyperlink? If yes, this is even better than my proposal to add a new Edit / Convert / URI Encode.
I would not expect a user to be irritated if a path specification is now suddenly a clickable link. I would expect everyone to be happy about it.

[RaiKoHoff]

I am not going to add a file-system-path scanner beside the the Hyperlink-Scanner to highlight path and make them hotspot action aware - I think the file://... Hyperlink should be good enough.
The file://... Hyperlinks are URL decoded in upcoming beta/RC version, so makes

• file://d:/temp/Geräte/Kopfhörer/Hören.txt
• file://d%3A%5Ctemp%5CGer%C3%A4te%5CKopfh%C3%B6rer%5CH%C3%B6ren.txt

working fine with Notepad3 (Alt+Click open in Notepad3).
Open with the browser (Ctrl+Click) file://d:/temp/Geräte/Kopfhörer/Hören.txt is send (ShellExecuteEx()) as file:///d:/temp/Ger%e4te/Kopfh%f6rer/H%f6ren.txt which should be fine. Currently my security settings deny this action:

(Has someone an idea, to get this working 🤔)

Missing now is a converter (FS Path -> URL) which would turn
d:\temp\Geräte\Kopfhörer\Hören.txt -> file:///d:/temp/Geräte/Kopfhörer/Hören.txt ...
Since this is a new feature, it has to wait after RC/Release phase ...

[ThomasHeinrichSchmidt]

Yes Rainer, I understand, file://... Hyperlinks are indeed good enough.
So for now I would be working like this with Notepad3: I'll take the file-system-path d:\temp\Geräte\Kopfhörer\Hören.txt, reverse the slashes, and add a file:/// prefix like this: file:///d:/temp/Geräte/Kopfhörer/Hören.txt. With your new fix "URL-Decoding of file Hyperlinks" (see above) Notepad3 would execute this link as desired. Fine.
_BTW. I tried to provoke the Windows error message above, but had no luck. All files I tried (having correct file URLs) would open, even .LNK's worked like a charm._

A converter (FS Path -> URL) which would turn a file-system-path into a file-URL would be great!
I'm looking forward to it!

[hpwamr]

Hello @ThomasHeinrichSchmidt ,

Feel free to test the "BETA/RC PortableApps" version "Notepad3Portable_5.21.226.2_rc.paf" or newer, see below or issue #1129.

• Notepad3Portable_5.21.226.2_rc.paf.exe.7z -s

"Notepad3Portable BETA/RC PortableApps" version can be used with or without ".7z" extension.
To update your "Notepad3 Setup" version with the latest features/fixes from the "BETA/RC" version, see issue #1105.

Also, feel free to test the "BETA/RC Setup" version "Notepad3_5.21.226.2_rc_Setup" or newer, see below or issue #1129.

• Notepad3_5.21.226.2_rc_Setup.7z -s
• Notepad3_5.21.226.2_rc_x86_Setup.7z -s
• Notepad3_5.21.226.2_rc.7z -s (portable)

Comments and suggestions are welcome... 😃

[ThomasHeinrichSchmidt]

I can confirm Notepad3_5.21.226.2_rc now correctly URL-decodes and opens a Hyperlink like file:///d:/temp/Geräte/Kopfhörer/Hören.txt. Also a path like file:///d:/temp/Geräte/Kopfhörer/Fliegen%20·%20King®%20(1).txt works fine, please note the spaces (%20), the middle dot (U+00B7), and the reserved sign (U+00AE).
I noted that it's (sometimes?) necessary to have three slashes file:/// instead of two file://. It seems that two slashes are enough for opening a file with Notepad3 (e.g. .txt files) or other app (e.g. .docx files). But to choose an external application

(e.g. for .md files on my system) three slashes seemed necessary, otherwise a "file not found message" is displayed. Maybe it has something to do with spaces. I noted that two slashes are enough for file names without spaces. As soon as I used %20 in file names three slashes seemed to be necessary.

I'm still having problems to get file-system-path names like file:///d:/temp/Geräte/Kopfhörer/Fliegen 🛩 · King® (1).txt right. Please note the small airplane (U+1F6E9). I have no idea how to encode 'real' Unicode chars. This may be more relevant for oriental locales, I do not have many file names with 'real' Unicode characters.

[RaiKoHoff]

The current beta version (Notepad3Portable_5.21.228.1_beta.paf.exe.7z -s) ,
changes the ShellExecuteEx() lpVerb from "default (NULL)" to "open", which may change the "launch behavior" depending on system configuration.
If this causes problems, I am thinking to make it configurable 🤔.

The three slashes ("file:///") is correct URL specification (for German click here). Open the file with Notepad3 instance (Alt+Click), is fine, the missing "host" segment of the path is interpreted as "localhost".

This beta offers menu items (Menu->Edit->Convert->File System Path to URL and vice versa) which should help to get the right encoding. But these system api methods (UrlCreateFromPath()) are also limited regarding special Codepoints (Unicode chars).

[hpwamr]

Hello @ThomasHeinrichSchmidt ,

Feel free to test the "BETA/RC PortableApps" version "Notepad3Portable_5.21.301.1_beta.paf" or newer, see below or issue #1129.

• Notepad3Portable_5.21.301.1_beta.paf.exe.7z -s

"Notepad3Portable BETA/RC PortableApps" version can be used with or without ".7z" extension.
To update your "Notepad3 Setup" version with the latest features/fixes from the "BETA/RC" version, see issue #1105.

Also, feel free to test the "BETA/RC Setup" version "Notepad3_5.21.301.1_beta_Setup" or newer, see below or issue #1129.

• Notepad3_5.21.301.1_beta_Setup.7z -s
• Notepad3_5.21.301.1_beta_x86_Setup.7z -s
• Notepad3_5.21.301.1_beta.7z -s (portable)

Comments and suggestions are welcome... 😃

[ThomasHeinrichSchmidt]

I've tested Notepad3 (x64) v5.21.228.1 beta, here my findings:

• Menu item (Menu->Edit->Convert->File System Path to URL and vice versa) does only exist for the English language (not e.g. for German, so far).
• Convert->File System Path to URL does not handle quotes well. The path "d:\temp\Geräte\Kopf Hörer\Hören.txt" is converted to file:%22d:/temp/Ger%E4te/Kopf%20H%F6rer/H%F6ren.txt%22. The quotes (%22) should be trimmed and the required threes slashes added.
• A path like d:\temp\Geräte\Kopfhörer\Fliegen 🛩 · King® (1).txt is converted to file:///d:/temp/Ger%E4te/Kopfh%F6rer/Fliegen%20🛩%20%B7%20King%AE%20(1).txt which looks fine but is not fully detected as Hyperlink in Notepad3
  
  I do not know if and how Unicode chars like the small airplane can or should be part of file URLs.
• Convert->URL to File System Path does not create quotes if the path contains spaces.

Otherwise the conversion works just fine, I also tested Notepad3 (x64) v5.21.301.1 beta and found everything just the same as in version 228.

[RaiKoHoff]

• Menu items for other languages are scheduled for the build pipeline
• Trimming of quotes should be fixed (and "///" are added automatically in trimmed case)
• For conversion of file-system paths to URL, we completely rely on system conversion API (UrlCreateFromPath()).
  So we accept the results from conversion, even, if they don't match the "Hyperlink RegEx search pattern".
  Maybe a check if the converted string will match the pattern and revert if not (no conversion done) could be a good idea 🤔.
  (_Note: UrlCreateFromPath() does not support extended paths._
  _These are paths that include the extended-length path prefix "\\?\"_)
• Add quotes, if file-system path contains spaces 👌

[hpwamr]

Hello @ThomasHeinrichSchmidt ,

Feel free to test the "BETA/RC PortableApps" version "Notepad3Portable_5.21.302.1_beta.paf" or newer, see below or issue #1129.

• Notepad3Portable_5.21.302.1_beta.paf.exe.7z -s

"Notepad3Portable BETA/RC PortableApps" version can be used with or without ".7z" extension.
To update your "Notepad3 Setup" version with the latest features/fixes from the "BETA/RC" version, see issue #1105.

Also, feel free to test the "BETA/RC Setup" version "Notepad3_5.21.302.1_beta_Setup" or newer, see below or issue #1129.

• Notepad3_5.21.302.1_beta_Setup.7z -s
• Notepad3_5.21.302.1_beta_x86_Setup.7z -s
• Notepad3_5.21.302.1_beta.7z -s (portable)

Comments and suggestions are welcome... 😃

[ThomasHeinrichSchmidt]

Brilliant!

                      @@@,              
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                  #@@@@@                
                @@@@@@@@@@@@@@          
         @@@@ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@        
         @@@@*@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@        
         @@@@*@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@         
         @@@@*@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@         
         @@@@*@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@          

I've tested _Notepad3_5.21.302.1_beta.7z -s (portable)_, everything works, even Unicode file-system paths do work, they are converted correctly, Notepad3 shows them as Hyperlinks, and they actually function when clicked, e.g.

• d:\temp\Geräte\Kopfhörer\Fliegen 🛩 · King® (1).txt --> file:///d:/temp/Ger%E4te/Kopfh%F6rer/Fliegen%20🛩%20%B7%20King%AE%20(1).txt
• "d:\temp\Geräte\Keine Kunst\梁胜男.jpg" --> file:///d:/temp/Ger%E4te/Keine%20Kunst/梁胜男.jpg

Now this makes Notepad3 a really valuable tool for working with Hyperlinks to local files.

[hpwamr]

Hello @ThomasHeinrichSchmidt ,
As far as I'm concerned, I think you (requester) can close this issue...

[ThomasHeinrichSchmidt]

Yes, I'm already using Notepad3 (x64) v5.21.302.1 beta in production with no complaints.
Thanks again!