PEM: Portable Extension Manager

PEM is my second major program to write. PEM stands for Portable Extension manager. It's purpose is to be able to handle file associations without writing any data to the system's registry, making it possible to defaultly open files with programs on a flash drive.

What does that mean? In case you don't understand, here's my explanation. When you install a program, you install a registry key that tells the computer what filetypes are defaulty opened with that program. For example, let's just say DOC files and Microsoft Word. The computer knows to open DOC files with Word because of a registry file telling it so. But when you run a program off your flash drive, there is no registry drive, so you have to go into the program, click "Open", navigate to the file, then click it. It doesn't sound bad, but it can be very, very tedious after a while.

So PEM acts as the middle man that handles what programs should open what files. The best part is that it does it with only one registry file.

Here's some of PEM's features:

-Optional registry key: Although it's optional, it makes PEM alot easier to use. Yes, PEM's purpose is to avoid registry writing, but I made it very easy to create and delete the key with the click of a button. With the key installed, a context option appears when you right click any file, making it much, much easier to open files with PEM. (Checkout the screencap below.)

-Relative drives: Because it is meant to be portable, you can type in a relative path, and PEM can auto-adjust the drive leetter, so your programs will work on any computer.

-Call when ready: One nice thing about PEM is that it doesn't have to be constantly running. You just call it when you need it.

-Sits in tray: Even though you don't need it running all the time, sometimes PEM can be useful to have available (especially if you want to make sure to remove the registry key when you're done.) So PEM can sit silently in your tray.

-Multiple File Support: New in version 0.93, PEM can handle multiple files. It's still very buggy, and I haven't had a change to test it myself, but if all goes well, it will be able to handle any number of files, and they don't have to be the same filetype!

-Tiny: Only 200kb, can go pretty much anywhere.

-Portable: Again, other than an easily-removable registry key, it's completely portable. All that's required is an INI file and the program.

-Open Source: Written in Autohotkey, I'll always supply the source.

-PEM Dropper: An edited version of Dropper made just for PEM, PEM Dropper is an alternative to the context menu. If you want to open a file with PEM, just run PEMDropper, and drop whatever files you want onto it, and it will toss those files on over to PEM. Be wary, it is very beta-ish, so if something doesn't work right, toss it, and use PEM without it.

That's about it. It's a very simple program. I use it myself daily, and I hope someone else can find use for it too.

Also, I'd like to quickly clear up some things:

-PEM DOES NOT STAND FOR "PURE ENIGMATIC MAGIC": It was just a communication error.

-PEM DOES NOT HAVE TO BE RUNNING IN THE TRAY TO WORK: It doesn't.

-I SUCK AT CODING: I'm an 18 year old college freshman, and I don't have alot of experience for coding. There's what I like to call "Msgbox Syndrome", because I use Message Boxes to test my programs, and I very often leave them in on accident. Please don't think any less of PEM. It may show that I am a poor coder, but PEM can still be of use to you. Please e-mail be with amy Msgbox Syndrome incidents (which is not confined to message boxes, by the way, anything that seems out of place or could have been from testing), not only for you, but for me and for others.

UPDATE 7-17-09: Fixed bug where backslash was missing between folder and program. Thanks, Willi! :)

UPDATE 7-19-09: Removed Msgbox Syndrome from Willi's error. =\ Also added the ability to resize the window. :)

Visit FreewareWire Software Downloads page for PEM v0.925/v0.93

PS - If anyone wants to make me a PEM icon that doesn't, ya know, suck, I'd be eternally grateful. It just needs to be simple. I'd mention your name in this post, the readme, and the "About" part of PEM. E-Mail me, Freewarewire@gmail.com