I used to have a tsu3000 and i know u used to extract all the pictures from the ccf file and just have the pictures. Is there any program where u can extract all the images from a PCF file? to get a collection of images buttons etc

Winzip works, as do most other programs for reading .zip files.

The UI for opening a pcf as a zip varies by program. In some cases you may need to rename the pcf to be a zip in order to open it.

For Winzip, you can launch the Winzip program without a zip file, then use the Open button and navigate to the pcf file (selecting "all files" as the type to open, or it wouldn't see a .pcf).

Once the pcf is open in any zip file reader, the images are present as .bmp files and you can select all of them and either "extract" or drag/drop to put them where you want them.

Note, I am talking about using a zip reader directly on the pcf file itself. I am NOT talking about using a zip reader on a zip file that contains a pcf file (such as you might find in the RemoteCentral archives of pcf files). If you have a zip containing a pcf, use a zip reader to extract the pcf and use it again to extract bmp's from the pcf.

If you're expecting to open pcf files as zip files often, you can easily add an entry to the Windows registry so that whenever you right click on a pcf file one of the choices will be to open it as a zip.

Pray tell John, what is that registry entry? (Your fault, you raised the subject. :-))

You might find it easier to use a program designed for managing those registry entries rather than edit the registry entry yourself. A program that seems to be pretty good is "File type association editor" from
[Link: angelfire.com]

In that program you would:
1) click on the entry for .pcf (which exists if you previously installed any version of PENG).

2) Click on the Edit button to bring up the "Edit file association" dialog.

3) In the "command verb" box type the name of the command as you want it to appear in the right click menu.

4) Click the browse button next to the "Command line" box and find and select the .exe file you use for unzipping.

5) Type a blank followed by "%1" after the .exe name within the command line box.

6) Click Add, then Close

7) Click Save changes in the main dialog.

If you prefer more complete control, you can create a .reg file with contents such as those listed at the bottom of this post (of course changing all names and paths to fit the way things are installed on your system.

If you have already installed any association for .pcf files you should first do two exports from the registry to start from the associations you already have:

First find and export HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.pcf
Th e first keyname below that (which is ProntoEdit NG.ConfigurationFile on my machine) tells you what to export second. So in my case the second export was
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\applications\ProntoProEdit NG.exe

Then edit that second exported .reg file to add or change things. If you just want to add or change keys, you can then double click the edited .reg file to merge it back to the registry.

If you need to delete parts of the file association, I find it easiest to edit the .reg file to exactly what I want to end up with, then use the registry editor to delete that whole section, then double click the .reg file to put the new content in. Otherwise the merge of new content with old content may not give you what you expect.

If I want the same associations on a few different computers (as I usually do) I prepare a single .reg file merging both the exports decribed above and use that to install the associations elsewhere.

In the following .reg file example, the first line tells which version of the Registry Editor this .reg is supposed to be compatible with.
The second section gives both the internal and user visible names for the type of file indicated by .pcf
The third section gives the icon for that type of file.
The fourth section gives the default command (used for double click).
The fifth section gives the open command details.
The last section gives the winzip command details.
In any of the quoted strings, you'll notice that each " or \ is preceeded by an extra \
Those extras are part of the text format of a .reg file. They are removed by the registry editor as it merges the content into the registry, but they must be there in order for the .reg file to be read correctly.
Note also that named entities, such as the descriptive file type or the commands themselves have both an internal name and a visible name. The visible name is optional and will match the internal name if omitted. For commands, things can get confusing if the internal names have blanks or are out of alphabetic sequence. For that reason, I often make short simple internal names different from the visible names. So instead of doing winzip the way I did below, I might have done it as:
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ProntoProEdit.NG.ConfigurationFile\Shell\x1]
@="Open in Winzip"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ProntoProEdit.NG.ConfigurationFile\Shell\x1\Command]
@="C:\\Program Files\\WinZip\\WINZIP32.EXE \"%1\""
By doing that I've changed the internal name of this command from "winzip" to "x1" (which may make managing the rightclick menu sequence simpler) and I've changed the visible name from "winzip" to "Open in Winzip".

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.pcf]
@="ProntoProEdit.NG.ConfigurationFile"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ProntoProEdit.NG.ConfigurationFile]
@="ProntoProEdit NG Configuration File Document"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ProntoProEdit.NG.ConfigurationFile\DefaultIcon]
@="C:\\ir\\Philips\\ProntoProEdit NG\\ProntoProEdit NGLOC.dll,1"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ProntoProEdit.NG.ConfigurationFile\Shell]
@="open"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ProntoProEdit.NG.ConfigurationFile\Shell\open]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ProntoProEdit.NG.ConfigurationFile\Shell\open\Command]
@="C:\\IR\\Philips\\ProntoProEdit NG\\ProntoProEdit NG.exe %1"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ProntoProEdit.NG.ConfigurationFile\Shell\winzip]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ProntoProEdit.NG.ConfigurationFile\Shell\winzip\Command]
@="C:\\Program Files\\WinZip\\WINZIP32.EXE \"%1\""

u got it all wrong LOL ok heres what i am looking for say i have a PCF file from a pronto pro what program do u use that will extract all the buttons, images pictures etc into a folder so when i make a new remote program i can just find the buttons etc in that folder and put them in insteat of haveing to inder pronto edit open both remoter progras and copy and past

You can extract all the images from your PCF. The simplest way is to rename your configuratiuon from .pcf to .zip. On Windows XP, you will then be able to open it up and see a folder with all the images. If not Windows XP, use WinZip.

However, this is of limited use, as each button has two images - one for pressed and one for released state. You won't easily be able to tell what goes with what.

There are two ways to copy buttons:
- have both PCFs open, and simply copy and paste
- copy the buttons you want to the Gallery, then copy them from the Gallery to your PCF

I think I answered that question. The images are stored in the PCF as BMP files and I told you how to extract all those BMP files.


If so, you asked the wrong question.


I don't know a thing about bringing images into a new pcf file. I have no idea whether there is any method easier than copy/paste from the old pcf file.

Using Winzip or similar program, you can get all the BMP files into a folder. Maybe thumbnail view in the folder would make finding the ones you want practical. But how you "put them in" (to a new pcf from a folder), I have no clue.

jwblocal1,

You DON'T have to have the 2 programs open. Simply load your 3000 config into ProntoEditPro NG.

Also, you can't cut and paste images into ProntoEdit/Pro NG, you must use Button Properties to Insert/Remove images.

If you follow procedures in the FAQ to extract a PCF using Winzip/Winrar, you will have only image files, not PCF buttons as you suggest. However, should you want to keep a set of buttons for copy/paste, you have 2 options.

1. Use the Gallery

2. Create a separate PCF and Ctrl-Drag buttons into it. With the latest software, you can copy items between PCFs however, you will NOT be able to preserve Actions for Buttons unless they use a Special Action.

One need not go this far to alter file associations. There are some users out there who may not feel comfortable going to this extent i.e., altering the windows registry directly. There is the possiblity that one might get into serious trouble by editing the registry directly.

This is done by hand, so if you prefer to go the registry route, feel free, however, changing file associations (assuming you are using Windows 2000 or later) is as easy as opening up Windows Explorer, go to the tools menu at the top, and select "Folder Options." Then select the file types tab. Find "PCF" in the list and select it. You can then change the program association by selecting the "Change" button.

If you are a novice at editing the registry and are using Windows XP, I highly recommend that you ALWAYS create a System Restore Point using Start->Programs->Accessories->System Tools->System Restore.

Lyndel

By the way, changing the association for PCF files is probably a futile endeavor. At least whenever I tried, as soon as I opened PPENG again it merely changed all associated registries back to the original defaults... even recreating deleted keys.

If you really have a reason to open PCFs as a ZIP file all the time, then it would probably be much easier to right-click over PCFs, select OPEN WITH (possibly followed by CHOOSE PROGRAM), and then pick your archival program. After that, you can just right-click on the file, expand the OPEN WITH menu, then select your zip program.

Also, if you use WinRAR (I don't know about WinZip) as long as you do your directory navigation from within the program double-clicking on a PCF, NCF or ICF will open it as an archive regardless of your file associations.

Of course not. That's why the first suggestion I made was to use the free program:
[Link: angelfire.com]


I used to do it that way, and I had lots of trouble. I never found a practical way to get to the desired file type. Some are sorted by the extension (PCF), others by the visible descriptive names (that you would see in the type column in explorer), but many (usually the ones I wanted to adjust) were sorted by invisible names that you couldn't easily guess.
Changes made in that UI would interact badly with the associations made earlier or later by programs that automatically create associations.

Various freeware file association editor programs seem to do a better job than the one built into Windows. (I think those programs exist because others have experienced similar problems in using the built-in one).

I personally usually use hand edited .reg files, because I understand the process and I want detailed knowledge and control of the interactions between the associations programs have created and the associations I create myself. I sometimes use that freeware program I mentioned, with equally good results. I don't know whether there are cases in which you couldn't get equally good results from that program. In similar situations, I never figured out how to get acceptable results from the built-in one.


My comment about deleting keys was for keys I had added myself and for keys of programs I had deleted that hadn't been properly cleaned up.

I don't try to remove or change the associations set up by programs like PPENG that I will be using again.

For easy access to a pcf file with an unzip program, you want to merge in a new right click association, not change the old one. With hand edited .reg files that requires first looking at what was there before and fitting in with the way that was done. For that freeware program, it seems to merge in smoothly. For the built-in file association tool, sometimes adding a right click choice would break the associations a program previously installed and then rerunning that program would fix its associations and break the new ones.

At the time I was actually trying to get my CCF Picker program working with PCF files, but PENG made that trickier than I wanted to bother dealing with.