filebrowser:ranger not working

[neelchakrabrty]

No terminal programs working , I want my file browser to be ranger , but it doesn't open ranger , I want my default fileoopener to me vim , but it doesn't work

[anuvc]

ranger and vim are terminal programs, so they won't open if they are not opened through a terminal.
By default, dmenu_extended uses xdg-open to open correct application with corresponding filetype. You can set your own defaults for xdg-open by using xdg-mime, but that setting would apply for all your GUI apps.

So for ranger you have two options here:

1. For system-wide setting:

• change the xdg-mime default by opening /usr/share/applications/ranger.desktop and editing the Exec entry to the following
  Exec=urxvt -e ranger

• Then set ranger as your default file browser using
  xdg-mime default ranger.desktop inode/directory

2. For dmenu_extended only

• In dmenuExtended_preferences.txt, change the filebrowser entry to the following
  "filebrowser": "urxvt -e ranger",

(change urxvt to your own terminal emulator)

For vim, you could do something similar to the first, however the second option won't work, as for files too, dmenu_extended uses xdg-open, but assuming there are different file types in your system, everything would be opened in vim, which I don't think is the way you want it to behave, maybe @MarkHedleyJones could shed some light on that.

[MarkHedleyJones]

@anubhabckbty Nice response!
@stallonen Yes, for vim to open your text-files you could think about setting gVim as your default text editor. For a no-gui setup I would look into what @anubhabckbty suggested as the system-wide solution but with vim.

I'm not sure what your system is but on Ubuntu I have a .desktop file for vim:

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Vim
GenericName=Text Editor
GenericName[de]=Texteditor
Comment=Edit text files
Comment[af]=Redigeer tekslêers
Comment[am]=የጽሑፍ ፋይሎች ያስተካክሉ
Comment[ar]=ﺡﺭّﺭ ﻢﻠﻓﺎﺗ ﻦﺼﻳﺓ
Comment[az]=Mətn fayllarını redaktə edin
Comment[be]=Рэдагаваньне тэкставых файлаў
Comment[bg]=Редактиране на текстови файлове
Comment[bn]=টেক্স্ট ফাইল এডিট করুন
Comment[bs]=Izmijeni tekstualne datoteke
Comment[ca]=Edita fitxers de text
Comment[cs]=Úprava textových souborů
Comment[cy]=Golygu ffeiliau testun
Comment[da]=Redigér tekstfiler
Comment[de]=Textdateien bearbeiten
Comment[el]=Επεξεργασία αρχείων κειμένου
Comment[en_CA]=Edit text files
Comment[en_GB]=Edit text files
Comment[es]=Edita archivos de texto
Comment[et]=Redigeeri tekstifaile
Comment[eu]=Editatu testu-fitxategiak
Comment[fa]=ﻭیﺭﺍیﺵ پﺭﻮﻧﺪﻫ<200c>ﻫﺍی ﻢﺘﻧی
Comment[fi]=Muokkaa tekstitiedostoja
Comment[fr]=Édite des fichiers texte
Comment[ga]=Eagar comhad Téacs
Comment[gu]=લખાણ ફાઇલોમાં ફેરફાર કરો
Comment[he]=ערוך קבצי טקסט
Comment[hi]=पाठ फ़ाइलें संपादित करें
Comment[hr]=Uređivanje tekstualne datoteke
Comment[hu]=Szövegfájlok szerkesztése
Comment[id]=Edit file teks
Comment[it]=Modifica file di testo
Comment[ja]=テキストファイルを編集します
Comment[kn]=ಪಠ್ಯ ಕಡತಗಳನ್ನು ಸಂಪಾದಿಸು
Comment[ko]=텍스트 파일을 편집합니다
Comment[lt]=Redaguoti tekstines bylas
Comment[lv]=Rediģēt teksta failus
Comment[mk]=Уреди текстуални фајлови
Comment[ml]=വാചക രചനകള് തിരുത്തുക
Comment[mn]=Текст файл боловсруулах
Comment[mr]=गद्य फाइल संपादित करा
Comment[ms]=Edit fail teks
Comment[nb]=Rediger tekstfiler
Comment[ne]=पाठ फाइललाई संशोधन गर्नुहोस्
Comment[nl]=Tekstbestanden bewerken
Comment[nn]=Rediger tekstfiler
Comment[no]=Rediger tekstfiler
Comment[or]=ପାଠ୍ଯ ଫାଇଲଗୁଡ଼ିକୁ ସମ୍ପାଦନ କରନ୍ତୁ
Comment[pa]=ਪਾਠ ਫਾਇਲਾਂ ਸੰਪਾਦਨ
Comment[pl]=Edytor plików tekstowych
Comment[pt]=Editar ficheiros de texto
Comment[pt_BR]=Edite arquivos de texto
Comment[ro]=Editare fişiere text
Comment[ru]=Редактор текстовых файлов
Comment[sk]=Úprava textových súborov
Comment[sl]=Urejanje datotek z besedili
Comment[sq]=Përpuno files teksti
Comment[sr]=Измени текстуалне датотеке
Comment[sr@Latn]=Izmeni tekstualne datoteke
Comment[sv]=Redigera textfiler
Comment[ta]=உரை கோப்புகளை தொகுக்கவும்
Comment[th]=แก้ไขแฟ้มข้อความ
Comment[tk]=Metin faýllary editle
Comment[tr]=Metin dosyalarını düzenle
Comment[uk]=Редактор текстових файлів
Comment[vi]=Soạn thảo tập tin văn bản
Comment[wa]=Asspougnî des fitchîs tecses
Comment[zh_CN]=编辑文本文件
Comment[zh_TW]=編輯文字檔
TryExec=vim
Exec=vim %F
Terminal=true
Type=Application
Icon=gvim
Categories=Utility;TextEditor;
StartupNotify=false
MimeType=text/english;text/plain;text/x-makefile;text/x-c++hdr;text/x-c++src;text/x-chdr;text/x-csrc;text/x-java;text/x-moc;text/x-pascal;text/x-tcl;text/x-tex;application/x-shellscript;text/x-c;text/x-c++;

So for me it's as simple as right-cliking on a text file, -> Properties -> Open With, and setting the Default Application to Vim.
After that, any text file I open using dmenu-extended (or by any means for that matter) is opened using the terminal version of vim.

Hopefully that helps you.

[jsilve24]

For those who want to make ranger the default I think there is a small issue with @anubhabckbty answer.

Personally I found you needed to pass the -x flag instead of the -e flag. so the option should look like:

"filebrowser": "urxvt -x ranger",

where urxvt is your terminal emulator