Saving flight plan to file problem

[Mike D]

How do I change what app is used to save a flight plan?

Windows desktop version 14.0.57

I wanted to email my flight plan to a friend so I selected More Options =>Share/Export Flight Plan =>Save to file. A dialogue box then appears asking what application you want to use to save this file. This is where the problem starts. I incorrectly selected iFlyEFB which then saves the file in a new version of IFlyEFB. I want to save the file outside of iFly.

Okay I get it, I should have selected something like Notepad. The problem is that I could find no way to change what app is used to save the flight plan. When you go back to Save to file it doesn't ask you what app you want to use to save it. It just launches another version of iFly.

I couldn't find anything in iFly and I couldn't find any reference to iFly in the Systems - Apps area. I tried deleting iFly and reinstalling, no joy.

So, how do I change what app is used to save a flight plan in Windows 11?

Tks!

 

[Gatormyk]

It just launches another version of iFly.

Not really sure by what you mean when "It just launches another version of iFly." Can you explain?

 

[Mike D]

It's a bit bazar. I believe the intent of the process is to export your flight plan and open the app you specified with the content of the flight plan. Since I specified iFly as the app to use, it opens a new version of iFly

See screenshot below with two versions of iFly running. I want to break this cycle by configuring iFly to save my Flight Plan using Notepad. How do I do that?

 

[Gatormyk]

It's a bit bazar. I believe the intent of the process is to export your flight plan and open the app you specified with the content of the flight plan. Since I specified iFly as the app to use, it opens a new version of iFly

See screenshot below with two versions of iFly running. I want to break this cycle by configuring iFly to save my Flight Plan using Notepad. How do I do that?

View attachment 1748

I understand now. It's not two "versions", it's two "instances" (of the same version) as the pop-up message states. The previous dialogue box asking you to identify a program wasn't asking which application to use to "save" the file, it asked which application you want to use to "open" the file. The dialogue box was Windows asking, not iFlyEFB. In that dialogue there was a checkbox which was checked by default and it stated "Always use this app to open .fpl files." With that box checked, whatever application you selected and then clicked on "OK", Windows created a "default file association". With a Windows default file association defining which app will open when you attempt to open a file, when a .fpl file is opened, Windows automatically tries to open the app associated with that file. It appears that iFly beta version 14.0.57 is configured to allow multiple instances of the application to be open but the conflict pop-up message comes up. This may be a bug or an error in programming because many other applications installed on my machine won't allow multiple instances of the same program to open by simply clicking on the application icon multiple times. iFly opened as many instances as number of times I clicked on the iFly icon in my Windows start menu.

I attemped to duplicate what you did and my experience was identical to yours. Although I'm on Windows 10, not 11. I Googled how to remove a default file association and was presented with two methods: an easy way via the Windows settings menu for apps, and a hard way via a registry edit. The easy way didn't work for me so I had to go the registry edit way, which was a ROYAL PITA!!!! I DO NOT RECOMMEND DOING IT THE REGISTRY EDIT WAY UNLESS YOU ARE AN ADVANCED WINDOWS USER. The registry method I found via Google also did not work for me so I went at it on my own and was able to remove the default file association for .fpl files. AGAIN... I DO NOT RECOMMEND DOING IT THE REGISTRY EDIT WAY UNLESS YOU ARE AN ADVANCED WINDOWS USER.

All this being said, the fact that trying to export/save a flight plan file in iFly initially spawned a Windows default file association dialogue box AND after the default file association was set, trying to export/save a flight plan file in iFly acted like it was "opening" a file is a bug or programming error IMHO. I would expect an action like that to spawn a Windows "save file" dialogue box. Since iFly version 14.0.57 is actually a BETA release (not a public release) and you are an "Official iFly Beta User" you probably should have posted your finding in the Beta forum in the 14.0.57 thread.

If you want to try to fix the default file association, try uninstalling iFlyEFB completely and then restart your computer and reinstall iFlyEFB. I'm not sure that will work as I did not attempt that... I did the hard thing.

My apologies for the book.

 

[Mike D]

Thanks for the analysis. I'm good for the time being. I used iFly on my iPhone to export and mail the flight plan.