MimeTypes.rdf

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Revision as of 12:08, 14 May 2006 by Mozcerize (talk | contribs) (minor tidy of intro)
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mimeTypes.rdf stores information about which action is to be performed when opening certain kinds of files: open in a specific program, open using a plugin, download, etc. In Firefox, this information can be viewed in Tools -> Options -> Downloads -> View & Edit Actions....

Editing

It's not advisable to edit this file manually because of its complexity and the fact that, in Firefox, the Options dialog provides an interface to edit it. Should you want to edit it manually anyway...

The file is an RDF document containing one RDF:Seq and many RDF:Descriptions (one for each MIME type). Each entry has an identifier - the attribute RDF:about. To delete an entry, delete both its RDF:li in the RDF:Seq and its RDF:Description. To change an entry, simply change the RDF:Description's attributes (do not change RDF:about). To add an entry, insert a new RDF:li into the RDF:Seq and create a new RDF:Description, making sure their identifiers match.

Attributes

  • General
    • RDF:about - identifier
    • NC:description - the name of the file type that will be displayed on the download prompt
  • Choosing what to handle
    • NC:fileExtension - file extensions to handle (note that content downloaded from the Internet will go by MIME type, not by file extension)
    • NC:value - MIME type to handle
  • Choose how to handle it (absence of the following options means "download to disk")
    • NC:path - path of the application to use to open this file
    • NC:useSystemDefault - true (use the system default for this MIME type) or false (define a different action)
  • Additional options
    • NC:alwaysAsk - true (always ask which action to perform) or false (don't ask which action to perform)
  • Unknown
    • NC:editable
    • NC:prettyName

Moving

This file can be moved to a different profile. If some MIME types specify a path for a program to use, this path must be correct on the destination profile's system.

Deleting

Deleting mimeTypes.rdf will clear the associations between MIME types and programs. A new file will be created on start up or when the application first needs to write to the file.

Related bugs

See also