icon_data corruption in windows_open_with.json

[ownedbycats]

This is only a problem because I was tampering with the user data files (trying to rename the open with programs) - but documenting it in case similar issues come up.

Steps to replicate:

1. Add a new program to Calibre's Open With. I used Paint.NET but other programs cause the issue too. Adding an icon to an existing entry doesn't produce this issue.
2. Exit Calibre.
3. Open windows_open_with.json in Notepad++ (my usual text editor, Notepad2, just crashed). Make sure a garbled-looking icon_data entry is in the json. Immediately close the file without modifying or saving it.
4. Open Calibre again.
5. Right-click on the cover in the book info pane/window. It throws this error:

calibre, version 5.3.0
ERROR: Unhandled exception: <b>TypeError</b>:string argument without an encoding

calibre 5.3 [64bit] embedded-python: True is64bit: True
Windows-10-10.0.19041-SP0 Windows ('64bit', 'WindowsPE')
('Windows', '10', '10.0.19041')
Python 3.8.5
Windows: ('10', '10.0.19041', 'SP0', 'Multiprocessor Free')
Interface language: None
Successfully initialized third party plugins: Barnes & Noble (1, 2, 16) && Calibre Power Search Plugin (1, 6, 0) && Clean Comments (0, 1, 0) && Comments Cleaner (1, 2, 1) && Count Pages (1, 10, 0) && Drop Search Results (1, 0, 10) && Embed Comic Metadata (1, 5, 0) && EpubCheck (0, 2, 3) && EpubMerge (2, 11, 0) && Extract ISBN (1, 5, 0) && FanFicFare (3, 24, 1) && Fantastic Fiction (1, 4, 0) && Favourites Menu (1, 0, 5) && Find Duplicates (1, 8, 1) && Generate Cover (1, 5, 25) && Goodreads (1, 5, 1) && Import List (1, 5, 1) && Job Spy (1, 0, 186) && Kindle hi-res covers (0, 5, 0) && Kobo Books (1, 8, 0) && Kobo Utilities (2, 11, 8) && KoboTouchExtended (3, 4, 1) && Library Codes (1, 0, 47) && Manage Series (1, 2, 11) && Modify ePub (1, 6, 1) && MultiColumnSearch (1, 0, 84) && Open With (1, 5, 12) && Quality Check (1, 10, 1) && Reading List (1, 6, 17) && Save To Format (0, 0, 6) && SmartEject (2, 3, 0) && View Manager (1, 5, 7)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "calibre\gui2\book_details.py", line 472, in contextMenuEvent
  File "calibre\gui2\book_details.py", line 339, in create_open_cover_with_menu
  File "calibre\gui2\open_with.py", line 349, in populate_menu
  File "calibre\gui2\open_with.py", line 62, in entry_to_icon_text
TypeError: string argument without an encoding

I was able to fix it by exiting Calibre, opening the file again in Notepad++, and carefully removing the corrupted icon_data from the json.

Also, I noticed that adding an icon manually doesn't produce a garbled entry - adding the icon manually only allows image files, so I suspect it may be due to getting the icon from the application binaries.

I've attached a json file with corrupted icon_data in Paint.NET. It also has a well-formed icon_data (for the Calibre 3 viewer) for comparison.

[ownedbycats (ownedbycats)]

While I'm here, an in-program way to be able to edit the "open with" program names would be nice :)

[Kovid Goyal (kovid)]

Fixed in branch master. The fix will be in the next release. calibre is usually released every alternate Friday.

 status fixreleased

[ownedbycats (ownedbycats)]

That was fast!

[ownedbycats (ownedbycats)]

This bug still seems to be present in 5.4.2. I added 7-Zip File Manager to the list of Open With applications for some formats and it appeared as garbage data in windows_open_with.json.

[Kovid Goyal (kovid)]

That's not garbage data, thats base64 encoded data.

[Eli Schwartz (eschwartz)]

The bug was:

ERROR: Unhandled exception: <b>TypeError</b>:string argument without an
encoding

This should have been fixed...

[ownedbycats (ownedbycats)]

Ok that makes sense. I just thought it was bad data because Notepad2 can't handle it and either freezes indefinitely/crashes. (embarrassment smiley here)