Rank Start Menu shortcuts so the primary launcher wins - #2
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Rank Start Menu shortcuts so the primary launcher wins#2rodchristiansen wants to merge 1 commit into
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Resolving an app took the first Start Menu shortcut that matched, in
directory enumeration order. That order is alphabetical, and an app's
uninstaller, documentation link, safe-mode variant or reduced edition
frequently sorts ahead of the launcher itself, so those got pinned
instead:
Uninstall <app> beat <app> (U before the app's initial)
<app> Apprentice beat <app> Education
<app> in Safe Mode beat <app>
<app> Documentation beat <app>
Firefox Private Browsing beat Firefox
The last three are one comparison: the unwanted name continues with a
space (0x20) where the launcher continues with the dot (0x2E) of its
extension, and space sorts first.
Matching was also a bare case-insensitive substring test, so the "Code"
alias of Visual Studio Code matched Adobe Media En-code-r and pinned an
unrelated application.
ShortcutRanker scores a candidate on how well it matches -- exact, at the
start, or on a word boundary -- then demotes shortcuts whose name carries
a marker word (uninstall, documentation, safe mode, apprentice, trial and
similar) or whose target opens a document rather than a program. Ties go
to the shortest name, which is the launcher whenever a variant is a
suffix. Penalties are sized so a demoted shortcut can never outrank a
primary one.
Matching now requires a word boundary at the leading edge, so an alias no
longer matches inside a longer word. A trailing digit is still allowed so
a version number running straight on ("Photoshop9") keeps matching. Where
this finds nothing it now resolves nothing rather than falling back to a
loose substring hit -- pinning no app is better than pinning the wrong one.
An exact name match is returned as-is, so asking for a variant by its full
name still works and no app becomes unpinnable.
AppResolver applies the ranking in both paths: the known-app lookup, which
returned the first file matching any alias, and the broader search, whose
confidence score was flat across all non-exact matches. Reading a
shortcut's target is left behind a pre-filter so the COM call only happens
for candidates that could plausibly win.
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Resolving an app took the first Start Menu shortcut that matched, in directory enumeration order. That order is alphabetical, and an app's uninstaller, documentation link, safe-mode variant or reduced edition frequently sorts ahead of the launcher itself — so those got pinned instead.
Uninstall ZBrush …ZBrush …Rhino … in Safe ModeRhino …Nuke … DocumentationNuke …Houdini Apprentice …Houdini FX/Education …Firefox Private BrowsingFirefoxAdobe Media Encoder …Visual Studio CodeThe Rhino/Nuke/Firefox rows are one comparison: the unwanted name continues with a space (0x20) where the launcher continues with the dot (0x2E) of its extension, and space sorts first.
The last row is a second, separate defect. Matching was a bare case-insensitive substring test, so the
Codealias of Visual Studio Code matched Adobe Media Encoder and pinned an unrelated application.What changed
ShortcutRankerscores a candidate on match quality — exact, at the start, or on a word boundary — then demotes shortcuts thatuninstall,documentation,safe mode,apprentice,trial, …), matched as whole words soAssistdoes not fire onAssistant; or.html,.chm,.url, …), which catches a documentation shortcut whose name gives nothing away.Ties go to the shortest name — the launcher, whenever a variant is a suffix of it. Penalties are sized so a demoted shortcut can never outrank a primary one; there is a test asserting that property directly rather than trusting the arithmetic.
Matching now requires a word boundary at the leading edge, so an alias no longer matches inside a longer word. A trailing digit is still allowed, so a version number running straight on (
Photoshop9) keeps matching. Where this finds nothing, it now resolves nothing rather than falling back to a loose substring hit — pinning no app is better than pinning the wrong one.An exact name match is returned as-is, so asking for a variant by its full name still works and no app becomes unpinnable.
AppResolverapplies the ranking in both paths — the known-app lookup, which returned the first file matching any alias, and the broader search, whose confidence was flat across all non-exact matches. Reading a shortcut's target stays behind a pre-filter, so the COM call only happens for candidates that could plausibly win.Verification
15 new unit tests, one per reported failure plus the boundary rules; 38 pass in total.
Confirmed against a real Start Menu, resolving
Firefoxwhere both shortcuts exist:Uninstall GoandUninstall Node.jslikewise drop below their real launchers infindoutput.