Hi guys. Thanks for the reply, and sorry for my own late response.
Yes, this is way more complicated than it ought to be. Perhaps Affinity (I keep wanting to say Serif) should consider not using the Microsoft Store at all if it's going to create headaches like this.
I will probably have to get used to software from the Microsoft Store at some point, so for now I have kept those editions.
You all were helpful, and the support people at Exposure were helpful as well -- it seems easier to contact them than to contact Affinity directly.
Now, it's a bit ironic given that the Microsoft Store is Microsoft's latest and not-so-greatest way to install software, that the quickest solution here involves using a good-old-fashioned batch (.BAT) file. Whoa, Doc, that's heavy. I think there's a problem with the Earth's gravitational pull! Or maybe I just haven't been to 1985 for awhile!
It's true. The solution that was posted in the forum linked above did work. But you have to view two separate threads in order to piece together what to do, and even then, it's hard to believe that the solution in 2023 for Windows 11 involves using a text editor to create a .BAT file.
In any case, I will go over this for anyone who still doesn't know what to do.
Of course, Windows, having been engineered by the Byzantine Empire, has the EXE files for its app store programs listed twice, once in C:\Program Files\WindowsApps, and once in C:\Users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps.
The folder C:\Program Files\WindowsApps is locked tighter than Fort Knox, so gaining even read-only access to it is a pain even for the system administrator. Yes, using a tool like TakeOwnershipPro or TakeOwnershipEx may be the easiest way to crack in there, but I wouldn't really suggest using these sorts of tools too often in Windows. I've used them when Windows locked me out of my own backup files, but messing around in official Windows folders with these tools risks jeopardizing your security. (Sure, in this case I don't agree with Microsoft giving TrustedInstaller power over the system administrator, but even so, I have trouble officially recommending this approach to too many people.)
But I want to keep this as simple as possible given how dumb the whole thing is.
In order to get an external program (in this case Exposure, which makes a nice complement to Affinity Photo) to recognize Affinity Photo, I had to create a batch file. Open Notepad, and type this:
start /b AffinityPhoto2.exe %1
exit
I saved the file as "aplaunch.bat" -- make sure it's "aplaunch.bat", and not "aplaunch.bat.txt"!
I saved it in the folder C:\Users\[YOUR USER FOLDER]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps .
That's where the weird alias to affinityphoto2.exe is. It's not really an official alias or shortcut of any kind, just a 0k EXE file. Again, nice weird engineering there, Microsoft. What the hell?
Then you "simply" (so simple) point the external program to your batch file, in this case aplaunch.bat .
Why a BAT file can be launched in the same directory as an EXE file that cannot be launched is beyond me. Ask Bill Gates.
Additional notes:
Note that I write "YOUR USER FOLDER" and not "USER NAME" which is what the official Affinity post says, because in Windows 11 as I have learned -- again, thanks Microsoft -- a user folder can be different than a user name.
That WindowsApps directory ought to be a standard Windows PATH, so it shouldn't really matter where you put the batch file. But your batch file could also be:
start /b C:\Users\[YOUR USER FOLDER]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\affinityphoto2.exe %1
exit
For Designer, adlaunch.bat:
start /b AffinityDesigner2.exe %1
exit
For Publisher (to me the gem in the suite!), apublaunch.bat:
start /b AffinityPublisher2.exe %1
exit
And note that if you want to use spaces in a path in the batch file for some reason -- you shouldn't here -- you have to use a funny convention:
start /b "" "C:\Users\sdanm\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\AffinityPhoto2.exe" %1
exit
The first set of double quotes there are because "start" assumes that the first item in quotes is what you want for the new console window title (which is not relevant in this case).
So, yeah, bottom line, what would we do without the Microsoft Store making our lives so easy? All we need to do is to pop in the flux capacitor, accelerate up to 88 mph, go back to 1985, and learn how to write batch commands. Whew.
You're welcome for the Bill & Ted tour back into days gone by. Be excellent, dudes, and party on!
