There is the option to 'Right Click > Open With' in ark on a file and afterwards select a program to open the file with.

IMO this is inconvenient. The application I want to use is already set via file associations. I should not be asked to select one in this case.

Further the preview provided in ark is much worse than the system applications associated with this file types (e.g. to view an image or pdf). Thus it would be more efficient to remove the preview feature and use already installed external applications only.

In general I would want ark to behave more like 7zip on Windows: When I open a file directly in the archive the associated external application for the file type opens (e.g. notepad++). Now, when I modify the file in this application and save it, 7zip asks if I want to update the archive with the new file.

Even better than improving ark would be if the browsing of archives could be embedded completely in dolphin. I know this is possible with .zip and .tar archives but .7z  (and .rar?) is not supported.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. open an archive in ark
2. select double click a file in the archive

Actual Results:  
an internal preview opens

Expected Results:  
 the external associated application for the file type opens