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There are some things you'll need to know about the application
before you run Create Action. The command line
for starting the application. You'll need to know whether the command line includes a required
file argument, an optional file argument, or no file argument. If the application requires a non-file argument, you cannot
use Create Action to create the action. The types of data files an application can accept. Some applications can accept only one type of data. Others
(for example, an ASCII editor or graphics editor) can accept multiple
data types. The way the application identifies its data files. This may be a naming convention (for example, file names ending
with.doc), and/or may depend
on the content of the file. If the application does not use a file-name
convention, you can still set one up for the action icon. Optional: The command line to print the files
To Create an Action for an Application | |
Double-click Create Action in the Desktop_Apps application
group. This displays the main Create Action
window. Type the name that will label the action icon into
the Action
Name text field. Use the Action Icons
controls to specify the icon for the application. Initially, the
default icon is shown. In the Command When Action Icon Is Opened text field,
type the command to start the application. Use the syntax $n
for a file argument; for example: emacs
bitmap $1
diff $1 $2
lp -oraw $1 |
If the command line includes a file argument ($n),
then the action icon will be a drop zone for files. The command lines are not passed to a shell unless you explicitly
specify the use of a shell. For example, these lines use shell processing: /bin/sh -c 'ps | lp'
/bin/sh -c 'spell $1 | more' |
Type the On Item help text for the action icon into
the Help Text For Action Icon text field. The text will automatically
wrap in the text field. However, these line breaks are not preserved
online. If you want to specify a hard line break, use . Choose the windowing support
required by the action from the Window Type option menu. Proceed as follows: If your application
has data files, and you want to create one or more data types for
them, see the next section, “To Create One or More Data Types for
an Application”.'' If you do not need to create a data type, save the
action by choosing Save from the File menu. Then, test the new action
by double-clicking its icon in your home directory.
To Create One or More Data Types for
an Application | |
Define the action for the application using the procedure
in the previous section, “To Create an Action for an Application”. Click the Advanced button in the Create Action window
to expand the window. If you want the application icon to
prompt for a file argument when the icon is double-clicked, type
the text of the prompt into the ``When Action Opens, Ask Users for''
text field. Use these guidelines for this text field: You must use this
field if the application's command line has a required
file argument. You must leave this field blank if the command line
does not include a file argument. If the file argument in the application's command
line is optional, you have a choice. If you supply the prompt text,
the action icon will prompt for the file when double-clicked. If
you do not supply the prompt text, the action will be executed with
a null string as the file argument.
Specify the types of files that the action will
accept as arguments: If the action can
accept any data type, select All Data Types. If the action can accept only the data type(s) you
create for the application, select Only Above List.
Initially, the Datatypes That
Use This Action list is empty. As you create data types for the
application, they are added to the list. Click Add beside the Datatypes That Use This Action
list box to display the Add Data Type dialog box. Optional: If you don't want to use the default data
type name, type a new name for the data type into the
Name of Datatype Family text field. The name cannot include spaces. The data type name is not
visible to application users; it is used in the actions/data types
database to identify the data type definition. Click the Edit button beside the Identifying Characteristics box to display
the Identifying Characteristics dialog box. Characteristics of a data type are the criteria used to differentiate
the data type from others. You can choose one or more of the following
criteria: Select whether the data type represents a file or
folder. If the data typing depends on the name, select the
Name Pattern check box and fill in the text field. You can use * and ? as wildcards: If the data typing depends on the permissions, select
the Permission Pattern check box and select the permissions for
the data type. If the data typing depends on the contents, select
the Contents check box and supply the requested information—Pattern
to search for and Type of contents. Optionally, you can supply the
byte location where the search should start. | | | |  | NOTE: Use of content-based data typing may affect the performance
of the system. | | | | |
Click OK to close the Identifying Characteristics
dialog box. The characteristics will be displayed in the Identifying Characteristics
field using this coding: Type the help text for the data files into the Help
Text text field. Use the Datatype Icons controls to specify the icon
for the application. Initially, the default icon is shown. Verify the command in the Command to Open this Datatype
text field. This is the command that will be executed when the user
double-clicks a data file. Optional: If the application supplies a print command
for printing data files from the command line, type the command
into the Command to Print this Datatype text field, using the syntax
$n
for a file argument. Do one of the following to save the data type definition: Click OK to save
the data type and close the Add Datatype dialog box. Click Apply to save the data type without closing
the Add Datatype dialog box. This let you immediately proceed to
define another data type for the action.
Using
the Find Set Dialog Box To Specify an Icon | |
The Find Set dialog box is displayed when you click Find Set
in the Create Action main window or in the Add Datatype window.
Use the dialog box to specify the icon that will be used for the
action or data type. The Find Set dialog box lets you specify a set of icon image
files located: In a directory on
the icon search path. The Icon Folders list includes all the directories
on the icon search path. In a registration package that will be integrated
with the desktop using dtappintegrate.
These icons are not yet located in a directory on the icon search
path, but will be placed there by dtappintegrate.
| | | | | NOTE: The action and data type definitions created using Create
Action write out the base name for the icon files (the file name
minus the file-name suffixes for size and type). Icons for actions
and data types created with Create Action must eventually be placed
in directories on the icon search path. | | | | |
To Specify
a Set of Icons Located on the Icon Search PathIn the Find Set dialog box's Icon Folders list, double-click
the folder path containing the icon. The Icon Files list will show all the icon files in that folder. In the Icon Files list, click the icon you want
to use. This places the base name of the icon file in the Enter Icon
File name text field. Click OK.
To Specify
an Icon in a Registration PackageIf you are a system administrator or programmer creating a
registration package, the icon image files are initially located
in a directory in the registration package: app_root/dt/appconfig/icons/language |
After registration with dtappintegrate,
the icon files will be copied to /etc/dt/appconfig/icons/language,
which is on the icon search path. Use this procedure to specify icons that are part of a registration
package: In the Find Set dialog box's Enter Icon Filename text field,
type the base name of the icon file. Click OK. Create Action displays a dialog box to inform you that the
icons were not found in directories on the icon search path. In the information dialog box that appears, choose
No Change.
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