DesktopX 2.4 Developer’s Guide
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
Page 10
Shortcut
A ‘Shortcut’ allows the object to link to a file or a folder on your machine. If you choose a file
(e.g. Notepad.exe) you can add arguments to that link. For example, if the file shortcut was
Notepad.exe, you could add the argument ‘c:\mydoc.txt’ which would launch Notepad and then
open the file ‘mydoc.txt’. You can also how that application will appear when launched (e.g.
maximized).
In addition to the specific paths that you can enter, DesktopX provides several variables that can
be used to point to specific directories.
%exedir% - returns the executable directory.
%objectdir% - returns the object data directory (where custom files are stored).
%objectsdir% - returns the full \Objects directory.
%themesdir% - returns the full \Themes directory.
So, for example, if you wished to link to one of the default clock objects that comes with
DesktopX, you could link to this “%objectsdir%\Nicer Analog clock.dxpack”
If you choose a 'Folder shortcut', you can either choose a system folder such as the Control
Panel, or you can choose to browse for any folder on your computer. In either case, this will
cause an Explorer window to open displaying the contents of that file.
You can however, check the box below the dropdown menu to popup a menu of the contents of
that folder. You can then click an item on that menu to run that item directly. You can even
specify where the menu appears relative to either the cursor or object itself.
What you should know is that these objects will function like the real target of the shortcut. For
example, if you drag the file c:\mydoc.txt to an object which is a shortcut to Notepad.exe then
that file will open up in Notepad. Dragging a file to a folder shortcut will move or copy the file
to that actual folder.
URL
A 'URL' object type is similar to the shortcut but it is dedicated to launching web pages in your
browser, so all you need to do is enter the web address (e.g. www.wincustomize.com).
