Read Me Files
The desktop provides a README data type that you can use for your application's README files. Use one of these naming conventions:
README
readme
README.*
Read.*.Me
read.*.me
READ.*.ME
Creating a Specialized Front Panel Control
In most cases, you do not need to provide a Front Panel control definition; the user can add the application to the Front Panel by dropping the action icon on the Install Icon control in a subpanel.
You might want to create a Front Panel configuration file containing a control definition for your application if you want users to be able to install a control that behaves differently than the action icon--for example, if the control monitors a file and changes appearance when the monitored file changes.
Front Panel configuration files are placed in the app_root/dt/appconfig/types/language directory. The naming convention is name.fp.
If you supply a configuration file containing a control, the user can add the control to a subpanel by dropping the *.fp file on the Install Icon control in the subpanel.
For example, the following definition can be placed in a Front Panel configuration file in the application group. If the user drops this file on an Install Icon control in a subpanel, a control is created in the subpanel that runs a single instance of the BestTextEditor application. If BestTextEditor is already running, the window is moved to the top of the window stack in the current workspace.
CONTROL BestTextEditorControl
{
TYPE icon
ICON BTEFPanel
PUSH_RECALL True
CLIENT_NAME BTEd
PUSH_ACTION BTEditor
DROP_ACTION BTEditor
HELP_STRING Starts the BestTextEditor application.
}
|
For additional information about creating Front Panel configuration files, see:
The dtfpfile(4) man page
Step 8: Registering the Application Using dtappintegrate
Note - For an example of registering an application, see Step 8 of "Example of Creating a Registration Package".
Once you've created a registration package under an application root, you are ready to perform the actual application registration.
Application registration creates links between the registration package and the directories located along the desktop search paths (see "How dtappintegrate Integrates Applications").
To Register an Application with dtappintegrate
If the application is desktop-smart, dtappintegrate is usually run automatically as the final step in the installation process. If it is not run automatically, or if you have created the configuration files to integrate a non-desktop smart application, then you can run dtappintegrate manually.
Log in as root.
Run the command:
/usr/dt/bin/dtappintegrate -s app_root
where app_root is the desktop application root directory. For more information, see the dtappintegrate(1) man page.
Open the Desktop_Tools application group and double-click Reload Applications.
Verify that the application is properly registered:
Syntax and Options for dtappintegrate
dtappintegrate -s app_root [-t target_path ] [-l language ] [-u] |
-s app_root | Required parameter, specifies the application root under which the appication has been installed. |
-t target_path | Optional parameter, defaults to the system location /etc/dt/appconfig. Specifies the location to which the desktop configuration files are linked. You must use a location on the application search path. |
-l language | Optional parameter, defaults to all languages. Specifies which language-dependent desktop configuration files to integrate. |
-u | Optional parameter, un-integrates the application, removing all the links set up during integration. |
How dtappintegrate Integrates Applications
The function of dtappintegrate is to set up links between the installed files and the locations where the desktop looks for configuration files.
Actions and Data Types
dtappintegrate creates symbolic links from the action and data type definition files in the registration package to the system-wide directory along the action database help search path. This is done by creating links from
app_root/dt/appconfig/types/language/*.dt |
to
/etc/dt/appconfig/types/language/*.dt |
Help Information Files
dtappintegrate creates symbolic links from the help files in the registration package to the system-wide directory along the help search path. This is done by creating links from
app_root/dt/appconfig/help/language/help_file.sdl |
to
/etc/dt/appconfig/help/language/help_file.sdl |
Icon Files
dtappintegrate creates symbolic links from the icon files in the registration package to the system-wide directory along the icon search path. This is done by creating links from
app_root/dt/appconfig/icons/language/icon_files |
to
/etc/dt/appconfig/icons/language/icon_files |
Application Group
To place the application group for the application into the top level of Application Manager, dtappintegrate creates a link between the application group directory in the registration package and the system-wide location along the application search path. This is done by creating links from the directory
app_root/dt/appconfig/appmanager/language/appgroup_name |
to
/etc/dt/appconfig/appmanager/language/appgroup_name |