Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!dalcs!silvert From: silvert@dalcs.UUCP (Bill Silvert) Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st Subject: Installing applications Message-ID: <2325@dalcs.UUCP> Date: Thu, 8-Jan-87 18:45:31 EST Article-I.D.: dalcs.2325 Posted: Thu Jan 8 18:45:31 1987 Date-Received: Thu, 8-Jan-87 23:47:31 EST Organization: Marine Ecology Lab. Lines: 31 Keywords: Fsel_input, adding paths I've recently discovered some useful features of the Install Application option on the desktop menu. For one thing, it interfaces with the file selector box function of GEM (Fsel_input for C programmers, FileSelectInput in Modula-2), so that if you have a program that uses the file selector box to open a file, it will automatically be processed. Also, the extension associated with the application can include wild cards. And, although the application path is not specified when you save the information with the Save Desktop option, you can add it with an editor (as well as changing the file description I suppose). For example, suppose that you use EZSQUEEZ.PRG to unsqueeze files from a RAMdisk. You click on it, then go to Install Application, and give the file extension ?Q?. Then you save the desktop and edit DESKTOP.INF by inserting the path C:\BIN\ before EZSQUEEZ.PRG. Next time you boot from that disk, any time you click on a squeezed file it will be automatically unsqueezed, so long as the file C:\BIN\EZSQUEEZ.PRG is available. This procedure can be used to speed up invoking certain applications. For example, TDI/Modula-2 has a linker which uses the selector box to identify the file to link. If you install the program with extension LNK then you only have to click on the link file to run LINKER.PRG. This is even more useful if you have your link files on a RAMdisk and don't have room for the linker, since you can install it but keep it on another disk, e.g., B:\BIN\LINKER.PRG. If anyone can add more tips about this feature of GEM, please post to the net (or mail to me, and I will collect and post). Also, if anyone knows what the APP extension means, it would be nice to know -- it seems the same as PRG.