Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!spool.mu.edu!cs.umn.edu!thelake!steve From: steve@thelake.mn.org (Steve Yelvington) Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st.tech Subject: Re: passing to PRG (was: requirements to use VDI) Message-ID: Date: 23 Jun 91 16:14:12 GMT References: <9106211947.AA02697@sun.soe.clarkson.edu> <10283@star.cs.vu.nl> Organization: A private system in Minnesota's St. Croix Valley Lines: 42 X-UUCP-route: {rutgers,plains,decwrl}!umn-cs!thelake!steve [In article <10283@star.cs.vu.nl>, hvaalde@cs.vu.nl (Aalderen van Harold) writes ... ] > AAron@sun.soe.clarkson.edu writes: >>> >>> And how should we treat GEM programs that take parameters? > >>Either use a CLI after desktop, a cooler desktop (ie: Gemini!!!), or write >>a .PRG that asks for parameters then runs your program and passes the >>parameters you just entered (sounds like it might be short, quick, weekly >>for Double Click eh?)... > > This does not solve the problem, if I buy a commercial program like > 1st word, adimens (exec.prg and init.prg) that accepts parameters > I would like to be able to give them even from the standard desktop > So the desktop should provide the oppurtunity to do so. If you install a GEM program keyed to a particular file or file type, clicking on such a file will pass its name to the .PRG as an argument. For example, if you install 1st_WORD.PRG and specify .DOC files, if you double-click on MYFILE.DOC the result will be the same as a command line of: 1ST_WORD MYFILE.DOC If you want to pass a more complex argument -- with switches, for instance -- you'll just have to get a better Desktop. I second Aaron's recommendation of Gemini. With Gemini, you can write a little shell script that shuffles arguments around and passes them to a program. The shell script then can be dragged out onto the desktop, renamed something more informative (8+3 filenames are not needed for aliases of shell scripts). Drag a file (or multiple files) to the script's icon and let go. The script then launches the .PRG appropriately. I don't know of any GEM applications that process command-line switches, but I intend to put them into the next version of UUCODER. ---- Steve Yelvington steve@thelake.mn.org