How to run programs or external files (even on CD)
It is very useful to allow the user to run a program or a file by clicking on a link.
You can allow any link to run a program: select a text block, use "Insert >Link" or “Insert >Special link”, then when in the link window choose the "Internet - Program" tab.
In addition to http://, ftp://, mailto:, the “Internet - Program” tab permits you to run programs by using the special strings prog: and run:. You can:
run a program by using a dummy file name. The syntax is prog:dummy.txt, where ".txt" is a Windows registered file extension (i.e. Windows knows how to manage the file; this is true when the proper application is installed click here for an example)
run a program or a file by using a relative path (relative to current hypertext). The syntax is: run:path\exename.exe or run:..\mypath\exename.exe. You can also run a file by using filename.ext, where .ext is a Windows registered file extension.
run a program or a file on the CD. The syntax is run:cddrive:\mypath\exename.exe (runs the software exename.exe available in the mypath\ directory of the CD; you can also run a file as above). The CD drive letter is stored during installation. If the user has many drives, and swaps them, PaperKiller prompts the user to insert the new path when needed.
run a program by storing the command line somewhere in the Windows Registry. This means that an external application must write to the Registry a string that will be used by the iPerReader. The syntax is prog:\software\acme\exename, where that string means that the program path is stored in the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\software\acme\, string exename (click here for an example that will run the image/bmp viewer of Netscape, if installed; we have used prog:\Software\Netscape\Netscape Navigator\Viewers\image/bmp)
