Hello, I need help with Icon installation action.

[lt04]

Hello,

I'm new to this program and I'm running the trial version to see how it works. I have a simple little project that I need help with.

All I need it to do is autorun and load a URL from a CD which I got to work using an action. What I also need to happen is while the URL is loading, I need the program to install a custom icon onto the users desktop that is a link to another website. Is this possible? If so, any help would be greatly appreciated.

I'm assumming my entire project could be done with actions. I'm also assuming that I would need to load the custom icon into the project folder.

Again, thank you for your help in advance.

Larry

[Lorne]

It's not only possible, it's really easy.

What you want is the Shell.CreateShortcut action.

[Lorne]

For more information, check out the help file topic on this action. You can access it from within AutoPlay by pressing F1.

You can also view the same topic on the web here: http://www.indigorose.com/webhelp/am...teShortcut.htm

[lt04]

Thank you very much for the help but I have one more small issue.

The action you told me about works great except for one thing. When the cd runs it installs an icon on the desktop that is linked to a web site(perfect), the problem is that the icon path is linked back to the cd because it is a shotcut. I dont want the user to have put the cd in to see the icon after the computer is restarted.

Is there a different action that will load the icon permanently so it does not have to link back to the cd where it was installed from? I hope this makes sense.

Thanks again,
Larry:

[Lorne]

Just copy the icon file to the user's system and set the icon path accordingly.

[lt04]

Thank you again for the quick reply. As I said before, I'm new to this program, and you are really helping me with the learning curve.

Would I use the "file.install" action to load the icon? The thing is I don't see a variable for attaching the url to the icon with this action, is there a different one I should use?

Larry

[Lorne]

Originally posted by lt04
Would I use the "file.install" action to load the icon?

Either that or File.Copy. You want to copy the file to some standard location on the user's system.

The thing is I don't see a variable for attaching the url to the icon with this action, is there a different one I should use?
Larry

You still need to use a Shell.CreateShortcut action to create the shortcut. The File.Copy or File.Install action just gets the icon file (.ico) onto the user's system.

Use whatever path you copy the .ico file to as the icon path in the Shell.CreateShortcut action.

[lt04]

That makes perfect sense!.

My final question is do to the fact that I'm for the most part a Mac designer, so the "path" set up on a PC is something I'm still learning.

What would be a generic path that I would use to install the icon in a common folder? Do I need to specify the Drive? Is "C" a common drive on all PC's.

Thanks a million.
Larry

[lt04]

Everything works great, thank oyu for all of your help.

Larry

[Lorne]

Originally posted by lt04
My final question is do to the fact that I'm for the most part a Mac designer, so the "path" set up on a PC is something I'm still learning.

What would be a generic path that I would use to install the icon in a common folder? Do I need to specify the Drive? Is "C" a common drive on all PC's.

Usually, but it's not necessarily somewhere you can/should copy an icon to.

An easy place would be _WindowsFolder or _SystemFolder, assuming the user has write access there.

A good place might be somewhere inside the user's "Documents and Settings" (a.k.a. "profile") folder, for example you could create a subfolder inside Application Data and put your icon in there. You can use the Shell.GetFolder action to get a bunch of different paths from the current user's profile.

[lt04]

Everything is working great, but I have one user question.

When the URL is pulled up by the application and loads into Explorer, I want the window to be maxmized. I thought this would be done by the WindowMode, but it does not seem to affect the size of the Explorer window.

Basically, if the user had their window very small before putting the CD in, the web page loads into the small window.

Any ideas?

Thank you,
Larry