The Application Manager
The Application Manager is the desktop container that displays applications available to users. It is selected from the Applications pop-up menu in the Front Panel (refer to Figure 25.7).
When initially opened, the Application Manager window displays the top-level directory of the Application Manager. User interaction with the Application Manager is similar to the use of the File Manager, except that the Application Manager contains executable modules. The user launches the Application Manager from an icon in the Front Panel, opening the window shown in Figure 25.11.
Programs and icons can be installed in the Application Manager by the system administrator and can be pushed out to other workstations as part of the installation process. By default, the Application Manager comes preconfigured to include several utilities and programs (refer to Figure 25.9). Each of these utilities is located in a directory that—with its contents—is called an application group. The application groups provided with the default desktop are described in Table 25.6.
| Group | Description |
|---|---|
| Desktop_Apps | Desktop applications such as File Manager, Style Manager, and Calculator. |
| Desktop_Tools | Desktop administration and operating system tools such as User Registration, Reload Application, vi text editor, and Check Spelling. |
| Information | Icons representing frequently used help topics. |
| System_Admin | Tools used by system administrators. |
| Desktop_Controls | Tools to set your CDE environment, such as mouse behavior, desktop fonts, screen saver, and window behavior. |
| Solaris Management Console | An icon that starts up the Solaris Management Console. Refer to Chapter 18 for information on the SMC. |
The top-level directory for the Application Manager is the directory /var/dt/ appconfig/appmanager/login-hostname-display, created dynamically each time the user logs in. For example, if user bcalkins logs in from display sparc1:0, the following Application Manager directory is created:
/var/dt/appconfig/appmanager/bcalkins-sparc1-0
The Application Manager is built by gathering application groups from directories located along the application search path. The default path consists of the locations listed in Table 25.7.
| Scope | Location |
|---|---|
| Built-in | /usr/dt/appconfig/appmanager/<language> |
| System-wide | /etc/dt/appconfig/appmanager/<language> |
| Personal | $HOME/.dt/appmanager |
To create the top-level directory of the Application Manager, links are created at login time from the application group directories to the Application Manager directory, which is /var/dt/appconfig/appmanager/<login-hostname-display>. The gathering operation is done by the desktop utility dtappgather, which is automatically run by the Login Manager after the user has successfully logged in.
For example, the desktop provides the built-in application group /usr/dt/ appconfig/appmanager/<language>/Desktop_Tools. At login time, a symbolic link is created to /var/dt/appconfig/appmanager/<login-hostname-display>/ Desktop_Tools.
Applications can be added to the Application Manager by copying icons from other application groups to the personal application group.
Exercise 25.8 Creating Personal Application Groups
To create a personal application group, follow these steps:
1. |
From your home folder, change to the .dt/appmanager subfolder. |
2. |
Create a new folder. The folder name becomes the name of the new application group. |
3. |
Double-click the Reload Applications icon, which you can locate by clicking the Desktop_Controls icon and then the Extras icon. |
4. |
A personal application group is an application group that users can alter because they have write permission to it. For example, users can copy (by pressing the Ctrl key and dragging) the Calculator icon from the Desktop_Tools application group to a new personal application group. Another method is to create an action for an application and then place an application (action) icon in the personal application group.