Appendix B. Desktop Variables
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Appendix B. Desktop Variables

Variables that are used by the Desktop are listed below. Some of these variables can be customized by the user. You can use any of these variables as part of the OPEN, ALTOPEN, or PRINT file typing rules, or as part of the FILTER print conversion rule. In IRIX 6.3 and above, variable substitution is done by the libraries; typically you do not set environment variables. However, if a variable would expand to null, the desktop automatically sets an empty environment variable.

Variables Set By the Desktop

The variables listed below are preset by the Desktop (that is, the Desktop sets their values).

$LEADER  

If one or more icons are currently selected from the Desktop, LEADER is set to the icon that is selected first. If no icon is selected, it is set to null.

$REST  

If more than one icon is currently selected from the Desktop, REST contains the list of names of all selected icons except the highlighted icon (see LEADER above). Otherwise, it is set to null.

$LEADERTYPE  


If one or more icons are currently selected from the Desktop, LEADERTYPE is set to the TYPE of the icon whose text field is highlighted. If no icons are selected, it is set to null.

$RESTTYPE  

When more than one icon is currently selected from the Desktop, RESTTYPE contains the TYPE for all selected icons except the highlighted icon, if the remainder of the selected icons are all of the same TYPE. If they are not the same TYPE, or only one icon is selected, RESTTYPE is set to null.

$RESTTYPELIST  


Contains the list of TYPEs corresponding to the arguments in REST. If only one icon is selected, RESTTYPELIST is set to null.

$ARGC  

Contains the number of selected icons.

$TARGET  

Set only for the CMD DROP rule, TARGET contains the name of the icon being dropped upon; otherwise it is set to null.

$TARGETTYPE  


Set only for the CMD DROP rule, TARGETTYPE contains the TYPE of the icon being dropped upon; otherwise it is set to null.

$SELECTED  

Contains the names of the selected icons (whether or not a drop occurs on TARGET).

$SELECTEDTYPE  


If all of the icons named in SELECTED are of the same TYPE, SELECTEDTYPE contains that TYPE; otherwise it is set to null.

$SELECTEDTYPELIST  


Contains a list of TYPEs corresponding to the TYPEs of the selected icons named in SELECTED. If only one icon is selected, it is set to null.

$WINTERM  


Contains the name of the window terminal invoked from the Desktop using winterm(1). Currently supported window terminals are wsh (the default) and xterm.

Variables Set By the User

The variables listed below can be set by the user and the Desktop passes these customizable variables to the FTRs. Users set these variables from the Toolchest->Desktop->Customize->Utilities panel (or by the command, dtUtilities). See “Using the Default Viewer and Editor Utilities Panel” for more information.

$WINEDITOR  

Contains the path to and name for the text editor invoked from the Desktop. The default editor is /usr/sbin/jot.

$WEBBROWSER  


Contains the path to and name of an X Window System application that is a World Wide Web visual browser (for example, /usr/bin/X11/netscape).

$IMGVIEWER  

Contains the path to and name of an application that displays image files (for example, /usr/bin/X11/imgview).

$MAILBOXPROG  


Contains the path to and name of a mail reader application (for example, /usr/bin/X11/MediaMail -gui).

$BOOKVIEWER  


Contains the path to and name of an application that displays InSight books (for example, /usr/sbin/insight).

$PSVIEWER  

Contains the path to and name of an application for viewing PostScript files (for example, /usr/bin/X11/showps).

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