Application Launcher - org.csstudio.navigator.applaunch
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## Application Launcher - org.csstudio.navigator.applaunch

This plugin supports Application Launch configuration files which can then be started from the Eclipse Navigator.

Figure 1. Application Launch files

Most accelerator sites have some type of application launcher that lists the many specialized tools that operators or experimenters can start. Users of several subsystem groups can create their own section of the launch configuration. Some tools are listed more than once as shown for the Terminal tool in Figure 1, “Application Launch files” because several groups would like to list it in “their” section of the launcher.

This plugin allows using the Eclipse Navigator view as such a launcher. The navigator already displays all workspace files, and can for example open the operator display editor or runtime for display files. It is thus a basic launcher where users can arrange the files in projects and sub-directories and then launch the associated CSS tools. Using linked folders, one can create shared as well as user-specific arrangements.

The use of the Navigator as a launcher complements the CSS menu bar: The menu bar has a comparable limited size and fixed arrangement. It lists the tools built into CSS that many users need. Each CSS tool typically shows only once in the menu bar.

A launcher configuration can be much bigger, listing many external tools. Some entries like the launcher for a terminal window can appear in multiple sub-directories of the launch configuration because each subsystem group of users can create their own section of the launch configuration.

## Basic Usage

End users simply double-click a launch configuration file in the Navigator. Similar to the way double-clicking a display file opens the operator interface tool, opening a launch configuration file will start the associated external application.

Eclipse remembers the last action on a file. If the user had previously edited a launch configuration, i.e. opened it in an editor instead of executing it, Eclipse will remember this and again open the editor on the next double-click. In this case once right-click the launch configuration file and select `Open With`, then `Launch Application` to execute it. From now on the double-click will also default to launching the application.

Users can create new subsections of the launcher by creating new file folders in the Navigator:

- Right-click on the parent folder
- Select `New`, `Other..`, section `General`, type `Folder`
- Enter name of new folder

Since launch configuration files are still files, they can be moved, copied, renamed like any other file in the Navigator.

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|  | Creating a new Application Launcher Configuration File