This action allows you to start running a separate program or file (e.g. a PPT or PDF file) or another Opus publication.
Add the Launch File action to your trigger, as described in adding actions. The Launch File tab will automatically appear when you add the action.
In Launch this file option, enter the program or file you wish to launch. Use the Browse… button to locate the file you want to launch or type the path into the box provided.
If the program you are launching accepts a run-time parameter you can pass that to the program by typing it into the with option/parameter… box provided.
Note:
This option is most often used to give the program a file to open or by setting options it will start with. It is not required if you are launching a PDF file as this will automatically open the PDF reader.
If you are using the Launch File action to open another Opus EXE publication you can use this option to pass information to it, such as the specific page you want to display in the launched publication – see Passing Parameters for more information.
Use the This file will be found at this location option to set the pathname to the file when your publication is published. Click on the Insert Variable button if you want to generate a pathname using System or User variables as part of the pathname.
Note:
Opus must know where to find the additional file when it is being used on a different computer so there are special variables you can use to create a path which will be updated depending on the end users computer – the most popular is SYSTEM_PUBLICATION_DIR which is "wherever the publication is stored".
However you will need to ensure that the file you are launching is actually in that location which may mean manually copying it or including it the Additional Files created using the Distribution Wizard.
Use the Copy File to publish directory option to tell Opus to copy the file to the final publish directory. Use this in conjunction with the SYSTEM_PUBLICATION_DIR variable to ensure Opus finds your file at run time.
Alternatively you can use the Store File in Publication option to tell Opus you want to embed the launched file into your final EXE by selecting it via the Additional Files button. This ensures the document is distributed with the publication and that Opus knows where it is, as it will decompress it to a temporary location when required and delete it again afterwards. This can also be useful to keep private documents a little more secure. You can also use the Additional Files button to embed any files the launched document needs to accompany it.
Note:
This option only applies to EXE format publications and is not available for online, Flash or HTML5 publications.
Use the Close the publication once this program is running option if you want the current publication to shut down when the specified file is launched. By default this checkbox is not ticked.
Click on the Apply button to save your changes.