Whenever you create a Standalone version of your publication (i.e. an EXE file using the Publish Wizard), you can launch your publication like any other program e.g. MS Word or Outlook. Opus Pro allows you to launch your publication with additional/optional information – this is known as Passing Parameters.
By passing parameters (i.e. providing additional information) when you launch a publication means that the same publication can behave differently each time it is launched depending on the information contained in the parameters. This in turn means that your publication becomes even more flexible. Two of the most common reasons that you may want to pass parameters are, if you want your publication to:
(i) Open to a specific page in your publication and not the first page. For example, you may have one Opus publication that launches another (e.g. a More Information or Help publication). When the user selects a Sales Team button, the new Opus publication will open on the Sales Team page; and when they press the Management Team button, the Management Team page will appear. Without passing a parameter, the new publication will always open on the first page in the publication.
(ii) Open a publication with user preferences. For example, when another publication is launched, the user can specify whether the new publication should provide a commentary (i.e. voiceover) or just text and pictures.
These are just two examples of why you would want to pass parameters when you open a Standalone version of your publication. You may think of several other reasons why you may want to pass parameters in your publication.
Note:
You can only pass parameters to Standalone versions of your publication, that is, publications that have been published as EXE files. Opus passes parameters in the same way as parameters are passed in MS_DOS or when you create Batch files (.BAT) files.
1. There are two things to consider when you want to pass parameters in Opus. One, how do you pass information from your current publication to a publication the user is about to open? Two, how do you set up a publication to use information that is passed to it? A brief description to both questions is given below in points 2 and 3 with links to topics that explain these tasks in detail.
2. How to pass parameters. Parameters are passed from one Opus publication to another using the Launch File action. This action allows you to pass as many parameters as you like whenever you use it – see How to Pass Parameters using the Launch File action for more information.
3. How to use parameters you have passed. Opus Pro has provided two PARAM_COUNT Systemvariables that contain passed parameter information. Using these variables you can make your new publication behave differently each time it is opened depending on the current value of the variables – see How to use Parameters in the new publication for more information.
Passing Parameters to a Launch File