Launching from Shell <-> from Workbench

[guy lateur]

Some applications behave differently when launched from the shell than they do when launched (double clicked) from the workbench. Take SGrab, for example, which is a nice little screen grabbing tool.

When I double click its icon from its workbench drawer, it opens a little GUI that allows me to select my settings. When I launch it from a shell (SGrab), it goes into non-interactive mode, and waits a couple of seconds before grabbing a screenshot.

Can I enter a command in the shell that launches this app like it would when I had double clicked it in the workbench? Something like 'WBLaunch SGrab', perhaps? I've tried 'SGrab -CX_POPUP=YES', but it says it's getting the wrong number of arguments. I don't have to specify all possible options, do I?

I don't think this matters, but I should probably mention that I'm looking for something that is usable as a key binding command in the FKey commodity.

TIA!

[DamienD]

Hiya guy lateur,

I very quickly skimmed through the file "SGrab.guide" in the archive. It seems that if you want to popup a window from shell you also need to set the cx_popkey variable.

So, from a shell try this:

sgrab cx_popkey "ctrl alt s" cx_popup=yes

[guy lateur]

Originally Posted by DamienD

Hiya guy lateur,

I very quickly skimmed through the file "SGrab.guide" in the archive. It seems that if you want to popup a window from shell you also need to set the cx_popkey variable.

So, from a shell try this:

sgrab cx_popkey "ctrl alt s" cx_popup=yes

Yep, you did it again, this works perfectly! Thanks, Damien!
I must have missed that part when skimming through the guide myself..

[DamienD]

No problem my friend, glad I could help

Syntax for Amiga programs can be a little trickly... I usually always type the following (and if that doesn't make sense then read the guides / manuals):

<program_name> ?

In this case it shows you:

[guy lateur]

Ok, thanks for the tips.
It becomes increasingly obvious I really should spend some time reading some very basic docs.
It's just that there's so much more fun stuff I can do in my spare amiga time..

[DamienD]

Originally Posted by guy lateur

It becomes increasingly obvious I really should spend some time reading some very basic docs.

Nah, I don't unless I really need to use a utility / program for a specific purpose.

Originally Posted by guy lateur

It's just that there's so much more fun stuff I can do in my spare amiga time..

Exactly

[jPV]

Originally Posted by guy lateur

Can I enter a command in the shell that launches this app like it would when I had double clicked it in the workbench? Something like 'WBLaunch SGrab', perhaps?

Yes you can! The WBRun command is just for that, and I couldn't live without it It is included in the later OS versions, but if you're using older OS, grab it from Aminet.

It runs programs just like they'd been launched by double clicking an icon: tooltypes are read, it finds its datafiles from the progdir (no need to cd first like when launching a program from shell usually), program is launched to background and the command returns immediately etc.

I use it, for example, to launch WHDLoad stuff from the shell or when booted without startup-sequence. You can just use "wbrun somewhdloadgame" (without .info or .slave) to start them.

I've also added this kind of filetype for .slave files in DOpus, to get the WHDLoad games started by double clicking a .slave file in name mode listers:
Function : AmigaDOS
WBRun `List {f} LFORMAT="*"%P%M*""`

[guy lateur]

Originally Posted by jPV

Yes you can! The WBRun command is just for that, and I couldn't live without it It is included in the later OS versions, but if you're using older OS, grab it from Aminet.

It runs programs just like they'd been launched by double clicking an icon: tooltypes are read, it finds its datafiles from the progdir (no need to cd first like when launching a program from shell usually), program is launched to background and the command returns immediately etc.

I use it, for example, to launch WHDLoad stuff from the shell or when booted without startup-sequence. You can just use "wbrun somewhdloadgame" (without .info or .slave) to start them.

I've also added this kind of filetype for .slave files in DOpus, to get the WHDLoad games started by double clicking a .slave file in name mode listers:
Function : AmigaDOS
WBRun `List {f} LFORMAT="*"%P%M*""`

Cool, thanks, I'll look into that as soon as I have the time!