Start Program

Available in: Actual Window Manager, Actual Window Guard, Actual Title Buttons, Actual Window Menu.

The Start Program action lets you launch an application or open a document in the context of a particular window. This action's parameters and behavior are similar to well-known Windows shortcuts - you specify the target object (either application, document or URL) and, in addition, can specify its work folder, window initial state and command line parameters (if target object is an application). The target object will be launched in a same way as if you would have found it using Windows Explorer and either left double-clicked on it or right clicked on it and selected the Open command:

  • if the target object is an application - then it will be launched "as is" (of course, considering the specified initial window state, command line parameters and work folder);
  • if the target object is a document - the it will be opened with the program specified in your system as default for such kind of documents;
  • if the target object is a URL - the it will be opened in a new instance (window or tab) of your default Internet browser.

While specifying command line parameters, you can use special substitutional symbols to provide the target application information about the window from which it has been launched:

%hwnd%, %hwndx% - decimal/hexadecimal value of window's handle;
%caption% - window's caption string;
%class% - window's class identifier;
%filename% - file name (including the full path) to window's application;
%pid%, %pidx% - decimal/hexadecimal value of window's process identifier (PID).

Actual Window Manager will automatically replace these symbols with their actual values retrieved from the window. Of course, target application must have an appropriate command line keys denoting that it can handle additional information like this.

Another useful option of this action is that you can run the specified target in a separate session using other user's account with different security rights/permissions. Specify this option to display general "Run As" dialog before launching the target, where you can select an appropriate user account and specify its credentials (user name and password).

Possible triggers: Startup, Title Buttons, Window Menu.