Appendix B. Desktop Variables
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## Appendix B. Desktop Variables

Variables that are used by the Desktop are listed below. Some of these variables can be customized by the user. You can use any of these variables as part of the OPEN, ALTOPEN, or PRINT file typing rules, or as part of the FILTER print conversion rule. In IRIX 6.3 and above, variable substitution is done by the libraries; typically you do not set environment variables. However, if a variable would expand to null, the desktop automatically sets an empty environment variable.

## Variables Set By the Desktop

The variables listed below are preset by the Desktop (that is, the Desktop sets their values).

$LEADER |  | If one or more icons are currently selected from the Desktop, LEADER is set to the icon that is selected first. If no icon is selected, it is set to null.
$REST |  | If more than one icon is currently selected from the Desktop, REST contains the list of names of all selected icons except the highlighted icon (see LEADER above). Otherwise, it is set to null.
$LEADERTYPE |  | If one or more icons are currently selected from the Desktop, LEADERTYPE is set to the TYPE of the icon whose text field is highlighted. If no icons are selected, it is set to null.
$RESTTYPE |  | When more than one icon is currently selected from the Desktop, RESTTYPE contains the TYPE for all selected icons except the highlighted icon, if the remainder of the selected icons are all of the same TYPE. If they are not the same TYPE, or only one icon is selected, RESTTYPE is set to null.
$RESTTYPELIST |  | Contains the list of TYPEs corresponding to the arguments in REST. If only one icon is selected, RESTTYPELIST is set to null.
$ARGC |  | Contains the number of selected icons.
$TARGET |  | Set only for the CMD DROP rule, TARGET contains the name of the icon being dropped upon; otherwise it is set to null.
$TARGETTYPE |  | Set only for the CMD DROP rule, TARGETTYPE contains the TYPE of the icon being dropped upon; otherwise it is set to null.
$SELECTED |  | Contains the names of the selected icons (whether or not a drop occurs on TARGET).
$SELECTEDTYPE |  | If all of the icons named in SELECTED are of the same TYPE, SELECTEDTYPE contains that TYPE; otherwise it is set to null.
$SELECTEDTYPELIST |  | Contains a list of TYPEs corresponding to the TYPEs of the selected icons named in SELECTED. If only one icon is selected, it is set to null.
$WINTERM |  | Contains the name of the window terminal invoked from the Desktop using `winterm(1)`. Currently supported window terminals are `wsh` (the default) and `xterm`.

## Variables Set By the User

The variables listed below can be set by the user and the Desktop passes these customizable variables to the FTRs. Users set these variables from the Toolchest->Desktop->Customize->Utilities panel (or by the command, dtUtilities). See “Using the Default Viewer and Editor Utilities Panel” in Chapter 10 for more information.

$WINEDITOR |  | Contains the path to and name for the text editor invoked from the Desktop. The default editor is `/usr/sbin/``jot`.
$WEBBROWSER |  | Contains the path to and name of an X Window System application that is a World Wide Web visual browser (for example, `/usr/bin/X11/netscape`).
$IMGVIEWER |  | Contains the path to and name of an application that displays image files (for example, `/usr/bin/X11/imgview`).
$MAILBOXPROG |  | Contains the path to and name of a mail reader application (for example, `/usr/bin/X11/MediaMail -gui`).
$BOOKVIEWER |  | Contains the path to and name of an application that displays InSight books (for example, `/usr/sbin/insight`).
$PSVIEWER |  | Contains the path to and name of an application for viewing PostScript files (for example, `/usr/bin/X11/showps`).

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