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Common Desktop Environment: Advanced User's and System Administrator's Guide 7 Desktop Search PathsContents of Chapter:
The desktop provides four search paths, described in Table 7-1.
The search paths can include both local and remote directories. Thus, the search paths play an important role in the networking architecture of the desktop. For example, a system finds applications on an application server because that application server is listed in the application search path. When a search path includes a remote location, you must configure remote file access to the location. For more information, see "Configuring Distributed File System Access". Desktop Search Paths and Their Environment VariablesThe desktop search paths are created at login by the desktop utility dtsearchpath. The dtsearchpath utility uses a combination of environment variables and built-in locations to create the search paths.The environment variables that dtsearchpath reads are called input variables. These are variables set by the system administrator or end user. The input variables use the naming convention DTSP*. When dtsearchpath runs at login time, it assembles the values assigned to these variables, adds built-in locations, and creates values for output variables. There is an output variable for each search path.
Components use the values of the output variables. For example, Application Manager uses the value of the application search path (DTAPPSEARCHPATH) to locate application groups. Setting the Value of a Search PathYou can modify the search paths on a system-wide or personal basis. Modifications are done by setting values for the system-wide or personal input variables. Any modifications you make are added to the built-in search path locations.To See the Current Value for a Search Path (Output Variable)Use the dtsearchpath command to display the current values for the search paths:
To Make Personal Modifications to a Search Path
To Make System-Wide Modifications to a Search Path
Application Search PathThe application search path is the primary search path used by the desktop to locate applications on the local system and on application servers throughout the network.When locations are added to the application search path, the other search paths (database, icon, and help) are automatically updated to reflect the corresponding locations for that data; thus, the application search path provides relatively simple administration for applications and their desktop configuration files. See "How the Application Search Path Affects the Database, Icon, and Help Search Paths". Default Application Search PathThe default application search path includes personal, system-wide, and built-in locations. The default language is C.
Application Search Path Environment VariablesThe application search path is assembled from the built-in locations and the following input variables:
Syntax for the Application Search Path Input VariablesThe syntax for the variables DTSPSYSAPPHOSTS and DTSPUSERAPPHOSTS is:
where location can have the syntax:
How the Value of the Application Search Path Is AssembledThe value of the application search path (DTAPPSEARCHPATH) is created by assembling the following locations, listed in order of precedence:
is expanded to specify the directory /etc/dt/appconfig/appmanager on system hostname.Changing the Precedence of the System-Wide Local LocationBy default, the local system-wide location (/etc/dt/appconfig/appmanager/language) has precedence over remote locations. Thus, local application groups have precedence over remote groups with the same name. For example, if both the local and remote systems have Printer application groups (/etc/dt/appconfig/appmanager/language/Printers), the local group is used.The application search path input variables provide syntax for specifying the precedence of the local system-wide application groups:
For example, suppose your system must access application servers SysA, SysB, and SysC, and you want the system-wide application groups on SysB to have precedence over any local groups with the same name.The following value for DTSPSYSAPPHOSTS creates this behavior:
How the Application Search Path Affects the Database, Icon, and Help Search PathsAdditions to the application search path automatically add corresponding locations to the database, icon, and help search paths. This provides the ability to add an application server to a search path by setting only the application search path input variable.For example, if you set DTSPSYSAPPHOSTS as follows:
then the following search paths are affected:
then the following search paths are affected:
Database (Action/Data Types) Search PathThe database search path directs the desktop to search specified locations for files containing:
Default Database Search PathThe default database search path includes personal, system-wide, and built-in locations. The default language is C.
How the Application Search Path Affects the Database Search PathWhen a location is added to the application search path, the appropriate database subdirectory is automatically added to the database search path (see "How the Application Search Path Affects the Database, Icon, and Help Search Paths").For example, if the application server hosta: is added to the application search path, the directory hosta:/etc/dt/appconfig/types/language is automatically added to the database search path. Database Search Path Environment VariablesThe database search path is assembled from the built-in locations and the following input variables:
The assembled database search path is specified by the output variable DTDATABASESEARCHPATH. Syntax for the Database Search Path Input VariablesThe syntax for the variables DTSPSYSDATABASEHOSTS and DTSPUSERDATABASEHOSTS is:
where location can have the syntax:
How the Database Search Path Is AssembledThe value of the database search path (DTDATABASESEARCHPATH) is created by assembling the following locations, listed in order of precedence:
is expanded to specify the directory /etc/dt/appconfig/types on system hostname.Icon Search PathThe icon search path directs the desktop to search specified locations for files containing bitmap and pixmap image files used by the desktop.Default Icon Search PathThe default icon search path includes personal, system-wide, and built-in locations. The default language is C.
How the Application Search Path Affects the Icon Search PathWhen a location is added to the application search path, the appropriate icon subdirectory is automatically added to the icon search path (see "How the Application Search Path Affects the Database, Icon, and Help Search Paths").For example, if the application server hosta: is added to the application search path, the directory hosta:/etc/dt/appconfig/icons/language is automatically added to the icon search path. Icon Search Path Environment VariablesThe database search path is assembled from the built-in locations and the following input variables:
The assembled database search path is specified by two output variables:
Syntax for the Icon Search Path Input VariablesThe syntax for the variables DTSPSYSICON and DTSPUSERICON is:
where location can have the syntax:
How the Icon Search Path Is AssembledThe value of the icon search path (XMICONSEARCHPATH and XMICONBMSEARCHPATH) is created by assembling the following locations, listed in order of precedence:
Help Search PathThe help search path directs the desktop to search specified locations for files containing help information that will be registered on your system.Default Help Search PathThe default help search path includes personal, system-wide, and built-in locations. The default language is C.
How the Application Search Path Affects the Help Search PathWhen a location is added to the application search path, the appropriate help subdirectory is automatically added to the help search path (see "How the Application Search Path Affects the Database, Icon, and Help Search Paths").For example, if the application server hosta: is added to the application search path, the directory hosta:/etc/dt/appconfig/help/language is automatically added to the help search path. Help Search Path Environment VariablesThe help search path is assembled from the built-in locations and the following input variables:
The assembled database search path is specified by the output variable DTHELPSEARCHPATH. Syntax for the Help Search Path Input VariablesThe syntax for the variables DTSPSYSHELP and DTSPUSERHELP is:
where location can have the syntax:
How the Help Search Path Is AssembledThe value of the help search path (DTHELPSEARCHPATH) is created by assembling the following locations, listed in order of precedence:
Localized Search PathsThe output variables include entries for both localized and default (C) locations.For example, the default application search path is:
where language is the value of the LANG environment variable.For each scope (system-wide and built-in), the language-specific location has precedence over the default location.
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