DXLab Launcher: Controlling Applications

As shown in the annotated screen shot above, the DXLab Launcher's Main window provides three primary groups of controls:

A set of seven Application Status Indicators the indicate the state of each member of the DXLab Suite
A set of seven Individual Application Control Buttons that enable you to change the state of each DXLab application
A set of four Group Control Buttons that enable you to control multiple applications -- DXLab and non-DXLab -- simultaneously

The Main window also provides buttons that display the Launcher's Configuration window and provide access to its online documentation.

The Configuration window provides Start and Terminate buttons that enable you to start and terminate individual non-DXLab applications.

The Configuration window's Reset button directs all running DXLab applications to arrange their windows on the primary monitor. This operation is useful if you have switched from a dual-monitor configuration to a single-monitor configuration and need to regain access to windows previously resident on the second monitor.

If there are no application updates or database updates known to be available, the Launcher's Main window displays the name of the last Workspace activated in the space between the Config and Help buttons.

Application Status Indicators

Each application status indicator's color reveals the state of the DXLab application associated with the button below it:

	Indicator Color	Current State
	black	not installed
	red	not running
	cyan	starting
	green	running, not minimized
	yellow	running, minimized
	white	terminating

Individual Application Control Buttons

Each of these buttons on the Launcher's Main window controls one of the seven DXLab applications:

	Caption	DXLab Application
	cmd	Commander
	dxk	DXKeeper
	dxv	DXView
	pf	Pathfinder
	pv	PropView
	sc	SpotCollector
	ww	WinWarbler

When you click one of these buttons, the Launcher's action is determined by two factors:

the application's current state
whether or not you depressed the Ctrl key while clicking the button

Current Indicator Color	Current State	Action	New State	New Indicator Color
black	not installed	user clicks Individual Control Button	not running	red
red	not running	user clicks Individual Control Button	starting	cyan
cyan	starting	application loads and runs	running, not minimized	green
green	running, not minimized	user clicks Individual Control Button	running, minimized	yellow
green	running, not minimized	user Ctrl-clicks Individual Control Button	terminating	white
yellow	running, minimized	user clicks Individual Control Button	running, not minimized	green
yellow	running, minimized	user Ctrl-clicks Individual Control Button	terminating	white
white	terminating	application terminates	not running	red

Clicking an Individual Control Button offers to install a DXLab application that isn't yet installed, and starts an installed DXLab application that isn't running. If an application is running, clicking its Individual Control Button alternates between hiding all of its windows and restoring its Main window. Depressing the Ctrl key while clicking a running application's Individual Control Button terminates that application.

If the Launcher's Main window is activated, allowing the mouse cursor to hover over an Individual Control Button will produce a popup message describing the action that would be taken if the button were to be clicked or Ctrl-clicked.

When a DXLab application starts, its windows are restored to their state (minimized or not) when the application was last terminated.

If DXKeeper is running and you minimize its windows by clicking its Individual Control Button, it remembers whether or not its Capture window was already minimized. If not, the DXKeeper will restore both its Main and Capture windows when you again click its Individual Control Button.

If DXView is running and you minimize its windows by clicking its Individual Control Button, it remembers whether or not its World Map window was already minimized. If not, the DXView will restore both its Main and World Map windows when you again click its Individual Control Button.

Clicking an application's Status Indicator is equivalent to clicking its Individual Control Button.

You can optionally specify the pathname of a log file to be opened by DXKeeper on startup.

Group Control Buttons

	Button	Function
	Start	start all applications - DXLab and non-DXLab - whose Enab box is checked, and presents the Abort button until all applications have been directed to start
	Abort	aborts the process of starting applications, and presents the Start button
	Minimize	hide all windows of all running DXLab applications
	Restore	restore the Main windows of all running DXLab applications
	Terminate	if the CTRL key is not depressed while clicking this button, terminates all applications - DXLab and non-DXLab -whose Enab box is checked; each non-DXLab application is terminated using the method specified by its Termination selector if the CTRL key is depressed while clicking this button, terminate all applications - DXLab and non-DXLab - whether or not their Enab boxes are checked ; each non-DXLab application is terminated using the method specified by its Termination selector

If DXKeeper is running and you click the Minimize Button, it remembers whether or not its Capture window was already minimized. If not, the DXKeeper will restore both its Main and Capture windows when you click the Restore Button.

If DXView is running and you click the Minimize Button, it remembers whether or not its World Map window was already minimized. If not, the DXView will restore both its Main and World Map windows when you click the Restore Button.

You can optionally specify the pathname of a log file to be opened by DXKeeper on startup.

Order of Application Start-up and Termination

When the Main window's Start button is clicked, enabled applications are started in this order:

Apps Started Before DXLab Apps, in sequential order
DXLab Apps, in sequential order
Apps Started After DXLab Apps, in sequential order

When the Main window's Terminate button is clicked, enabled applications are terminated in this order:

Apps Started After DXLab Apps
DXLab Apps
Apps Started Before DXLab Apps

The timing of start-up and termination is illustrated in this timing diagram:

Starting non-DXLab applications

The Configuration window's Apps Started Before DXLab Apps and Apps Started After DXLab Apps tabs provide Start buttons that enable you to start individual non-DXLab applications by issuing a Command Line, whether or not their Enab box are checked.

If the tab is displaying Main Window Captions for each application, click the Show Command Lines button to display Command Line text boxes so you can specify a Command Line for each application
A Command Line that is composed of a program pathname specifying a file whose filename extension is .exe, .bat, .lnk, or .vxe may optionally be followed by one or more command line arguments; for example:

C:\HamApps\JTAlert\JTAlert.exe /wsjtx
A Command Line that is composed of a program pathname specifying a file whose filename extension is other than .exe, .bat, .lnk, or .vxe may may not specify command line arguments

Terminating non-DXLab applications

The Configuration window's Apps Started Before DXLab Apps and Apps Started After DXLab Apps tabs provide Terminate buttons that enable you to terminate individual non-DXLab applications whose program pathname does not specify a file whose extension is .bat. Each application's Termination selector specifies the method by which the application should be terminated.

Most applications can be terminated using the Kill Single method; try that first. Do not use the ForceKill termination method with any application that manages data in databases or files.

None: the application is not terminated when its Terminate button is clicked
Kill Single: the Windows Taskkill command is invoked to send a Close message to the application's Main window, which for a Windows-compliant application should ensure that open files and databases are closed before the application terminates
- the process name is extracted from the Command Line's program pathname
- neither the /f nor the /t parameters are included in the Taskkill invocation
Kill: the Windows Taskkill command is invoked to send a Close message to the application's Main window and to terminate any child processes created by the application's process
- the process name is extracted from the Command Line's program pathname
- the /t parameter is included in the Taskkill invocation
ForceKill: the Windows Taskkill command is invoked to forcefully terminate the application's process and to forcefully terminate any child processes created by the application's process
- the process name is extracted from the Command Line's program pathname
- the /f and /t parameters are included in the Taskkill invocation
- when terminating an application using this method, its open files and databases may not be updated and closed before termination; note that not all applications open and update files or databases.
Close: Windows is directed to send a Close message to the application's Main window, which for a Windows-compliant application should ensure that open files and databases are closed before the application terminates
- Using this method requires exactly specifying the application's Main Window Caption as it appears in the title bar of the application's Main window, including upper/lower case characters, spaces, and punctuation.
  
  To terminate WSJT-X using the Close method, for example, note that the WSJT-X Main window's caption has three spaces between the words "WSJT-X" and "v2.6.0" and three spaces between the words "v2.6.0" and "by":
  
  This must be exactly specified in the Main Window Caption for WSJT-X, as shown in the screen shot below:
- If the tab is displaying a Command Line for each application, click the Show Main Window Captions button to display Main Window Caption text boxes so you can specify a Main Window Caption for each application
- Note: Using this method, the Launcher cannot terminate non-DXLab applications whose Main Window title bar content changes over time.
Kill Single: the Windows Taskkill command is invoked to send a Close message to the application's Main window, which for a Windows-compliant application, should ensure that open files and databases are closed before the application terminates
- the process name is extracted from the Command Line's program pathname
- neither the /f nor the /t parameters are included in the Taskkill invocation
Kill: the Windows Taskkill command is invoked to terminate the application's process and to terminate any child processes created by the application's process
- the process name is extracted from the Command Line's program pathname
- the /t parameter is included in the Taskkill invocation
ForceKill: the Windows Taskkill command is invoked to forcefully terminate the application's process and to forcefully terminate any child processes created by the application's process
- the process name is extracted from the Command Line's program pathname
- the /f and /t parameters are included in the Taskkill invocation
- when terminating an application using this method, its open files and databases may not be updated and closed before termination; note that not all applications open and update files or databases.

To terminate a non-DXLab application without being prompted for confirmation, depress the CTRL key while clicking its Terminate button.

Each non-DXLab application's Termination selector also governs how it will be terminated if it's Enab box is checked when the Terminate button on the Launcher's Main window is clicked.

Displaying the Launcher's Configuration window

To display the Configuration window, click the Main window's Config button.