Launching a Linux Executable from a Windows app Running under Wine

[Mike Engelhardt]

I write a Windows application that I want to be
useful under Linux & WINE.  I want to use xchm to
view the help documentation .chm file since
WINE doesn't yet properly display this .chm file
which was generated with third party tools and
includes advanced features.  xchm does render the
file acceptably and I'll e-mail the .chm file to
anyone interested in that.

But for the time being, I want to simply launch
xchm from my app whenever my app finds itself
being run under WINE.  What I have is done so far
is system() a command with path names of xchm
and my .chm file that seem to basically be trying
to outsmart WINE outsmarting Windows.  Clearly this
is an ugly hack and is not a long term solution.

Is there a supported/recommended manner of launching
an X Window System executable with Linux absolute
path arguments from a MS Windows application running
under Linux & WINE?

--Mike

[Steven Edwards]

On Tue, Sep 9, 2008 at 11:24 AM, Mike Engelhardt
 wrote:
> Is there a supported/recommended manner of launching
> an X Window System executable with Linux absolute
> path arguments from a MS Windows application running
> under Linux & WINE?

There is a script to invoke native apps that have a windows
association. I don't know if this will really work the way you want.
If you expect to be able to just click on help and have it invoke xchm
for chm files, then no but if there is a windows association set and
your application tries to open the file using the association method,
like say you have pdf files registered using xpdf and IE tries to Open
the pdf, then yes it will work.

[Mike Engelhardt]

Steve,
> On Tue, Sep 9, 2008 at 11:24 AM, Mike Engelhardt
>  wrote:
> > Is there a supported/recommended manner of launching
> > an X Window System executable with Linux absolute
> > path arguments from a MS Windows application running
> > under Linux & WINE?
>
> There is a script to invoke native apps that have a windows
> association. I don't know if this will really work the way you want.
> If you expect to be able to just click on help and have it invoke xchm
> for chm files, then no but if there is a windows association set and
> your application tries to open the file using the association method,
> like say you have pdf files registered using xpdf and IE tries to Open
> the pdf, then yes it will work.

I'm do not want to change global associations, I just
want a way to launch a Linux executable from a Windows
program.  Right now, I've written the Windows app to
do this:

char XchmViewer[MAX_PATH] = "Z:\usr\bin\xchm";
   sprintf(cmd, "%s %s", XchmViewer, helpfilepath);
   system(cmd);

Where the helpfilepath is computed to outsmart WINE
trying to outsmart Windows.  I also don't like that
I have to use a path like "Z:\usr\bin\xchm" to
invoke /usr/bin/xchm since my app should not need to
know what the drive letters are.

Since I'm the one writing the Windows app, I would like
to be able to launch a better native Linux app to launch
than WINE's .chm viewer.

--Mike

[Rob Shearman]

2008/9/9 Mike Engelhardt :
> Steve,
> > On Tue, Sep 9, 2008 at 11:24 AM, Mike Engelhardt
> >  wrote:
> > > Is there a supported/recommended manner of launching
> > > an X Window System executable with Linux absolute
> > > path arguments from a MS Windows application running
> > > under Linux & WINE?
> >
> > There is a script to invoke native apps that have a windows
> > association. I don't know if this will really work the way you want.
> > If you expect to be able to just click on help and have it invoke xchm
> > for chm files, then no but if there is a windows association set and
> > your application tries to open the file using the association method,
> > like say you have pdf files registered using xpdf and IE tries to Open
> > the pdf, then yes it will work.
>
> I'm do not want to change global associations, I just
> want a way to launch a Linux executable from a Windows
> program.  Right now, I've written the Windows app to
> do this:
>
> char XchmViewer[MAX_PATH] = "Z:\usr\bin\xchm";
>   sprintf(cmd, "%s %s", XchmViewer, helpfilepath);
>   system(cmd);
>
> Where the helpfilepath is computed to outsmart WINE
> trying to outsmart Windows.  I also don't like that
> I have to use a path like "Z:\usr\bin\xchm" to
> invoke /usr/bin/xchm since my app should not need to
> know what the drive letters are.
>
> Since I'm the one writing the Windows app, I would like
> to be able to launch a better native Linux app to launch
> than WINE's .chm viewer.

Hi Mike,

You should you should just do "ShellExecute(helpfilepath)" and set the
default value of HKCR\chm.file\shell\open\command to Z:\usr\bin\xchm
on install and the user can change this if he or she wishes.

I think it is safe to assume that Z: will always map to "/" in Wine.
You can always not install the association if Z: isn't mapped to
anything.