Setting the exec.path Property

Note: The information on this page is for the Content Viewers feature, which is not available on all platforms. If the Edit->Content Viewer Preferences option is missing, (for example, if you are running &browser.name.prefix;TM &browser.name.suffix; on the JavaStationTM platform), the information on this page does not apply to your browser.

On the Content Viewer Preferences page, you can specify what &browser.name; should do when it needs to display files of a particular type. One option is to launch an external application to display that content. Whenever the Action listed for a particular content type is View in Application, &browser.name; must be able to find the specified application. &browser.name; is shipped with a default set of application mappings that it tries to launch for various content types, but it cannot know where to find those applications on your system without you specifying the application locations.

You must tell &browser.name; where on your system to find the external applications listed in the viewer application mappings. You do this by setting the exec.path property in your &browser.name; properties file. (The exception is when you add a new content type, with the action View in Application, and you explicitly specify the full path name for the application. In this case you do not have to list that particular application's path in your exec.path property.)

If you try to download a file and &browser.name; displays the message Unable to Launch Viewer, you probably do not have your exec.path property set correctly.

The exec.path property is a vertical bar-separated list of full directory names on your machine where &browser.name; should look for external viewer applications.

Refer to the section below that corresponds to your platform for information about setting the exec.path property for the supported set of viewer applications.

Windows Systems
Solaris Systems


Setting exec.path on Windows Systems

On Windows systems, the properties file is in your home directory if the environment variable HOME, HOMEDRIVE, or HOMEPATH is set. Otherwise it is:
   browser-install-directory\.hotjava\properties
Add the exec.path setting to this file. Note that you need to quit &browser.name; before editing this file, or else your edits will be lost when you later quit the current browser session.

A typical exec.path setting on Windows NT might be:

   exec.path=c:\\winnt35\\system32|c:\\winnt35

Note the double \\'s in this property. The backslash (\) is the Escape character for the properties file. This means &browser.name; interprets the character following a \ literally. Whenever &browser.name; finds a \ in the properties file, it ignores any special meanings for the character that follows it. Since the \ character itself has a special meaning, you must use double backslash (\\) in the properties file to get a single backslash (\).

To ensure that &browser.name; can execute a basic set of applications that &browser.name; might launch on Windows systems, make sure your exec.path property lists the paths for these applications: xanim, wordpad, acroread, and mplayer.


Setting exec.path on SolarisTM Systems

On Solaris systems, your properties file is:
   $HOME/.hotjava/properties
Add the exec.path setting to this file. Note that you need to quit &browser.name; before editing this file, or else your edits will be lost when you later quit the current browser session.

A typical setting of the exec.path property for Solaris users might be:

   exec.path=/usr/bin|/usr/local/bin|/bin|/usr/dist/exe

To ensure that &browser.name; can execute a common set of applications that &browser.name; might launch on Solaris systems, make sure your exec.path property lists the paths for these applications: acroread, imagetool, xterm, troff, nroff, col, more, xdvi, audiotool, textedit, applix, and mpeg_play.

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