Foreign Objects & External Programs
 

Hello there!

I want to start some external programs from within RW. I have read in other threads that the snippet "foreign objects" is available for that purpose.

I'm trying to start a .jar file. that program relies on the current path. It doesn't seem to launch or produce an error message. Is the "home directory" set by RW to the external programs path? Or do I have to link it another way?

Foreign Objects hold a copy of whatever file you put into it. When you tell RW to view the object, RW writes a copy of the foreign object to your temp directory and launches it. If my test was accurate, the starting directory for the new process is the same as for Realm Works' process.

I wouldn't recommend trying to link programs into your database, but a batch file, VBScript, or PowerShell script might be the best way to do so. I haven't tried HTML with file: links.

Just purchased RW and looking for more information on "Foreign Objects"? Anyone have a link to a tutorial or document detailing how these work?

A foreign object is a file that RW doesn't inherently know how to open. So to open it RW relies on a program that can open it being installed on the computer. This functions exactly like double clicking a file in Windows Explorer.