Reply To: launching shell scripts.

[Derek Read]

Can I assume your question is this?
“How do I allow my authors, while editing in XMetaL Author, to run an external process?”

To do this you need to build an MCR file that contains a macro that will instantiate the standard Windows control “WScript.Shell” to run the process you want to run. If you know how to create an MCR file and how to script then all of the answers you need should be in this thread: http://forums.xmetal.com/index.php/topic,1096.0.html

If you don't know how to build an MCR file then you should read the XMetaL Developer Programmers Guide and Customization Guide.

What that thread does not discuss is how to connect your macro (script) to a toolbar button or menu item. However, that is basically answered in the XMetaL Developer Programmers Guide and Customization Guide as well, provided you have a look at some of the demo customizations that ship with XMetaL Author Essential or Enterprise. For this particular case I would suggest the DocBook demo.

If your question is about something else please provide more details.

If what you are building is going to be used in conjunction with the DITA authoring functionality keep in mind that we generally don't support extending that solution by adding macros of this type. It is very easy to break the customization that makes up the DITA authoring solution by adding additional script code (naming conflicts, problems with event timing, etc). There are specific points in the code you can extend the DITA authoring functionality but they do not include this type of thing.

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