The desktop client enables you to add your own customized tools to perform tasks from within the desktop client. A custom tool employs an executable file (.exe, .bat, or .cmd) that can be run from your local machine or a network and is invoked from a menu selection within the desktop client. It can also be supplied with information from the desktop client at the time it is invoked. This is defined using keywords and filters, for which values are substituted at run time. Once started, such a process runs independently outside the desktop client GUI, and may itself involve a GUI or console-mode interface for its operation.
For a detailed account and examples of using custom tools, see "Using Custom Tools in the Desktop Client" in the Dimensions User's Guide.
Once defined, the menu options for the custom tools appear as a group, by default at the bottom of the Tools pulldown menu. You can change the position in which they appear by moving the <custom tools insertion point> entry under the Pulldowns category in the Menu Sets tab of the Customize dialog. The menu options for custom tools must always appear together, but they can be arranged in a hierarchy within their group.
Related Topics