Overview

The idea behind loading objects is that you have your current desktop and you want to import onto it other objects that either came with DesktopX or came from the net. If you already have some great desktop you created previously, then you will want to go to the Desktop Themes section.

By default, DesktopX objects are loaded into the “client” environment. That means that when you right-click on a desktop object, you will only get a couple of options (typically remove and set target). If you want to have the ability to modify those objects, you’ll need to go into the DesktopX development environment (by clicking “Create” on the DesktopX Welcome dialog).

Now, if you want to always be able to modify objects (and desktops) whenever you want, then you’re going to want to have the DesktopX development environment be the default environment which you can do by loading it up and going to its preference dialog and choosing that option:

Figure 1: You can have the DesktopX development environment be the
default environment by choosing "Create" and then clicking on the preferences tab.

If you’re in the DesktopX development environment when you’re importing widgets, you’ll get a very different right-click menu on it:

Figure 2: When in the development environment, far more options are available to modify DesktopX objects.

We’ll go more into what can be done with objects later when we talk about the development environment.

Objects can be more than just Super Icons, referred to as Zoomers in the online community.  An object ("parent") can include other objects ("children") inside of it.

Loading Objects

To load an Object from the DesktopX Welcome menu, click on the "Load Object" button and an Explorer window will open listing the installed Objects (.dxpack).  Double-click on the desired object to run it.  After loading an object(s), you may need to move or minimize the Explorer window to see the icons, as they may be obstructed by it.  When you are finished loading objects, click on close .

Objects maybe static (non-animated) when the cursor is not on top of them on the desktop.  Once you move the cursor over the icon (called "Mouseover") the icon becomes animated and again when you click on it.

Object Folder (static).	Object Folder (mouseover).	Object Folder (clicked).
Email object (static).	Email object (mouseover).	Email object (clicked).

Object Properties

Some of the objects are shortcuts to applications on your computer, shortcuts that open a folder, etc. and may offer a number of options when you right-click on the object.  Not all objects are icons, but you can still right-click on them to see if any options are available.  Some objects may have an additional options menu if you right click on a specific area or graphic.  The following shows the options for an object (i.e. Word.dxpack) that allows you to "Set target", which opens a dialog box:

Quick Reference

Action	What it does
File shortcut OR Folder shortcut	File shortcut - object will open a program. Folder shortcut - object will open the specific folder.
	Select a program from the pull-down menu or Browse to it or type in a known file type (e.g. .eml) registered with Windows and Windows will run the associated application.
	Place any command line arguments here to be passed to the application.
	Show the application opened by the shortcut as: Normal (size it was last closed as) , Iconic (minimized), and maximized.
	If "Folder shortcut" is selected, click the pull-down menu to select folder (i.e. Control Panel) or Browse to the desired folder to open. Check "Open as popup menu" to open a menu instead of a folder.  For instance, instead of opening the Control Panel window, a menu would open, listing all of the tasks available in the Control Panel.
	Allows you to set the location of the menu.

Another option on the right-click menu for some objects is "Remove" which removes (deletes) the object from your desktop.

Some objects if set to open say, the Control Panel, will offer options related to those found on the Control Panel.