Add the Ability to Launch an Application from a Dialog

At times, you may want your users to launch a separate application while answering questions in a specific dialog. You can add an option to a dialog that lets users either click a hyperlink or click a button to start the application.

For example, perhaps your users may need to calculate a number before entering their answer in an interview. You can provide a link on the dialog that launches the Windows Calculator so they can calculate their answer.

To place the link on a dialog

  1. Open a dialog for editing. (See Edit a Custom Dialog.) HotDocs displays the Dialog Editor.
  2. At the Properties tab of the Dialog Editor, click the Dialog Element button and drag it to the Contents list. The Dialog Element Editor appears.
  3. Enter a name for the component in the Dialog element name field, or select Generate name automatically , which allows HotDocs to name the component.
  4. In the Style group, select Application link.
  5. In the Executable file field, click the Browse button and locate the application's .EXE file.
  6. In the Link text field, enter the text you want to use as the link.
  7. Click the Options tab and select how you'd like the link to appear on the dialog, based on the following information:
    • In the Display as group, select whether the link should be a Button or Hyperlink. (If you select Button, you can specify a custom button size in the Button size group.)
    • If you select Hyperlink, select whether the link should include text, an image, or both in the Display using group. (Enter the name of the image file in the Image file field if you select Image.)
    • In the Display in group, select Desktop interviews. (Application links are not allowed in HotDocs Server interviews.)
  8. Click OK. The Dialog Element Editor is closed.
  9. Drag the component up or down in the Contents list, depending on where you want the hyperlink placed on the dialog.

When specifying the executable file, if you include just the program's file name and not a folder path, HotDocs looks for the executable file in the same folder as the template. If it doesn't find the file there, it looks in the HotDocs program folder. Finally, if the file is still not found, HotDocs uses information from the Windows Path Environment variable to search for it.

You may include command-line options in the file path of the executable, for example, "C:\Windows\Notepad.exe" c:\Temp\MyTextFile.txt.