for techy people..
 

here is the picture: I'm writing a CD. there is a folder on this CD. I made a shortcut to a file INSIDE this folder, on the root of the CD. Logically, the shortcut wouldn't work once the CD is burned, because the path is not relative. And windows doesn't allow me to write a relative path in the shortcut configuration.

Any idea?? thx in advance.

And yes, the shortcut must be outside the folder, and the files must stay inside the folder. :D

Wait, let me get this straight with a picture and some text.

code:


cd --->          0000000000000000000000





shortcut --->        x-mas



                     __________  

folder --->         |          |





file --->           101000100111





end folder --->     |__________| 





end cd --->      00000000000000000000000

Unless I'm incorrect in my drawing, I don't see why you're so lazy and won't open the folder and click the file.

Burn your cd with no shortcuts? All problems solved.

Go to the desktop, right click, "New", "Shortcut". Input the path of the file. So, if you have:

code:


-Root

|--Folder #1

|--Folder #2

       \foo.txt

       \bar.png

You would use "\Folder #1\foo.txt". Don't worry, Windows will take care of the relative path. I'm not sure if this will work in other operating systems. If this CD is just for your system, you could always use "X:\Folder #1\foo.txt", where X: is your CD drive.

A solution which will work on all operating systems and configurations would be to include an HTML index file in the root folder. Then you could use relative hyperlinks to link to all the files on the disc.

Thank you all for trying to help. Well I'm not lazy (not in this at leasat) :) ..It's just that the CD HAS to be done this way. an outside shortcut to resources inside different folders.

Thank you in specific RM. I liked much the idea of a Master html file.. I think i will use it in some other projects.. but unfortunately in this I need solely a windows shortcut.

I tried as you have told me but the dialogue window was not accepting me putting the path the way you stated.. I dont know.. do you have any other ideas?

I still recall someone in the old days told me something about using the % quotes to determine a relative path.. any clue?

No.

ok.

I'm not sure, but Windows 2000/XP uses some variables to represent paths. So Solitare under Windows XP would be the shortcut path You could see if there is a variable representing the path to the CD rom or something. I'm not sure where you would find it though.

I think that's a good start. we're getting there. Thx n_ick2000.

Windows sees CD drives as just another drive, so by default, there is no variable for it. You could create variable on the system this disc was intended for, but that would be kind of pointless; it would only work on that one system. You may as well use "D:\folder\file.ext", or whatever. Couldn't you use a hard link or something? You'll have to do some research on hard linking, but here is something to get you started: http://mrmills.arsware.org/HardLink/

Can't you just use an autorun.inf file instead? :confused:

autorun.inf files only work linking to .exe files as I found out when I tried to link to a .html file on a CD once.

If this were during the school year I'd say this soudns like a homework assignment of some sort.

Actually, amking autorun.inf/ini's are only useful if you had wanted to launch a main app that would take care of all the resources on the disk. It seems kind of a waste to always link to a different if it didn't use a lot of the resources you burned to the disk.

Whats wrong with u ppl ...the guy needs some help and he/she is asking ...so stop making a big deal out of it :hang: ,
nature spirit:
Phily Baby is right
take a look at this link it will enable u to do links to docs like HTML docs or any other sort ,

http://www.whirlywiryweb.com/q/shellexe.asp

:cool:

Thanks for the support silence-rage.. In fact ppl here were very supportive and they tried their best. Thanks to you all.

this shellexe file is something very interesting and useful SR. I will be definitely including it. and it opens up many ideas ahead. but the thing is, it requires ALL the files to be on the root, which means we're back to stage 0: I can't point to a file INSIDE The folder from a file on the root. Unless you can store this exe file inside the folder and do a relative shortcut to it from the root.

Can you burn a multi-session disc?
If so, then burn everything except the shortcut, then make a shortcut (placed somewhere like your desktop) then put that into the cd (then close the session)

fine.. but does this make of it a relative-path shortcut? or I didn't get the idea?

Once the file's there, you can make a working, non-relative shortcut

Although it may not work in all computers (mine), it should work in most...

If I am not mistaken you could create a shortcut like this.

If the file is f:\dir\dir\file.exe

just make the shortcut

.\dir\dir\file.exe

The period will represent the current directory.

Hope this works

Theoretically, yes
But that's only if windows supports it
::tests it::
Nope, Windows doesn't allow you to link to .\folder\

Dont link to the folder create a batch file....Easy to do

Then link to the batch file.

As an example.

I tried linking my Empire earth game from the root directory by creating a batch file.

ee.bat

.\sierra\empire~1\empire~1.exe

Then I created a shortcut of this file and this worked.

Did you test this jaf?
and what is your OS Zeit?

Tested on XP and 2000... I actually copied the file over to another computer and it worked. It should work because it is a simple DOS command. But the thing to remember is that batch files dont recognize the anything but the 8.3 format. So weird directories or file names will have to be put into that format. If you dont know how to do that just use the first six characters and put a ~1 on it.

such as:

My documents = mydocu~1

Thx Zeit. I will put this to test myself as well.

Yes, I tested it

The ./folder/ thing will not work under XP.

::tests it under 95::

Nope.

I guess it's a Liux-only thing (maybe Mac. I dunno)

Dont link to the folder create a batch file....

If you link to a batch file....Not link using the .\folder thing(that won't work). It works correctly. But you have to create a working BAT file first. The link is not even really necessary. Its just nice to have a good looking icon. I have tested this on about 12 diffrent files. They all work.

excuse me Zeit. Could you now please give us the complete picture in order to recapitulate everything.. I mean from the beginning from A to Z.. consider this some of "How to create a relative shortcut for Dummies" series :)

Sure...

Create a batch file in any directory. There are many ways of doing this. Create a file in notepad and name it with a .BAT extension. Or, go to the command prompt and type COPY CON File.BAT type out the bat file and then hit CNTRL-Z and then Enter. Basically there should be only one line in the bat file. And that points to the file name you want to run. Such as

for quicktime

.\progra~1\quickt~1\quickt~1.exe

Once you have the Bat file created you can then link to the BAT file. Just create a shortcut and then you can make changes to the icon and everything else...

Zeit

I take that back..1st step is to create the BAT file in the root of the drive.

hmm.. ok so the idea is to have a bat file instead of the shortcut on the root.. right?

but you talked about the icon.. a bat file doesn't take icons unless you make shortcuts to it.. so are we back to square 1?

Just like I said... Create a link(shortcut) to the bat file to allow a diffrent icon, and how it behaves. Close on exit, run minimized....etc..

The whole problem was creating a shortcut. If we could create a shortcut to the .bat, then we might as well skip the .bat and just make a shortcut to whatever we want!

You know, I may be able to make a shortcut in a CD with Nero. If you sent the files to me somehow (you can't right now, but I can give you a username and password later [few days, I'm away]) I could probably link to whatever you wanted.

ok now I got it Zeit. Sounds interesting Jaf as well.. I'll be waiting for u to come back!

It will be a few days, and I'm not in control of when we come back (stuck with family and they're going to concerts)

And, if you'd like, I could also give you some free web hosting as long as the account's set up for the FTP server (I don't like my FTP server)

That goes for anyone who wants web hosting.
You will be (yournamehere).hopto.org if it's available, and if you (or someone else) helps me get my DNS server up, you'll be (yourname).jaf1230.com

And you get unlimited (within reason) web hosting. If you want extra servers, you have to help me set them up, but I'd be glad to set them up for you