In this section, you can define your own Variables. The variables are initialized at startup (when reading the configuration file).
Here is an example of a [Variables]
section:
[Variables]
Name: MyAppVer; Type: static; Value: "version 1.0"
Name: MyAppPath; Type: registry; Root: HKLM; Key: "Software\My Company\My App"; ValueName: "InstallPath"; Flags: ispath; DefaultValue: "%ProgramFiles%\MyApp"
Name: ComputerName; Type: environment; EnvName: "COMPUTERNAME"
Name: MyParam; Type: commandline; ParamName: "MyParam"; DefaultValue: "Cow"
Name: Prompt; Type: prompt; PromptCaption: "My Tray Menu"; PromptText: "Please enter a message:"; DefaultValue: "Hello World"
The following is a list of the supported parameters:
- NameREQ
-
Value
String
Description
The name of the variable.
Example
Name: MyVariable
- TypeREQ
-
Value
static
|registry
|environment
|commandline
|prompt
Description
Tells AeTrayMenu what sort of variable you're creating. The following variable types are available:
- Static variables just contain a fixed value;
- Registry variables are read from the Windows registry;
- Environment variables are taken from Windows environment variables;
- Commandline variables are read from the AeTrayMenu command-line arguments;
- Prompt variables don't contain a fixed value; instead, when they are encountered, a message box pops up, asking the user for its contents.
Example
Type: static
- Flags
-
Value
Flag list
Description
This parameter is a set of extra options. Multiple options may be used by separating them by spaces. The following options are supported:
- ispath
- Marks the variable as a path variable (see Variables for more information).
Example
Flags: ispath
- Value
-
Value
String
Description
If the variable's type is "static", this parameter specifies the contents of the variable.
Example
Value: "my text here"
- Root
-
Value
HKCR
|HKCU
|HKLM
|HKU
|HKCC
Description
For registry variables, this parameter specifies the root key.
Example
Root: HKCU
- Key
-
Value
StringVAR
Description
For registry variables, this parameter specifies the subkey name.
Example
Key: "Software\My Company\My Program"
- ValueName
-
Value
StringVAR
Description
For registry variables, this parameter specifies the name of the registry value to read. If this is blank, the "Default" value is read. The registry value's contents are automatically converted to a string.
Example
ValueName: "Version"
- EnvName
-
Value
StringVAR
Description
For environment variables, this parameter specifies the name of the environment variable to read.
Example
EnvName: "PATH"
- ParamName
-
Value
StringVAR
Description
For command-line variables, this parameter gives the name of the command-line parameter to read (case-insensitive). The command-line parameter should be in the form -name=value
. See Command-line Parameters for more information.
Example
ParamName: "myparam"
- PromptCaptionVAR
-
Value
String
Description
Contains the text in the caption bar of the message box that pops up when the prompt variable is encountered.
Example
PromptCaption: "My Tray Menu"
- PromptTextVAR
-
Value
String
Description
Contains the message box text of the prompt that appears when the prompt variable is encountered.
Example
PromptText: "Please enter the message you want to send:"
- DefaultValue
-
Value
StringVAR
Description
If you specify a default value, this value will be used if reading the variable's contents from the registry, the environment or the command-line fails (e.g. because the command-line parameter hasn't been specified, or the key doesn't exist). If reading the variable fails, and no default value has been given, AeTrayMenu will show an error message and exit at startup.
Example 1
DefaultValue: "%ProgramFiles%\MyApp"
Example 2
DefaultValue: ""
This example will cause any errors to be hidden from the user; if there is an error, the variable will be empty.

See Also
Variables