Defining the Command String

The Command String property provides the command string that is executed when the external application is launched. By default, the command string supplied when you add a new launch definition is the name of the launch definition itself. If you do not change this value, you must add a program or script to data-folder\extapp-scripts with this name.

Note: An external application runs on the Operations Sentinel workstation from which it was launched; it does not run on the managed system for which the user launched it. The external application can determine for which system it was launched from the environment variable SP_HOST.

To define the command string

  1. In the navigation pane, select the External Applications node, and then select the desired launch definition(s) in the display pane.

  2. In the details pane, enter the command string in the Command String property.

    See Command String Values for additional help on entering a command string. See About Environment Variables for more information on the environment variables you can refer to in the Command String.

  3. Save your changes.

Command String Values

The Command String property provides the command string that is executed when the external application is launched.

The Windows operating system must be able to find any script or executable you specify. It is recommended that you store all your external applications in the data-folder\extapp-scripts folder. However, you could also use the environment variable PATH or specify the fully qualified path (for example, C:\folderX\subfolderY\script.vbs) in the Command String property.

To launch a script, such as a Visual Basic or Java script, using the Windows Scripting Host executables "cscript" or "wscript," enter either

To launch an MS-DOS command file or a visible MS-DOS command prompt window, enter either

Launches a visible MS-DOS command prompt window into which you can enter commands.

Launches an MS-DOS command file, such as a batch file with the extension .cmd or .bat.

Note: Using cmd in conjunction with start in the command line to call a program, such as Internet Explorer, causes the program to remain open after you exit Operations Sentinel Console.

cmd /s /c start iexplore “http://%sp_external_network_name%/nxwebstation/”