(Demo) APP Launcher

Downloads APP Launcher for win64 OpenGL 2.1 demopack Demo: geexlab-demopack-gl-21/d29-imgui/app-launcher/ Forum thread (EN)

APP Launcher is a simple GeeXLab demo that allows to launch local executable files, open folders and open web links in the default or in a specific browser. It can be seen as a way to store your favorite links without dependencies to a specific browser.

This demo is actually a template you can customize with our own URLs. APP Launcher is coded in Lua and is essentially based on Dear ImGui.

Unzip the demo archive where you want and launch AppLauncher.exe. The source code of the demo is in the src/ folder. Interesting stuff is in the frame.lua file.

 
Here is a code snippet to open a web link in the default web browser:

if (gh_imgui.button("Google", 100, 30) == 1) then
  gh_utils.open_url("https://google.com")
end

 
When you have several browsers in your system (I have Chrome, Firefox and MSEdge), it can be useful to open a web link in Chrome and another link in Firefox (I think to twitter accounts for example).

Here is how to open a web link in a new browser window:

– Firefox:

if (gh_imgui.button("Google", 100, 30) == 1) then
  gh_utils.sys_exec("firefox", "-new-window https://google.com", "")
end

 
– Chrome:

if (gh_imgui.button("Google", 100, 30) == 1) then
  gh_utils.sys_exec("chrome", "/new-window https://google.com", "")
end

 
– MSEdge:

if (gh_imgui.button("Google", 100, 30) == 1) then
  gh_utils.sys_exec("msedge", "/new-window https://google.com", "")
end

 
Here is the way to launch a local executable, like Explorer:

if (gh_imgui.button("Explorer", 100, 30) == 1) then
  gh_utils.sys_exec("explorer", "D:\\", "")
end

 
It’s super easy to modify or add your own web links in the frame.lua script. You can also change the background texture. This demo is designed to be hacked to fit your needs.

If you have lot of links, you can use list boxes, trees or tabs to organize and group your links. The OpenGL 2.1 demopack contains several Dear ImGui demos that cover all features you need (check the geexlab-demopack-gl-21/d29-imgui/ folder of the demopack).

Here is the screenshot of APP Launcher:

 

Update (2020.08.03)
The APP launcher demo is also available for Linux in the OpenGL 2.1 demopack (folder: geexlab-demopack-gl-21/d29-imgui/app-launcher/).