Creating objects for the Panorama (xdt3) Desktop

Because objects are used to define behavior for single icons, icon_rules clauses are needed to define Desktop behavior that affects more than a single icon. Whenever possible, however, objects should be used instead of icon_rules clauses. For example, objects should be used to implement all stand-alone applications on the Desktop, while icon_rules clauses in a local rule file should be used to define behavior uniform to all icons in a particular directory. For more information on icon_rules clauses, see ``Rule clauses''.

Some advantages of objects over icon_rules clauses is that objects are self-contained, well-suited for portability, easily exchanged from user to user, simply structured and easy to debug.

There are two ways to create objects:

• using the Object Builder client, which is the preferred tool for creating objects since it greatly simplifies the job, or

• by manually editing and creating the appropriate configuration files and directories