Rob Wilkerson

Having become oh-so-fond of QuickSilver in recent months, I not so recently installed a similar application called Launchy on my Windows machine at work (and on my Windows VM at home). I love having the ability to completely neglect my mouse, but Launchy started annoying me a few weeks ago. A little investigation revealed that it wasn't Launchy's fault at all. My own sense of curiosity failed me. Allow me to explain...

In an effort to eliminate, ahem, maybe just reduce, distraction, I installed a Mozilla product called WebRunner (now Prism) that allows web applications to be run in separate, slimmed down browser windows. What I mean is that each running application runs in its own window. Firefox runs faster when I don't have tabs open for Google Reader (and other web apps) at all times and I'm not in that constant state of distraction imposed by the vague promise that the latest content picked up my my aggregator of choice will dramatically alter my fortune or change my life forever (it almost never does either). Using WebRunner/Prism, these "applications" are stored as .webapp files and that extension is registered to open in the WebRunner/Prism application. These are really just glorified bookmarks, but double-clicking a .webapp file will open a new WebRunner/Prism window with the web application of choice open and ready for use just as if it had been opened in Firefox (or, in an effort to be non-browserist, any other browser). The app no longer slowing down Firefox and, with the help of TaskSwitchXP, can be minimized to my system tray and forgotten about for most of the day to reduce distraction.

Once I had this nifty little application installed and a few oft used applications saved as .webapp files, I assumed I would be able use Launchy to run them. Not so; I couldn't get it to work. I tried rebuilding the index (many, many times), but I was never able to get Launchy to pick up my .webapp files. Finally, in a fit of malevolent energy, I started digging and had one of those slap-yourself-in-the-head moments. I had never even looked at the Directories option in the Launchy context menu (accessed by activating Launchy and right-clicking anywhere in the application chrome).

Turns out that, by default, Launchy indexes everything in only a few directories and only one extension in any directory. Not surprisingly, .webapp is not one of those extensions and the directory I created specifically for storing .webapp files is not one of those directories. Fortunately, the list of indexed extensions and directories can be customized using the aforementioned Directories menu item.

Normally, my sense of curiosity compels me to investigate every nook and cranny of new software, but it clearly failed me when I installed Launchy. I made a very quick change to specify that any .webapp file anywhere in the system be indexed, forced Launchy to reindex and, ta da! I can now launch .webapp files. Let that be a lesson to you, kids.

Epilogue

In the course of looking into why Launchy wasn't, well, launching everything that I wanted it to, you know, launch I ran across this page of other cool stuff that can be done with the application: http://lifehacker.com/software/hack-attack/take-launchy-beyond-application-launching-284127.php.