Legacy Document

Inside Macintosh: Processes

Chapter 2 - Process Manager / Using the Process Manager

Launching Desk Accessories

In system software version 7.0 and later, the Process Manager launches a desk accessory in its own partition when that desk accessory is opened, giving it a process serial number and an entry in the process list. The Process Manager puts the name of the desk accessory in the list of open applications in the Application menu and also gives the active desk accessory its own About menu item in the Apple menu containing the name of the desk accessory. This makes desk accessories more consistent with the user interface of small applications.

Although you can use the LaunchDeskAccessory function to launch desk accessories, you should use it only when your application needs to launch a desk accessory for some reason other than the user's choosing a desk accessory from the Apple menu. Beginning in system software version 7.0, the Apple menu can contain any Finder object that the user decides to add to the menu. When the user chooses any such user-added item from the Apple menu, your application should respond by calling the OpenDeskAcc function instead.