Setting Up Application Foldering

The first step in setting up the application environment is to set up application foldering. ZENworks for Desktops offers powerful foldering capabilities that enable users to organize the applications that you deliver to them, using Application Launcher. These folders appear in the Application Launcher, Application Explorer browser view, and on the Start menu.

Note

If two folders have the same name, their contents are merged.

The following are the four types of folders available to users in Application Launcher:

• Application Folder Object An Application Folder object is an independent object to which you associate Application objects. By linking many Application objects to one Application Folder object, you can manage the folder pathnames of many Application objects from one object. See the section "Create Application Folder Object and Associate with Application Objects" for more information.

• Custom Folder Custom folders are set up on the Application object's Folders property page and thus belong exclusively to the Application object. A custom folder cannot be shared with another Application object. You can name Custom folders any way you please and set up folders within folders (sub-foldering). Custom folders override any System folders that exist as the result of Application object to container associations. See the section "Create Custom Folders for Application Object" for more information.

• Personal Folder Personal folders enable users to create and name their own folders and place Application Launcher-delivered applications in them. See the section "Enable Users to Create Personal Folders" for more information.

• System Folder System folders appear in Application Launcher or Explorer when you associate an Application object with a User, Group, Organizational Unit, Organization, or Country object, and you have not created any Custom folders for that Application object or associated the Application object with a Linked folder.

To set up application foldering to manage Application objects, you need to perform the tasks outlined in the following sections.

Create Application Folder Object and Associate with Application Objects

The first step in setting up application foldering is to create a Folder object that can be linked to Application objects. Use the following steps from within ConsoleOne to create an Application Folder object:

1. Right-click the Organization Unit, Organizational, or Country object under which you want to create a Folder object.

2. Choose Create, Application Folder, and then click OK.

3. Name the folder, select Define Additional Properties, and then choose OK.

Custom folders are tied to one Application object. Linked folders, however, can contain many Application objects. All folders appear in Application Launcher or Explorer browser view and also in the Start menu.

Once the application folder has been corrected, use the Folders property panel on a Folder object to create custom or linked folders in which to organize Application objects. To set up the folder for applications, use the following steps to access and modify the Folders property panel from within ConsoleOne:

1. Right-click the Application Folder object and select Properties.

2. Click the Folders tab; a screen similar to the one in Figure 7.1 appears.

   Figure 7.1. The folders property panel for application folders in ConsoleOne.

   

3. Click Add, Folder and then name the folder. Repeat this process to add more folders.

4. With a folder highlighted, click Add, Application, browse to the Application object you want to add, and then choose OK. Repeat this process for all the Application objects you want to place in this folder.

5. Check the Application Launcher and/or Start menu boxes depending on whether you want to display the folders in Application Launcher/Explorer browser view or on the Start menu.

Create Custom Folders for Application Object

The next step in setting up application foldering is to use the Folders property panel for the Application object to create custom folders in which to organize Application objects, as described earlier in this chapter. A custom folder is tied to one Application object; however, you can have multiple custom folders per Application object.

Using custom folders, you can achieve "sub-foldering" or place folders within folders. This is essential when you have numerous Application objects available to users. Custom foldering enables you to organize Application objects and control which users see which applications.

Tip

Suppose you have created a Folder object that contains several folders that are linked to several Application objects. You now want to clear these folder-application links and start over. You can delete the Folder object, which converts all of the linked folders to custom folders, which are then saved in all the relevant Application objects. In this case, you have to open each Application object and delete the Custom folders in them. A quicker method is to delete the folders and the linkages to Application objects from the Folder object, but don't delete the Folder object itself. When the Folder object is empty, you can decide if you want to start over with new folders and links to Application objects, or you can delete the Folder object.