RE: ACS and windows taskbar quick launch shortcut

I was able to pin multiple sessions to the task bar.
This solution required making multiple copies of the acslaunch executable.
I also have the IBM ACS tool installed to the folder " C:\IBM\IBM_i_ACS\".

I did not use the "File Association" feature in the ACS app itself.

First locate the desired acslaunch executable.
At the time I only had 32bit java installed so I used:

C:\IBM\IBM_i_ACS\Start_Programs\Windows_i386-32\acslaunch_win-32.exe

Steps used to create a shortcut for an SQL session:
Copy "acslaunch_win-32.exe" to "acslaunch_win-32_sql.exe"

Create a shortcut to "acslaunch_win-32_sql.exe"
I found that the shortcut is only pin-able if it is in a local folder on the hard drive.

Open the shortcut properties.

Set the target:
C:\IBM\IBM_i_ACS\Start_Programs\Windows_i386-32\acslaunch_win-32_sql.exe /PLUGIN=rss /SYSTEM=SYSNAME /DATABASE=IASPNAME

Set the Start In:
C:\tmp

I used \tmp as the "start in" folder because that is where I wanted the tool to default the "save results" to.

Change the icon. The executable actually had an icon that looks like a data export button, so I used that for my SQL session.

Save the changes an pin it to the task bar.
Since the executable and icon are different, they are easy to distinguish from my "session" icon.

For my second icon I created a shortcut to the original executable.
C:\IBM\IBM_i_ACS\Start_Programs\Windows_i386-32\acslaunch_win-32.exe

Then set the shortcut target to pass the bchx file as input to the acslaunch executable:

C:\IBM\IBM_i_ACS\Start_Programs\Windows_i386-32\acslaunch_win-32.exe "%USERPROFILE%\Documents\IBM\iAccessClient\Emulator\400tabed.bchx"

I also changed the icon to the Monitor icon.

I normally only use the one icon to open my sessions. And when I open additional sessions they usually always group with this icon. The bchx file contains the full path to the hod files and defines the desired location for the sessions. I have 1 hod for the dev server and 1 hod for the prod server. The bchx opens two of each session and sets them up as tabs.

If creating separate shortcuts does not work for you, it may work if you were able to create separate executables.
Depending on how the session is started, windows may still group them together.

Chris Hiebert
Senior Programmer/Analyst
Disclaimer: Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the company.