Windows shortcuts without a path

Question

Hi all

'Regular' windows application shortcuts have a target which is a path to an executable file. This path is visible (and editable) in the shortcut's properties dialog.

But many shortcuts have no such path, only a (read only) application name is displayed. All the MS Office programs, for example, have such shortcuts.

How do these shortcuts work (I guess there's a progid involved), what are their advantages over 'regular' shortcuts and why would I want to use such shortcuts for my own applications?

Finally, can I create such a shortcut with an installer built by a Setup Project in Visual Studio 2008?

Answer 1

These are "advertised" shortcuts provided by MSI.

Here's a google search that contains some information you might find useful: Google Search

I don't know if you can create these via a Setup Project.

Answer 2

One advantage of advertised shortcuts is you can have certain features be installed on demand, and I think missing files can also be repaired if I'm not mistaken. The downside as a user that I hate is I sometimes want to find out where the executable is and which executable is run and it's harder to find that out.

Answer 3

Read MSDN, everything is detailed about Links.