ACE-Desktop Instructions

SUMMARY
ACE-Desktop can be used to send 1 or more API commands to ACE Server or ACE Client.  

INSTALLATION
Simply copy the ACEDesktop.exe file into either the ACE Server folder, ACE Client folder, 
or both.  

SETUP
Start ACE-Desktop with no command line parameters and a window will be 
displayed that allows you to select your configuration.  Click the SAVE button 
when done and then close the window.  If you copied ACE-Desktop into more than 
one folder then you should do this for each copy.

If ACE-Desktop will be used to send commands to ACE Client running on the same PC, then 
choose the "ACE Client (DDE)" option.

If ACE-Desktop will be used to send commands to ACE Server running on the same PC, then 
choose the "ACE Server (DDE)" option.

If ACE-Desktop will be used to send commands to ACE Client and/or ACE Server running 
on the same PC or any PC on the network, then choose the "ACE Server (UDP)" option.

The UDP option will default to using port 2010, which normally should not need to be 
changed.  This is NOT the same port as what ACE Server uses for client connections, 
which defaults to 2000.  

Create a shortcut to ACE-Desktop on your desktop.  The shortcut should have at 
least 1 API command as a command line parameter.  For example:

"D:\ACE Server\ACEDesktop.exe" aces:say:hi dan

You can include more than 1 API command by separating each one with 2 pipe 
characters (vertical lines).  For example:

"D:\ACE Server\ACEDesktop.exe" aces:say:hi dan||aces:dummy:1

If sending commands to ACE Client and ACE Server on the same pc, remember to 
point the shortcut to the proper ACE-Desktop.  It is intended that the ACE Desktop 
in the client's folder be configured to send commands to the client, and the 
ACE Desktop in the server's folder be configured to send commands to the server.

OPERATION
When the shortcut is double-clicked then ACE-Desktop will start, but will not 
be visible. It will then get all command line parameters.  Each command line 
parameter will be sent to ACE (via DDE or UDP) and then ACE-Desktop will exit.  

You can also use the Windows Scheduler program to schedule ACE-Desktop to run 
at certain times, along with an API command, in order to create time based 
actions.