Secure Global Desktop Administration Guide > Users and authentication > What are login scripts?

What are login scripts?

When a user clicks an application object on their webtop, a login script connects to the application server and runs the application. The login script also configures the environment and starts any additional programs (such as a window manager).

Login scripts perform a number of tasks and can handle a number of scenarios. For example, when a user clicks a link to an X application object on their webtop, the login script does the following:

• Logs into the application server, prompting the user for a password if necessary.
• Sets any environment variables specified by the application object's Environment Variables attribute.
• Starts any extra programs specified by the application object's Window Manager attribute.
• Launches the X application.

The login script also allows for differences between application servers and checks for any errors that might occur during the login process. If an error is encountered that can't be handled, control is passed back to the user.

Login scripts are designed to be as universal and robust as possible. However, you may need to cope with an unusual scenario. For example, if you have a system prompt that isn't catered for, you can add it to the list of prompts recognized by the script. You shouldn't modify the scripts supplied: instead, work on a copy.

To define the login script used for an application, you use the application object's Login Script attribute.

Secure Global Desktop login scripts are written in Tcl (version 7.5) and Expect (version 5.25). Expect (developed by Don Libes) extends Tcl (developed by John Ousterhout) and provides additional commands for interacting with programs.

• For more information about Tcl, see TCL Developer Xchange.
• For more information about Expect, see The Expect Home Page.

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