SoftGrid applications without a SoftGrid server

A convenient trick to launch a SoftGrid application locally, without contacting a SoftGrid server, is to direct the SoftGrid client directly towards the SFT file. This can be done by editing the OSD file and replacing

HREF="rtsp://%SFT_SOFTGRIDSERVER%:554/content/appname/app.sft"

with

HREF="file://D:/SoftGrid/appname/app.sft"

(replace by the correct path) and then double clicking on the OSD file. This triggers SFTTray.exe to launch the specified application.

Some caveats and things to know:

• The path that you specify may not contain any spaces or you will get a "Launch failed" error message.
• The "file" prefix in the URI is case-sensitive (but this is also the case for the more traditional rtsp & rtsps prefixes).
• You need the "Add Applications" privilege in order for this to work: double-clicking the OSD file of an application that is not known on the system will first add the application and then start loading FB1 into the cache. Only afterwards, the application is started.

This means that by the default configuration of the SoftGrid client, you need to be a local administrator before you can use this trick.