Windows.XP.in.a.Nutshell.1002005.2Ed [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

The
Address Bar (see Figure 3-1) is
a special toolbar with an input field and
(optionally) a "Go" button. It
appears in Internet
Explorer, Windows Explorer, and on the
Taskbar. When you type an Internet
address, the name of a
program, or the path of a folder,
and then press Enter, the Address Bar will respond in one of many
ways, depending on its location and your system's
settings.

Figure 3-3. The Address Bar, shown here on the Windows Taskbar, allows you to quickly open programs and web sites by typing their filenames and addresses, respectively

The Address Bar is one of my favorite features in Windows. While its
main purpose is to make it easy to type in a web address and point
your browser to that address, it also can be used to type a command
or application to launch, just like Start
Run. This means that you
can easily choose between point and click and command-line
operationswhichever is easier for completing a given task.
Because I keep the Address Bar visible in the Taskbar all the time as
well as in each open folder window (which makes it easy to jump to
any folder without having to hunt for it in the branches),
it's become my primary command-line interface.

One major difference between the
Run
prompt and the Address Bar is how they treat an unknown address or
command. The Address Bar assumes that any unknown text string is a
web address. So, for example, typing oreilly in
the Address Bar will launch your browser and start looking for
http://.oreilly.com. If you
type the same string at the Run prompt, you'll get
the message "Windows cannot find
`oreilly'. Make sure you typed the
name correctly, and then try again. To search for a file, click the
Start button, and then click Search." The Run
prompt's behavior is the reverse. It will treat a
line beginning with http:// or
drop-down list containing the history of all
recently entered URLs and command lines. Pick an item from the
drop-down list to re-execute the command or revisit the specified web
site.

Although it is useful for issuing
commands, the Address Bar does have one
drawback when used in this fashion. When you issue a command, the
command is opened in a new window. Once the command has finished,
that window closes instantly. If you are issuing a command that does
not normally leave the Window open, but that you need to see a
response (like ping or
dir), you'll have to have very
fast eyes. For these types of commands, you're
better off using the Command Prompt. See the discussion of the
Address Bar in Section 6.2 for more details on its
use.