Toolkit Desktop Startup Framework

The Desktop Startup framework implements the startup logic of the ShotGrid Desktop. Its main function is to:

1. initialize the browser integration
2. log the user in
3. download Toolkit
4. configure the site configuration
5. auto update itself and the site configuration when necessary
6. launch the tk-desktop engine.

This is an internal Toolkit framework and therefore the interface it implements is subject to change. We advise that you do not use this framework in your projects.

Locking-down the startup logic

Note, this requires the ShotGrid Desktop app version 1.3.4. If you are unsure of your application version, launch the ShotGrid Desktop. Once you are logged in, click on the user icon at the bottom right and click About.... The App Version should be 1.3.4 or greater.

By default, ShotGrid Desktop downloads tk-framework-desktopstartup updates locally on the user’s machine and uses it during the launch sequence of the application. When you launch the application, Toolkit automatically checks for updates to the framework. If an update is available, it will also download and install it automatically.

Alternately, you can configure the ShotGrid Desktop to use a specific copy of the framework instead of using the local copy. This will disable the auto-update function and you will now be responsible for updating your the startup logic.

Download a specific release from GitHub

You will need to download updates from GitHub manually. The bundles can easily be downloaded from the Releases page and you can find more information about each official release here.

Configure the ShotGrid Desktop to use a specific copy

The only way to lock down the startup logic is to use an environment variable. By setting SGTK_DESKTOP_STARTUP_LOCATION to the root folder of a copy of the framework, you will tell the ShotGrid Desktop to use this copy of the code when starting up. Once the variable is set, you can launch the ShotGrid Desktop and it will use this specific copy of the startup logic.

Note that as of this writing the Startup Version field in the About... box will be Undefined when locking the startup logic due to a technical limitation.

Reverting to the old behaviour

To revert back your changes, simply unset the environment variable and launch the ShotGrid Desktop.