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There are some gui programs where if you select them from the menu, if it is already open, instead of opening a new instance, that window will become foremost. However, there are some programs that will open multiple instances of themselves.

There is a certain program that exhibits the latter behavior but I want it to do the former. How can this be done?

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2 Answers

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I would recommend replacing the link to the program with a link to a shell script that checks if the program is running, and if it is, it uses the window manager's function to bring the program foremost, and if it isn't, starts it.

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When I do ps ax | grep for the program it shows its status as S when it's running. If I close the program, then it doesn't disappear from the list. Instead it shows its status as S+. What does that mean? – OSX NINJA Aug 2 '10 at 14:35
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^^^ That's a new question. ;-) – Chris Nava Aug 2 '10 at 14:37
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Generally the application source code must be modified. It is not something done by the operating system.

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