I have found that executables embedded in ebooks can be invoked from dhtml menus within ebooks.I used "H V MENU" by Ger Versluis From Dymanic Drive
http://tinyurl.com/43lz7
Here is a sample of a working menu entry:
Menu1=new Array("CAPTION","##RUN('{ebook}/program.exe')","",0,20,190);
Of course, you'd have to change what comes before the = (equals sign) to put it in context, but ...
I thought you'd all like to know.