how to use relative paths (dependencies / search path)

Hi - I'm trying to set up a patch so that it can be moved from computer to computer without having to use something like:max launchbrowser file:////Users/username/Desktop/foldername/searchpath/file.app

Instead, I want to just be able to use:

max launchbrowser file.app (or just file).

I've added these folders to my dependencies (view > dependencies) and search path (options > file preferences), and even added individual files to dependencies, but the code above still does not work.