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Categories problem

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passat
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Joined: 2013-10-26 07:42
Categories problem

I have strange problems with categories on PA platform 14.1 (and older too)

First problem
Example:
I have copied in "PortableApps" folder some programs that in "appinfo.ini" have defined non-existent category "Commander".
They are "Total Commander Portable", "WinNc Portable", ...
I have one application with only one file "Reglo.exe" in folder "Reglo" and no "appinfo.ini".
They all appear in category "Other".
Platform moves all apps with defined category that does not exist in category "Other".
So far so good.
To get those apps with defined category "Commander" to real category "Commander", it must be created.

First problem is that new category could be crated only by manually moving existing app to another category and creating it while doing it.
There should be way to create new category without moving app to it, directly from platform.

To create ne category I'm using app "Reglo" To avoid generating second problem that will be described later.
With right click on it select "Category" -> "Add a New Category", and create new category "Commander"
Now "Reglo" is moved to new category "Commander"
Great, category is created!

I selected "Apps" -> "Refresh App Icons"
Now all other apps appears in category "Commander" too.
It seems that work is done.
As "Reglo" does not belong to this category, and I needed another new category, I moved it to new category "CD/DVD Tools"
And new category is created, and for moment other apps are in "Commander" category.

When I selected "Apps" -> "Refresh App Icons" again, to get there apps that belong there,
category "Commander" disappeared, and apps are back in category "Other"
And when I try to move them or "Reglo" manually back to category "Commander" that was already created,
it does not appear on category list, like it was never created.

Conclusion:
Category will be used by platform only if there is at least one app manually moved to it.
If this app is removed or moved to another category, platform will no longer use it, and it will not be available to move app to it.
All remaining apps are moved to "Other" category.

Second problem
If app is only once moved to any category, regarding of it has "appinfo.ini" or not, platform will forever ignore parameter "Category=" in "appinfo.ini",
even if "appinfo.ini" is added to it later.
So, if app is copied from one platform folder to another, category is not affected with changes.
All eventual changes should be done manually again on another platform.
I think that ALL information about app should be contained within its folder, to be really portable

I think that this could be solved with next few modifications in platform:
1. There should be added creating of category directly from platform
2. Category information in "appinfo.ini" should have higher priority than in platform database, and if different, it should be written in database
3. When app is moving from one category to another it should be done by modifying parameter in "appinfo.ini" in first place, and then in database
4. When choosing category to move to, ALL categories EVER created should be available (displayed)
5. At platform start and when refreshing app icons, if in "appinfo.ini" is defined non-existing category, it should be created in platform database
6. when installing new app, existing category in old "appinfo.ini" should be preserved

Hope this info and suggestions will be helpful