PortableApps.com Platform 1.2 Release Candidate 4 (Renaming & Hiding Added)

Though, I hoped to provide more feedback so as not to be lumped in with the other guy up there. The size of the menu is fine for 128-256MB sticks, but when you have a few GB's, the temptation to install a few "once in a while" apps grows, and then you have more than it can display at any one time. I had my R34 MOD menu set just right, too - I had my everyday apps uncategorized, so they showed all the time. Everything else was in (3) categories, and the everyday apps plus one opened folder (even Utilities, which has the most entries) still doesn't make it scroll. And of course OpenOffice as well as any other app which has more than one .exe in its root folder (and hasn't got a launcher for it) is another argument.

So I take it categories/folders isn't an "if", it's a "when", right?

Then... Hiding vs. Removing vs. Renaming to "-". One thing the R34 mod does right is the option to "Remove" an app... but it only lets you choose the Remove option when it wants to, which is once in a blue moon (or less). The "Hide" option is OK, since there's also a "Hide/Unhide" switch where you can toggle display of hidden apps on and off. It's like an invisible category that you can make show up on command. Back to the official mod, I'm willing to bet that renaming to "-" is a quick fix to be replaced by a GUI feature later. Who's going to remember that besides dedicated and bleeding-edge testers? Surely not the general public.

What I think would answer that issue would be a permanent removal option - an app shows up, e.g. in discovery, when the menu first establishes what apps it will be indexing; we don't want it there, ever, so we Remove it, and then a note is made in the database or INI or whatever it'll use that that .exe is not to be loaded, and it's never seen again. The hide/unhide thing I think is unnecessary, especially if the Remove option works right and categories/folders are implemented.

Onto what worked:

I do like the new graphics; it's a little darker, kind of a smoky glass effect. The folders looked good, and it was nice that it renamed my "Video" folder to "Videos" for its own use. (The R34 mod requires you to rename it to "Video" to work with the menu, silly bug, but easily defeated.)

For the R34 MOD user this is both a step back but also a sign of things to come. For the PortableApps.com Official Menu loyalists, it's a well-deserved update, and of course a sign of things to come as well.

Keep up the good work, it's shaping up nicely.

When you click on an app in the menu, you don't get the normal color feedback from the previous menu that the item was clicked. I hope you know what I mean. Catch me on IRC if you don't

When I change AlphaBlendMain to 200 then restart PA the value gets reset to 255.

I am modifying X:\PortableApps\PortableApps.com\Data\PortableAppsMenu.ini

Thanks

One small request, if possible I'd like the ability to launch a different file manager like Xenon.