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Better Platform needed

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July 30, 2009 - 5:43pm
#1
mart7t
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Better Platform needed

I have amassed a huge collection of portable apps. Currently I have them on my D partition so I can sort through them before deciding which ones to place on the usb stick. At the end of the day I will still have too many portable apps on the usb stick and will have to scroll around looking for the app I need. Wouldn't it be better to use CATEGORIES for example System_Tools, Browsers, Download_Rip_Burn_Tools, Cleaners_Optimisers, Multimedia_apps, and so forth?

I think I am going to place all my portable apps on the usb stick but not in the platform (except a few most used apps). This way I can create category folders on the drive which contain shortcuts leading to the apps themselves. However, it would be nice to have a platform that is well designed so I don't need to do this.

Does anyone have some thoughts on this subject?

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July 30, 2009 - 6:42pm
solanus
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Yes.

Yes.
Much has been discussed about this.
If you search, you will see.

Or
http://www.8start.com/
may be helpful.

I made this half-pony, half-monkey monster to please you.

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July 30, 2009 - 7:00pm
alanbcohen
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That's why I've stayed with

That's why I've stayed with the R3x variants. I use the apps mostly on a 320gb external, so I carry a full set of the programs from here and some selected natively portable.

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July 30, 2009 - 8:03pm
jamcomm
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Hierachy

It would certainly be a lot better if a simple menu hierachy was to be implemented - but the developers seem to think it's too complex to do with portableapps.

Personally, I don't understand why... It's not exactly rocket science.

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July 31, 2009 - 12:30am
(Reply to #4)
Bensawsome
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...

John has a TON of stuff to take care of. Including his normal work. He doesn't get paid for doing this. He is also working almost every day to make this site, it's services, and the software it provides better in both quality and quantity. He has been working with many companies that make usb drives and the people who make many freeware/payware apps so we ca nhave them available to us...
Thanks,
Bensawsome

 iLike Macs, iPwn, However you put it... Apple is better ^_^ 
"Claiming that your operating system is the best in the world because more people use it is like saying McDonalds makes the best food in the world..."

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July 31, 2009 - 1:45am
(Reply to #5)
NathanJ79
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...

Except for the fact that the work in question has already been done and currently exists in an open-source fork of the menu called R34.

As a proof-of-concept, someone ought to crack open the source code for both R34 and the latest PA menu and re-integrate the folders into the latest official menu. If it's as straightforward as UnrealScript (used in Unreal-based PC games, like Deus Ex) I could do it if I learned how to compile and all that. I suppose I could learn; I doubt it's out of my reach.

If the feature did not exist in any fork of the menu, your point would be valid, but since the work has already been done, it should be just a matter of copying and pasting. I've said this before and the point has not been refuted, so it's likely I'm right on that one.

//edit: Got the source for the latest PA menu (2.0 beta 3) but Notepad can't display it. Is it Python or Delphi it's coded in? And is there a free editor/compiler that can be used? Also I cannot find the source for the R34 mod on PTC. Anyway, I don't know for sure I can do it, but it wouldn't hurt to try, and if *I* can do it (and I have a full-time job, a wife, and my share of chores) anybody can. Well, that's not entirely accurate, plenty are less technical than me, I did build my home PC after all, but still.

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July 31, 2009 - 3:35am
(Reply to #6)
crookadile
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Go for it

Go for it Nathan.

Categories here we come.

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July 31, 2009 - 5:59am
(Reply to #7)
NathanJ79
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Hold up now...

I still gotta figure out, like, everything. Well, a trip to the Sourceforge page told me that the PA menu is written in Delphi and something else, a fork of Delphi the name of which I can't recall. Python is out, not sure where I heard that name. So I guess I need to find a free Delphi compiler and look at the code.

Then I gotta find the code to the R34 menu. I didn't see it on their page. I figure it either comes with it, or they tell you how to get the source like some apps (and that's by the rules as I understand it, I ain't sayin otherwise).

Anyway, if you want categories now, the best thing to do is to use the PA menu 1.5.2 and install R34 on top of it. What I will ideally wind up with, assuming nothing goes wrong, is essentially R34 + transparency. But as anybody who's worked with code will tell you, assuming nothing will go wrong is usually asking for trouble.

In any case, my effort will still be nothing more than a proof of concept, the concept being that a below-novice-level programmer (if that) can add categories by copy-and-pasting from R34's code. Once 2.0 goes gold/RTM/whatever, PTC will probably drop the next R34, and it'll usurp anything I can copy-and-paste together (and rightfully so). I just wanna see if I can do it. Maybe I'll find something else to mess with (read: mess up). What I don't want to do is make a fork/competitor, or imply to the powers that be that I can do their job better than they can, because I'm pretty sure I can't...

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July 31, 2009 - 8:02pm
(Reply to #8)
alanbcohen
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Here is a link to a drop.io

Here is a link to a drop.io I've set up with the latest version of the R34Patched application I had in my archives. I hope it has all the source. There isn't any password required.

http://drop.io/_PAMR34/media

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July 31, 2009 - 11:12am
(Reply to #9)
Bensawsome
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But...

John has said before that the R34 implementation isn't the proper way that he wants to do it.
Thanks,
Bensawsome

 iLike Macs, iPwn, However you put it... Apple is better ^_^ 
"Claiming that your operating system is the best in the world because more people use it is like saying McDonalds makes the best food in the world..."

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July 31, 2009 - 11:41pm
(Reply to #10)
NathanJ79
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Stopgap

BensawesomeJohn has said before that the R34 implementation isn't the proper way that he wants to do it.

It'd be a hell of a nice stopgap for the dozens of PA fans who have been wanting categories and a way to give the R34 loyalists the excuse they want to use the official menu, and it can always be changed later.

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July 31, 2009 - 2:08pm
(Reply to #11)
jamcomm
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So what?

So what?

It's an open source project, right? So anyone can do it!

In fact, as someone pointed out, there's an "R34" project which already implements it. I haven't tried it myself though, so can't comment as to whether "R34" is any good.

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August 1, 2009 - 6:45pm
(Reply to #12)
Nick Ring
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Categories toggle

I have (three-quarters) implemented my own menu application, including a toggle to have categories or not. If categories have been selected, then it initially defaults to the Portable Apps Format Specifications but after that a user can rename and/or hide categories, assign applications to different categories, even 'creating' new categories.

The only downer is that I don't think John would go with my version, as I use the free Virtual Treeview component, which I suspect destroy John's idea of the look and feel of Portable Apps Menu.

I also implemented a "Most Recent Used" Category and playing to implement a "Favourite" category.

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August 1, 2009 - 8:49am
solanus
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There's a nice little addon that might tide you over

until the categories are implemented in the next ver of PA platform.

It's called Categorizer:
https://portableapps.com/node/8091

I made this half-pony, half-monkey monster to please you.

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August 21, 2009 - 1:31pm
0per4t0r
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What about unofficial portableapps?

What if some of your apps aren't in the PA format? Then you'd have to put them in the correct folder layout, and edit the ini for each app.

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