Outdated: this has been released.
The PortableApps.com Launcher is your PAL in making applications portable. It's a universal launcher for which you don't need to write code. Instead, it's configured with an INI file (which goes in App\AppInfo\Launcher\AppNamePortable.ini), and uses a splash screen in App\AppInfo\Launcher\splash.jpg.
Download the PortableApps.com Launcher 2.0 Release Candidate 2 [718KB download / 1.8MB installed]
(MD5: 1d998f1d454b26de1d0a5054892ba291)
Download the PortableApps.com Application Template 2.0 Beta 2 [115KB download / 195KB extracted]
(MD5: f58081d20bf55c360f674e4d68b91702)
(This is from the Launcher 2.0 Beta 2 but nothing needs updating in it yet. Run the Generator from the latest package over your package built with this template and it will be up to date.)
To get a custom build of the PortableApps.com Launcher with custom icon and name (do), download the main PortableApps.com Launcher package and Unicode NSIS Portable and install them next to one another. Then run the PortableApps.com Launcher Generator and select your directory. Read the manual for more details.
Known Issues:
- Language switching does not work when running as admin as the environment is reset. Due to be fixed in 2.1 if possible.
Links:
- Manual (included starting at App\Manual\index.html).
- Using the PortableApps.com Launcher (old but still may be useful; from the Alpha thread, file names mentioned are now outdated).
- Development repository (including .tar.gz, .zip and .tar.bz2 snapshots for those who don't want to get Mercurial)
Release Notes:
- 2.0 Release Candidate 2 (2010-05-21):
- Fully automated build process (bash script... built on Linux :P)
- launcher.ini no longer left behind in $PLUGINSDIR
- [DirectoriesMove] supports a key name "-" to not save the directory but just revert it to the local version
- The user INI file doesn't care about the INI section header any more (ConfigRead)
- Improvements to the Generator (especially error checking)
- Slovenian translation (thanks, Filip), and better management of languages for me (maintenance in a single file instead of maintaining two lists of languages)
- (Few enough changes that I can list them all!)
- 2.0 Release Candidate 1 (2010-05-18):
- Built with Unicode NSIS Portable 2.46 DT3
- Various bug fixes
- A few new features
- See comments from old thread and changesets for a manifest of all changes.
- No known issues beyond the admin environment one mentioned above for fixing in 2.1.
- Unless any more issues are found, I think this may become the final release (except for the hoped addition of an Armenian translation awaiting some final corrections).
Discussion, notification of some changes and earlier release notes are available in the 2.0 Beta 3-4 thread.