For normally installed applications in Windows 7, if you middle-click on the task-bar icon of the application, you get a new instance of that application. I miss that functionality for PortableApps.com apps, especially for Firefox Portable. Is this difficult to do? I wouldn't mind adding a few lines of code on my own if adding this feature leaves data on the computer or something. But I need to know how to do it, if it's possible.
thanks
PS: I read on lifehacker that you can disable the splash screens, how much does taht improve load times, if at all?
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doesnt speed up things at all.
"What about Love?" - "Overrated. Biochemically no different than eating large quantities of chocolate." - Al Pacino in The Devils Advocate
Good to know. thanks
So, what about this middle-click to open new instances function, is it hard to implement? And as a bit of extra info, the middle-click does work if there are no previous instances of the program open, it just doesn't work when there are already instances of that program open. Also, I noticed this line:
AllowMultipleInstances=false
in the .ini file that you can change the splash screen settings. Does this have anything to do with it?
Well from what it sounds like, you want to middle click to open a new instance. If you left click, do you want it to open another instance as well?
If the answer is yes, you can change this line to false.
If the answer is no, you most likely have to do some coding. If you want to do this as middle click to over-ride the "AllowMultipleInstances", then you would need to do some alterations to the PAL as well as the platform, however it is achievable.
I hope this helps you.
Shane Thompson
Shane Thompson
shanet[at]people[dot]net[dot]au
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It's not a new instance. It's just like launching the app all over again from the shortcut. So, if local Firefox is already running and you middle click it in Windows 7 taskbar, it'll start a new Firefox window. This is the exact same behavior as if you clicked the start button and launched Firefox again.
So, just clicking on Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition again in the PA.c Menu accomplishes the exact same thing.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Ok, but call me lazy if you want, but middle-clicking an icon on the taskbar is so much easier then opening the menu and then find the firefox icon to click on it again. Especially since on an foreign computer, the PAC menu icon get hidden after a while. Again, I am lazy.
EDIT: The middle-click to open new window function seems to be missing in all apps, not just PortableApps.com apps, that is not install on the system (including programs that came in a zip file, as far as I can tell anyway). Is it possible that the program needs registry access?
EDIT2: (Shift + Windows logo key + number: Start a new instance of the program pinned to the taskbar in the position indicated by the number.) This works with any installed apps, not PortableApps.com apps.
Sadly, it cannot work, cannot be fixed here, and, unless Microsoft get their act together, it will never work.
The problem is, that to launch a PortableApps app properly, you must run the launcher, not the base application. This means that for every PortableApps app, there are (at least) two exe files - the launcher and the base app. Win7 sees those as two different things to keep separate on the start bar.
If you do pin the launcher, then the app pops up as an additional icon.
If you don't pin the launcher, then only one icon shows, but it is the one for the base app, not the launcher, and re-running another instance of that (by middle clicking) is not a good was to launch a second instance of a PortableApps app.
There are some quirky workarounds, such as the thread on making this work in Firefox portable, which uses a custom add-on to set the APPID for Firefox base app, and sets a matching APPID in the launcher, but that only applies to the one application, and doesn't work for anything else.
Sadly, this won't really be resolvable until Microsoft work out a good way (and API) for having multiple exe files associated with a single taskbar button, and with control of what the "launch" action should do for said button. (Which, remember, may not be pinned, but may have been instantiated by the base app launched by a launcher, so the launcher would need to be able to tell windows what icon to show, what apps to tie to it, and what to do on re-launch).
I am disappointed, but I guess it isn't the end of the world.
I do have something else to ask though; is clicking the Firefox Portable entry in the PAC menu the same as opening the jump list of an opened Firefox Portable and clicking the Firefox item? I would assume no, but doesn't hurt to ask.
PS: I did not pin Firefox Portable to my task bar. The duplicate icons annoys me.
EDIT: Also, although I don't think this is as simple as I am about to make it sound, will implementing the sandboxing method used in google chrome work? Because in my process manager google chrome shows ups as one .exe running many .exes. I know they're plugins and tabs. And I know, if this implemented, it requires drastic changes to the platform, and maybe even performance its. But like I said, I like to dream, and getting portable apps to behave more like installed apps is on that list.