Possible addtion to the development guidelines page:
There is merit in having a choice in where settings are put.
If I'm using a USB drive, then it's MY drive, MY dataspace. Writing settings
to the application folder is fine.
If I'm using a network share with the idea I don't have to install the *#($&@(
thing on every computer in my network, then the last place I want settings written is the application folder.
To me the best way to do this would be to have the location of the settings determined either by the "Start In" value of a short cut, (Many programs behave nicely if you do this.) or by the value of an environment variable or valaue in a .INI file. In all cases, whatever method is done, whatever startups are possible should be documented in the the readme file.
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Doing that would involve changing every app and most people don't know enough about computers to care. And writing settings to the application folder is not fine. That would make it not portable because it is leaving stuff on the computer you left behind.
Release Team Member
Well, I think he means the folder on the USB drive where the app's .exe is located, not the appdata folder on the C: drive.
There are two main reason for putting data in a .\Data folder in John's PA architecture:
1) it makes it easier to back up all the settings and application data if all the portable apps put them in the same place.
2) If the settings are all under .\Data, and you do a version upgrade in the .\App directory tree, it won't change any of your settings or data!
Admittedly it is arbitrary, but not completely without thought or planning.
It's a lot easier to do that sort of thing when there's a command line switch, or the app supports an environment variable or uses the "startup" directory. But John's got it figured out for the apps listed.
MC
Copy the {app}Portable.ini file from Other\{app}PortableSource folder to the root of Portable Application folder and change SettingsDirectory...
The {app} means a variable depending what program you are using...
I haven't looked at all the launchers, but it looks like they mostly allow for the {app}Portable.ini (if found in the same directory where the {app}Portable.exe launcher is executed from) to set where things are stored relative to the {app}Portable.exe file. In particular, it does look like the ini file could let the Launcher tell the app to use its own directory.
I'm not sure this is exactly what the OP is talking about, or that it would give the desired flexibility. It sounds like the OP is talking about having an option to run a portable app in a multiuser environment (e.g. from a network drive) and wants a way to tell the app to use different settings directories for different users or environments.
Admittedly this hasn't been a prime design configuration, since running portably is pretty much by definition running for one user.
So maybe the topic is really about "should PA have an option for running in a multiuser environment", rather than being a question of whether the {app} directory is better or worse for storing settings than .\Data, or how one does that if one wants.
MC
I guess I wondering why would it matter if it was on a network drive or not for the problem. Wouldn't one just make different profiles (in Thuderbird) or whatever the other programs have? Or that if it is a network drive, the user saves whatever their documents in their own folder?
Portable apps still removes whatever it was set to remove, no old data is saved, right?
Don't be an uberPr∅. They are stinky.
What is a/an uberPr∅ ?
Tim
Things have got to get better, they can't get worse, or can they?
It literally means overpro in German
Of course, the translation is not always literal. übercool is something extremely cool, or "over cool".
"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate."
since my comment on the use of the term got the post deleted, though it didn't seem so perjorative as other posts in other threads have been to other users. So it is in my sig, not directed at any particular person.
Don't be an uberPr∅. They are stinky.
Okay, I'm not trying to be snide or funny here, I'm just lost [Not an uncommon occurrence
]
So if I read Ryan right it literally means "over pro" which somehow becomes "over cool". You have used it in a post in the past [which I have not seen] which you then commented on, which got the post deleted.
?????????????
With out violating forum guidelines, or offending anyone, could you use it in a sentence that could convey to me how you mean it.
The reason I'm asking is not to be a pain or a trouble maker.
I read .sig files, I look at avatars. They tell me things about the person in question. If I don't understand, or think I am reading them wrong, I like to be clear.
eg: My first interpretation of your .sig was "Don't be a Super Prick, Such people stink".
I know think I must have been way off base and don't see how cool works into this at all.
Tim
Things have got to get better, they can't get worse, or can they?
are evidently really smart and knowledgeable, but lord it over other folks who ask innocent questions and thus are ridiculed. Someone else used it in their post against someone else, and I said that the comment actually was very funny.
Don't be an uberPr∅. They are stinky.
Thanks for the clarification.
Yes, uberPr∅s are very common in groups such as these
Generally they are folks who don't have much of a life outside of their computers.
Then again there are UnterPr∅s
Newbies who a members of a group for a month who think that they are now somebody. They love to be the first to jump on a first timer with the infamous "SEARCH FIRST!!!" without providing any help themselves.
So, what's the code for "∅" [I just copied and pasted it] and, forgive my rusty German, should there be on umlaut over the "u"?
Tim
Things have got to get better, they can't get worse, or can they?
Ø (note the capital). Produces Ø
Lower case is ø. Produces ø
"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate."
IM. Now.
I leave WLM on all night for 3 nights in a row and the one night I close it, I forget to open it back up
Anyway, I'm on now (ryanmccue10 [SHIFT-2] hotmail [period] com for anyone that wants to add me. Also cubegames on gmail or rmccue [a] jabber.org.au for another Jabber account (rarely used)). Get on there!
"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate."