Let me begin by thanking everyone involved in the PortableApps.com project. I totally identify with the Open Source, Portable & Clean software philosophy.
I first found this site while searching for tools i could use from an USB Flash Drive, but i have recently been replacing most of my system's applications with portable ones.
Which brings me to the topic of this post: i have been trying to integrate Firefox (3.5.2) into my system (Windows XP Professional, SP3).
To do this, i set Firefox as the default browser from the Options>Advanced>General dialog, and then replaced all registry entries from "(...)\App\Firefox\firefox.exe" to "(...)\FirefoxPortable.exe", but "(...)\FirefoxPortable.exe' -requestPending -osint -url '%1'" does not seem to work properly, and i had to set all icon entries back because the embedded icons do not exist!
So, my question is: do the launcher executables pass ALL and UNMODIFIED command-line arguments to the launched executables?
Also i would like to sugest that the launcher executables should have the same embedded icons as the launched executables, since this would further facilitate the integration.
PS: Since i've been using these applications for free, i would like to give something in return. So, if someone requires an European Portuguese translation, i would be glad to help.
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Yes, in fact, from what I saw in the code (a year ago), was that yes, it in fact passes all the arguments given to it.
What do you mean by integration? A system that when you plug in your drive, it syncs with a backup copy, the local apps launch the portable versions instead, and the drive is on the shortcuts menu? That would be nice... Keep me posted!
Finally, the icons from the launchers are supposed to have the same icons... I guess that the sizes are standardized to the PAF format.
Insert original signature here with Greasemonkey Script.
Well, digitxp, the sort of integration you describe would be very nice, but what i need is something more simple.
You see, i keep my portable apps in my main fixed hard drive and i don't use the PortableApps.com launcher (since i like to keep the applications in categorized subfolders); instead i use them as regular non-portable applications so i can double-click on any file, shortcut or URL, and open the suitable application (this is what i mean by "system integration").
You may now ask "So what is the point of using portable versions of the applications?".
The answer is simple:
- they are mostly self-contained, so i don't have to worry about lost files or registry keys if i decide to remove them (the only registry keys left behind are file/folder associations, wich are easy to find and remove);
- i can always use the applications through a portable drive and resynchronize afterwards;
- portable applications are more compatible with Wine (not that it is very important).
I did some more testing on the Firefox subject and while this works:
"C:\PortableApps\Internet\Mozilla Firefox\App\Firefox\firefox.exe" -requestPending -osint -url "%1"
...this doesn't:
"C:\PortableApps\Internet\Mozilla Firefox\FirefoxPortable.exe" -requestPending -osint -url "%1"
What am i missing here?
Though development seems dead at the moment, Cafe Mod will give you file associations. Just set it up to run as one of your start up items. PortableFileAssociator has similar and I think more advanced functionality however I haven't been able to work it out so can't elaborate. Try 'em out and see what you think.
Also I remember reading somewhere that a future version of the platform (menu) will include portable file associations though I'm not sure to what extent.
Hope that helps
PortableApps.com Advocate
Thanks for the sugestions horusofoz, they will be useful in the future.
I did some more testing, and removing the "-osint" argument solved part of the problem.
Before:
- the splash screen would show but Firefox would not launch;
- an "Windows cannot find the file" error dialog would appear when i tried to open a file, but not when i clicked an URL.
Now:
- Firefox launches properly when i open a file or click an URL;
- i still get an "Windows cannot find the file" error dialog, but only if Firefox is not already open.
The odd thing is that "-osint" seems to work well with Thunderbird.
Perhaps the FirefoxPortable team should look into this, since the "-osint" argument causes no problem when passed directly to "firefox.exe".
Solved the rest of the problem.
Since "-osint" was one part of the problem, i thought i should check about "-requestPending". Removing it had no effect, but i still tried to find out what it was doing there. It had to do with Windows DDE, so i removed the "ddeexec" registry key from each of the associated filetype classes and it worked: no more "Windows cannot find the file" error dialog. Note that leaving the "-requestPending" argument causes no error.
I suppose that FirefoxPortable is not expected to support this kind of features, since the whole idea is for it to be portable. Still, i hope this helps more people with the same or similar problem!