Anyone heard of this occurrence?
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Can you be a bit more specific? AS in when does this happen?
“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.” Dr. Seuss
Hi I installed 1.61 and installed a few apps via "install app" and they worked but when I used manual installers like opera or skype they never appeared.
Bug perhaps?
When you use the platform to install an app, it knows what you are doing and knows to refresh after the install. Installing an app manually is equivalent to copying files into a sub-directory, and the platform has no idea what you are doing when you do something outside of it's scope of functionality.
When you install apps manually, you also have to manually refresh the platform.
Hi I did that and still nothing.
Will 2.0 fix it?
Most likely you've installed to the wrong place. Make sure you're installing to the same location as the Platform is running from, not a different drive.
I am a Christian and a developer and moderator here.
“A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” – Proverbs 15:1
Hi when I installed the platform it did not have a place to choose so I made it C:\PortableApps and after each subsequent install it used the same directory.
The original installer in my view should dictate and each installation thereafter should know where to be installed via ini since the registry isn't used.
On its own, an installer has no way of accurately detecting where to install to. (If we used the registry, apps could find the Platform, whereas once we don't, they can't.) It can guess, and does try X:\PortableApps for a range of drive types. "Install app" in the Platform tells the installer where it lives, so that it knows accurately.
If you installed the Platform/Suite to C:\PortableApps rather than C:\, this means that portable apps end up in C:\PortableApps\PortableApps. The installer when run on its own will guess C:\PortableApps and find that it is there, and so install to it - C:\PortableApps\OperaPortable. However, if you installed the Platform to C:\PortableApps, the Platform will be looking for apps in C:\PortableApps\PortableApps, and OperaPortable isn't in there.
I am a Christian and a developer and moderator here.
“A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” – Proverbs 15:1
Yes so why not put the launcher in the main directory and avoid all confusion?
Sorry, but there is no confusion, except that you just set it up the PortableApps Directory incorrectly in the first instance. Had you installed the Platform correctly then everything would be fine.
MJA
Ok so blame the End User, ok all are entitled to their opinion whether based on fact or assumption.
When started through the running platform (via manage apps, install new app), the installer automatically chooses the corresponding location for that specific platform.
If run manually, the installer seems to choose a location on the last connected drive that contains an install of the platform. (I'm not quite shure of that, but in my case that is how it seems to work, as I have different installations.)
-edit-
parallel posting, see Chris answer for a better explanation.
Yep I believe you are right.
Is there any way to "hard code" it for greater usability?
I don't think it is necessary. If you have just one installation, it will find it (provided you have chosen the "right" folder structure, i.e. X:\PortableApps\). If you have more than one installation, the installer can only guess, so user action would normally be required. As the platform is a portable app, too, designed to leave nothing behind on the host machine, there simply is no way to change that.
One solution (that I would appreciate, too) might be an enviroment variable present during runtime that specifies the install location. But then, you could simply use the install function of the platform...
On the other hand, a plain indication, what happens during the installation might help to avoid your problem. While you normally see the installation folder during install, it is not very obvious with the platform, where the installation folder normally is the root, but the platform itself is installed in the PortableApp folder (I see no note for that during install). Without knowing that, one could confuse that, especially as the installation of other apps behave different. You have to locate the PortableApps folder and the installation folder is clearly declared.
So for the release of 2.0, a more transparent installation might help - choose (and display) the installation folder as it seems standard nowadays, and give a hint that the starter is placed in the root.
You are just fine, when you stay with default, but you have to know what happens, when you change it.
Spot on! When I ran the platform installation it had absolutely nothing, so naturally I pointed it to a drive (my boot drive actually) and it entered C:\ for me but of course no directory was appended to the path. Therefore I put that in myself so it was C:\PortableApps
Next I installed via the menu, navigated to the folder where I had downloaded various paf.exe files and it was lightning click. All I needed to do was press finish and it was done but since I had been downloading other stuff and needed to restart I just used Explorer to find the other paf files and manually installed them.
When I re-opened the menu naturally I was confused.
Anyway I guess it shows my noobness but it could be something to consider in future that the portable installers can look to a pre-defined location since scanning the entire drive surely would be a bad move.
I don't think it is noobness.
It is just that it behaves other than one normally expected. I recall making the same fault some years ago when I first used PortableApps.
It technically installs in the shown folder, but that is only the starter, whereas the platform itself lies in folder created there. But that is not how most other installations (in the windows world) work. Some ages ago you mostly had to specify every folder, even startmenu subfolders if other than the defaults. But now that has changed to automatism mostly. Would be a good thing if the new release would be adjusted to that behaviour.
I think you have experience beyond myself. As I'd suggested maybe there could be a single directory with the launcher itself "surrounded" by the other folders (makes sense to me at least) and that way the nesting is kept to a minimum.
The main point of the way we distribute it is for usage on USB disks. Thus you get X:\StartPortableApps.exe, X:\Documents and X:\PortableApps. Putting everything another layer deep would make it less friendly for the most common use case.
I am a Christian and a developer and moderator here.
“A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” – Proverbs 15:1
Not a layer more but a layer less would be the best IMV.
Yes, and I know out of experience to choose the root of the disk I want to install it to. But the installer of the platform is asking for a folder to install (at least in the german translation (Verzeichnis=folder). The unexperienced user would probably just use the defaults and be fine. But someone who knows a little bit of os and filesystems may wonder what folder to choose because he does not have the root in mind as a folder (on windows machines it is easy overlooked).
Some explanational text in the platform installer could easily fix that.
I know this thread is old but I found that the menu can refresh apps itself and maybe that is a bad thing...
EG. if the menu can know what has been installed, why not the apps know the install location?