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[Tutorial] How to add Digsby Multi-protocol IM Client to the PortableApps.com platform.

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August 1, 2012 - 10:31am
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V13Axel
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[Tutorial] How to add Digsby Multi-protocol IM Client to the PortableApps.com platform.

Alright, being new to these forums, I don't exactly know where to put this. This is my first post, but it'll help those who have been looking for this.

While Digsby, the IM Client, is not currently supported by the PortableApps.com platform, the Digsby official installer recently added a 'Portable' option. The Digsby project has recently announced that it will be going open source soon, and I hope that will allow PortableApps.com to add Digsby to the platform natively.

Until then, there are those of us who are good at tinkering, and create our own way to make it work with PA.c. This forum post is a tutorial on how to do just that. Due to the fact that Digsby is currently not open-source, I will not distribute it. If someone who knows the law can tell me why it's legal, I'll make a Digsby.paf.exe to install Digsby into PortableApps natively. For now, instead, I'm going to link to everything I used to achieve Digsby Portable for PortableApps.com.

First off, go to www.digsby.com and download the installer for Windows. Run the installer as you would normally, but instead of installing with the default settings, choose the Portable for USB drive/thumb drive option. I personally installed it on my flash drive under "\PortableApps\DigsbyPortable\", which created a folder called "\PortableApps\DigsbyPortable\App".

In the 'App' folder, create a folder called 'AppInfo'. Paste the following into a text file and save it as '\PortableApps\DigsbyPortable\App\AppInfo\appinfo.ini'
[Format]
Type=PortableApps.comFormat
Version=3.0

[Details]
Name=Digsby, Portable Edition
AppID=DigsbyPortable
Publisher=dotSyntax, LLC.
Homepage=www.digsby.com
Category=Internet
Description=Digsby is a popular multi-protocol IM client that allows the user to connect to multiple services, including e-mail and twitter.
Language=English

[License]
Shareable=true
OpenSource=false
Freeware=true
CommercialUse=true

[Version]
PackageVersion=30256
DisplayVersion=30256

[SpecialPaths]
Plugins=

[Control]
Icons=1
Start=DigsbyPortable.exe

[Associations]

Then, open a blank text document in notepad, and paste the following:

@echo off
start App/digsby.exe
exit

Save the file as "PortableApps\DigsbyPortable\DigsbyPortable.bat". Download the utility called "Bat_To_Exe_Converter.exe" from this web site. This is going to turn that .bat file into a Windows EXE file to open Digsby, which will adhere to the PortableApps3.0 platform standard.

Before you run it, download an icon file for Digsby in the .ico format. I downloaded mine here. Also download 16x16, 32x32, and 128x128 .PNG versions of the icon. The names of the files should be as follows:

\PortableApps\DigsbyPortable\App\AppInfo\appicon.ico
\PortableApps\DigsbyPortable\App\AppInfo\appicon_16.png
\PortableApps\DigsbyPortable\App\AppInfo\appicon_32.png
\PortableApps\DigsbyPortable\App\AppInfo\appicon_128.png

Run the Bat_To_Exe_Converter.exe program, and choose the .bat you created earlier, and select the .ico file as the icon for the .exe that will be created. Select "Ghost Application," which will open Digsby without showing a console window, and then click 'Compile.' Ensure that the file called '\PortableApps\DigsbyPortable\DigsbyPortable.exe' exists, and has the icon you selected.

Now, run your PortableApps.com platform as usual, go to Apps>Refresh App Icons. Digsby should now show up in your Internet category.

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