Asymptote Portable 2.38 Dev Test 1

have launched from Win Explorer w/ a double click & from PA.c menu; same result

http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/83035/using-asymptote-with-miktex

(the batch file stuff therein looks irrelevant to me)

per this page, there are .sty files for Asymptote in its own directory but LaTeX cannot know to look there; adding to MikTeX path would be irrelevant since they are in the wrong place for TeX Dir. Structure (TDS); LaTeX can be apprised of them in 2 ways:

(1) the user always remembers to copy these .sty files to the dir containing the TeX documment; or,
(2) they are copied (& then forgotten) into a subdir of tex\latex, say tex\latex\Asymptote, of a TDS-compliant structure rooted as a local texmf directory Local_Texmf, say, that is **Not** part of MikTeX but which is also on the USB [1]; one adds the dir Local_Texmf as a root to MikTeXPortable, per my description "Usage Note: local tex trees" in "https://portableapps.com/node/36247". Anyhoo, that, along w/ the config/env.var. need, is my take-away from this particular stackexchange page. Have not tested the advice on that page, however, & my interp. may be off.

Note(s):
[1] Situating Local_Texmf as a sibling of MikTeXPortable (under CommonFiles for plugin case, else under PortableApps) may be better than my earlier post's idea of putting it under MikTeXPortable\Data, so that emptiness of Data, when needed, can be retained as a sentinel for a DefaultData load in order to preserve future MikTexPortable organizational options.

since
launcher's notion of 'Working Directory'== Win's notion of Current Directory

it must be set (see my batch script), otherwise figures don't get labelled and pdfs don't get put together

by contrast to the AsymptotePortable script above, this one calling asy.exe execs beautifully in Win7 & XP-SP3 VM; for reference, the verbatim batch script is given first in (1) and then outputs from the Trace at the tail end of this script are shown next in (2);; I see nothing suspicious.

(1)the script:
rem 'Trace_ID'identifies the type of run for re-directing psth & env.var. printouts

set Trace_ID=asy_call
set PAL_PortableAppsDir=P:\PortableApps

:: name of tex file:
set name=Asymptote_LaTeX_Sample
:: name of TeX file is %name%.tex

:: customize these settings
set MikTeX_bin=%PAL_PortableAppsDir%\MiKTeXPortable\App\MiKTeX\miktex\bin
set Asymptote_bin=%PAL_PortableAppsDir%\AsymptotePortable\App\asy
set Ghostscript_bin=%PAL_PortableAppsDir%\CommonFiles\Ghostscript\bin
set AsymptotePortable_dir=%PAL_PortableAppsDir%\AsymptotePortable

rem set path=%MikTeX_bin%;%Asymptote_bin%;%path%
set path=%MikTeX_bin%;%Asymptote_bin%

set ASYMPTOTE_GS=%Ghostscript_bin%\gswin32c.exe
set ASYMPTOTE_HOME=%PAL_PortableAppsDir%\AsymptotePortable\Data\configs
set ASYMPTOTE_PSVIEWER=%PAL_PortableAppsDir%\GSviewPortable\GSviewPortable.exe
set ASYMPTOTE_DIR=%PAL_PortableAppsDir%\AsymptotePortable\App\asy
set ASYMPTOTE_CONFIG=%PAL_PortableAppsDir%\AsymptotePortable\Data\configs\config.asy

set CYGWIN=nodosfilewarning

:: execute:
pdflatex %name%
asy %name%-*.asy
rem AsymptotePortable.exe %name%-*.asy
rem for %%i in (%name%-*.asy) do ( AsymptotePortable.exe %%i )
pdflatex %name%

:: Trace path and env. vars used:
del /q "Trace\Trace_path_%Trace_ID%.txt"
del /q "Trace\Trace_EnvVars_%Trace_ID%.txt"

echo %path% > "Trace\Trace_path_%Trace_ID%.txt"
set > "Trace\Trace_EnvVars_%Trace_ID%.txt"

(2)outputs from the Trace exec'd at end of batch script above; all outputs are from sterile XP-SP3 VM (XPmode from within Win7 64bit Professional):
(a)Path:
P:\PortableApps\MiKTeXPortable\App\MiKTeX\miktex\bin
;P:\PortableApps\AsymptotePortable\App\asy

(b)Environment Variables:
ALLUSERSPROFILE=C:\Documents and Settings\All Users
APPDATA=C:\Documents and Settings\XPMUser\Application Data
AsymptotePortable_dir=P:\PortableApps\AsymptotePortable
Asymptote_bin=P:\PortableApps\AsymptotePortable\App\asy
ASYMPTOTE_CONFIG=P:\PortableApps\AsymptotePortable\Data\configs\config.asy
ASYMPTOTE_DIR=P:\PortableApps\AsymptotePortable\App\asy
ASYMPTOTE_GS=P:\PortableApps\CommonFiles\Ghostscript\bin\gswin32c.exe
ASYMPTOTE_HOME=P:\PortableApps\AsymptotePortable\Data\configs
ASYMPTOTE_PSVIEWER=P:\PortableApps\GSviewPortable\GSviewPortable.exe
CLIENTNAME=Console
CommonProgramFiles=C:\Program Files\Common Files
COMPUTERNAME=VIRTUALXP-40234
ComSpec=C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe
CYGWIN=nodosfilewarning
FP_NO_HOST_CHECK=NO
Ghostscript_bin=P:\PortableApps\CommonFiles\Ghostscript\bin
HOMEDRIVE=C:
HOMEPATH=\Documents and Settings\XPMUser
LOGONSERVER=\\VIRTUALXP-40234
MikTeX_bin=P:\PortableApps\MiKTeXPortable\App\MiKTeX\miktex\bin
name=Asymptote_LaTeX_Sample
NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS=1
OS=Windows_NT
PAL_PortableAppsDir=P:\PortableApps
Path=P:\PortableApps\MiKTeXPortable\App\MiKTeX\miktex\bin;P:\PortableApps\AsymptotePortable\App\asy
PATHEXT=.COM;.EXE;.BAT;.CMD;.VBS;.VBE;.JS;.JSE;.WSF;.WSH;.PSC1
PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE=x86
PROCESSOR_IDENTIFIER=x86 Family 6 Model 42 Stepping 7, GenuineIntel
PROCESSOR_LEVEL=6
PROCESSOR_REVISION=2a07
ProgramFiles=C:\Program Files
PROMPT=$P$G
PSModulePath=C:\WINDOWS\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\Modules\
SESSIONNAME=RDP-Tcp#1
SystemDrive=C:
SystemRoot=C:\WINDOWS
TEMP=C:\DOCUME~1\XPMUser\LOCALS~1\Temp
TMP=C:\DOCUME~1\XPMUser\LOCALS~1\Temp
Trace_ID=asy_call
USERDOMAIN=VIRTUALXP-40234
USERNAME=XPMUser
USERPROFILE=C:\Documents and Settings\XPMUser
windir=C:\WINDOWS

my suspicions have not been based on evidence but merely on that there seemed little else differentiating execution contexts that may account for the different behavior;

fyi, only one cygwin dll on the XP VM; many on the Win7, however, from cygwin install, Toucan, misc.;
will try the latest & greatest cygwin; am not hopeful, tho'

also CYGWIN env. var not passed thru;
and the launcher modifications to the path do not get passed thru;

removing the CYGWIn env. var. cannot have an effect; the launched executable doesn't see it

context: exec'ing under an Admin acct. in sterile XP-SP3 VM;
I had previously noticed cygwin writes to the registry, so re-tested:
(1) deleted the registry keys HKCU\Software\Cygwin and HKLM\Software\Cygwin;
(2) ran batch script using AsymptotePortable (prelinaries, pdflatex, AsymptotePortable, pdflatex--all as previously posted); beautiful output as posted supra;
(3)checked the registry; now have all of the following registry keys when just prior to exec. there were none:

HKCU\Software\Cygwin
HKCU\Software\Cygwin\Program Options
HKCU\Software\Cygwin

HKLM\Software\Cygwin\Program Options
HKLM\Software\Cygwin\Installations

(1)helpfile "location" looks hard-coded to me; probably not going to get anything from discussion board; warning to user to look for Help in Asymptote.pdf in the App\asy dir. might be useful;
(2)registry:
(a)changes to HKLM seems odd;
(b)keys added that were not there; current registry stuff in launcher handles HKCU only & does not delete keys created that were not there before;