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Auto-hide not properly closed window

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March 26, 2014 - 9:21am
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KPAH
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Auto-hide not properly closed window

Hi.
Been using portable apps for over 8 years now, and there are two features that annoy me in the newer releases of the launcher. The first one is inability to run from Program files folder, but that was explained and probably not in the users power to change.
Another one is this popup which appear in newer versions of Windows when you shutdown the PC without exiting the portable app. The next time you start the app, it shows a window saying the app must be closed with one single button OK.
I don't think the user cares about it to the extent of making windows which requires user interaction. But even this information is worth seeing, why not making a timeout to display this and then re-start the app automatically?
In my case I have a non-attended displayless 24h/7 server, to which I attach a USB drive with portable uTorrent and then take out to transfer files to the player, add new torrents, etc.. The app starts automatically on drive connect. But now I have to login to the server via RDP to make sure the torrents are running and not stuck at that meaningless window.
Can we please remove it or add a timeout and after restart if it's all important?
Sorry for ranting, but this annoyance really sours the overal perfect idea and built.

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March 26, 2014 - 11:22am
John T. Haller
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Program Files and Shutdown Message

For Program Files, if you really want to, look in the code for the special environment variable that will enable you to install there. Please note that any apps installed there are unsupported by PortableApps.com and by the app publisher. And that apps like Google Chrome Portable will simply fail to work and some other apps will store their settings in either the registry or APPDATA, rendering them non-portable. We have no control over that and it's one of the reasons we neither support nor allow installation to Program Files.

As for the closing message, I'll quote from my last post on the topic, which was also discussed to death:

  • Yes, we would like to be able to update the PortableApps.com Launcher (aka PAL) to be able to warn you of an unsafe close and be able to click OK and re-start automatically. Unfortunately, this will require a MAJOR rewrite of PAL to accomplish this. Our volunteer developers do not currently have time to do this.
  • Yes, we would love to have the apps be able to sense a Windows shutdown and properly close. This is not possible, currently, for technical reasons. Partially it is a limitation of NSIS (the language PAL is coded in) and the way it responds to the Windows shutdown messaging. It is also a limitation, specifically, of portable software since it has multiple EXEs that operate together. Windows does not understand this and will unceremoniously kill them but not in the proper order. For example, appname.exe needs to be closed first and then appnameportable.exe can clean up after it, moving registry entries, cleaning files, etc. Windows shutdown has no mechanism to understand this and just shuts them down willy-nilly™.
  • Yes, we are working on the platform's ability to properly shutdown all your apps at one time but it is not yet completed. The platform can understand the difference between appname.exe and appnameportable.exe and politely ask them to close in the proper sequence so no data is lost.
  • Yes, it would be nice if we could have the apps be able to do this themselves without the platform so that functionality is not tied to the platform, but we cannot due to the above-mentioned technical limitations.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

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