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Convey Portable .94b Release

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ede
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Convey Portable .94b Release

Convey Portable v0.94b Portable Send To Manager

I created this little app to run when I insert my USB Drive. It basically takes a subfolder of application shortcuts on your portable drive and adds them to the current computer's Send To folder. For instance, if you like opening pdf files with Portable Sumatra instead of the Acrobat that is installed on the computer you're plugged into, you can just right-click the pdf file and choose Send To > Sumatra PDF Portable.

The best thing is that it changes the shortcuts' parameters on the host computer so that they point to the USB drive's current drive letter.

Finally, it monitors the the portable drive so that when you remove it, it will automatically delete the shortcuts it created in the computer's Send To folder. In short, it cleans up after itself.

Lost of customization options.

Download it here

Just install to apps folder on drive and then run the ConveyPortable.exe. It will create the shortcuts folder and you can start adding new shortcuts. Then, use the tray icon to control.

version 0.941b
-STARTED- Working on Addons section.
-STARTED- Working on way to manually change Send To folder. Disabled in this version.
-ADDED- Improved the settings dialog.
-ADDED- Option to move original Send To shortcuts - has limitations.
-ADDED- About section prettier.
-ADDED- The Conveyor Options on Advance page for now.
-ADDED- Help button in Settings dialog opens Help file.
-ADDED- Can now rename The Conveyor.
-ADDED- Will now recover from a crash on next run and remove any leftover shortcuts.
-ADDED- Captures for existence of shortcut after renaming - rare.
-ADDED- Can disable the error/info log.
-FIXED- Was possible to pick any folder for links folder. Now must be subfolder of app folder.
-FIXED- Occasional loss of Links location on ReConvey - rare.
-CHANGED- Prettied-up the basic installer.
-CHANGED- INI file is now necessary. It will always be created by Convey Portable.
-FIXED- Long folder names were causing display issues in dialog (thanks Patience)

Source Code

Patrick Patience
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Alright.

So, this app, just keeps getting so much better.

I'd also like to know what kind of add-ons might be coming.
And I'm agreed with re-naming it to setup.

The installer. Personally, probally the nicest I have seen on this site. For ANY app.

The send to works fine, tho I did see My Documents re-appear.

What is res1.gpj?

And under the settings advanced tab, it's bit messed up, like the page of it.

Otherwise, so freaking amazing.

Menu off of the menu for the original folder, AMAZING.

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ede
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advanced tab

What are you seeing on the advanced tab? I'm having trouble recreating strangeness with it.

Patrick Patience
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Here.

I took a screenshot, please just download it from here.

I hate trying to upload with image hosting.

Nvm, first time trying that, it shows the image, sweet!

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ZachHudock
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My "Advanced" Tab turned out

My "Advanced" Tab turned out fine...ur's is kinda special looking lol

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Patrick Patience
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Hmm.

I tried re-installing, I'll try re-downloading though.

Okay, tried re-downloading, same thing, I'll try it on another comp when I get a chance, but we're moving soon, and most of them are packed up, sept my dads, which he's on. I've never had any resolution problems like this before. Weird. Well, it's not resolution really, but it's messed up.

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ede
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I think I fixed this

I wasn't accounting for super long user names. Now I am. New version up top.

Patrick Patience
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Ok thanks.

I'll give it a shot.

Excellent! Thank you.

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Patrick Patience
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Actually.

Everyone of the tabs is like that. The backgrounf part which is attached to the tab doesn't stretch far enough down for me, and therefore some of the text it on top of the raised box, making it look messed.

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ZachHudock
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I doubt this could cause the

I doubt this could cause the problem, but is your monitor widescreen? I tested this on 3 of the 5 pcs in our house and couldn't recreate the weird layout, none of them have widescreen monitors.

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Patrick Patience
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Ok...

I re uploaded the pic with all three tabs (Minus addons cause it's blank.)

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ZachHudock
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Looks much nicer, works

Looks much nicer, works better, one suggestion, and a very minor one at that....rename your installer to "ConveyPortable_Setup.exe" some users may be confused if the keep the installer

Edit: What sort of "Addons" could we be seeing? This app is already amazing, not sure how much better it could get. I'm currently learning AHK and attempting to write a script to simulate the functions currently in and installed version of 7-zip's shell settings.

Maybe a bit more info as to what the limited features of moving the original SendTo items could be included. What is meant by "Was possible to pick any folder for links folder. Now must be subfolder of app folder." Does this mean it can only link to subfolders of this app, or just the app directory on the drive? My suggestion would be to limit it to the drive in general

I'd like to keep editing too, so please don't reply

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ede
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thanks

Sorry, I replied before I saw.

Changed the download to ConveyPortable_Setup.exe. That was destined to cause confusion.

Addons I'm currently thinking about:
1. Copy to Any Folder
2. Move to Any Folder
3. Copy filenames to clipboard.
4. Send to Run
5. Send to Prompt (this would work for a folder or a file)
6. Quicklaunch.

These would really be little stand-alone apps that you could configure from the Add-ons menu. Convey Portable would launch them and they would either add themselves to the Send To folder or perform their function and close. I'm working on the interface now and I think it'll be really cool.

Once I have the backend built, you should be able to create plugins (with AHK) too. Convey Portable will basically send a parameter to the plugins to bring up their settings. I'll give you all the info when I have it all figured out.

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Sounds great, i'm looking

Sounds great, i'm looking forward to it, this really is an amazing app. I'm especially looking forward to the MoveTo function.

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ZachHudock
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For creating a backup of the

For creating a backup of the original SendTo shortcuts, the backup folder is not deleted when ConveyPortable is terminated, excellent feature otherwise, i like how the folder stays available and it just groups the originals into that.

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Patrick Patience
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The...

"Original" folder deletes for me?

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ZachHudock
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The folder disappears from

The folder disappears from the SendTo menu and that is restored to normal, but the folder created on the drive when the function to create "Original" in the SendTo remains on the drive..i believe it's called "z_sendToBackup" also, the folder gets created if the check box controlling that setting it clicked at all. It recreated the z_sendToBackup upon disabling that option

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Patrick Patience
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Oh yea.

You're right.

He's right.

Smile

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ZachHudock
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Thanks lol

Thanks lol

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ede
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Yes.

The z_sendToBackup. Mostly that was paranoia on my part. Technically, I don't need that folder at all for the app to work.

I was worried as this was my first release with that feature that something would go wrong and I wanted to make sure users would have a way to get their send to back. I have another solution in the bag, but I just haven't gotten around to implementing it yet.

Anyways, I'll remove it in the next version if no one reports problems with the Move Originals feature.

-ede

Patrick Patience
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Ohh...

Okay.

Good call.

Couple of questions I asked but I think you missed.

What's res1.gpj?
What's the story behind the icon?

And I think you should link this forum page in the old topic.

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ede
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Answers

Res1.gpj is a program file. It contains some external functions and graphics (notably the About image). The script was getting a bit unwieldy as it grew.

The icon started as an arrow, then changed into a >. Then I just created that symbol in 3D and voila!

-ede

ZachHudock
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I didn't have any issues

I didn't have any issues with it. It may be a good idea to keep that folder for a while, let more users test it and on different PCs, just in case.

Edit: Another thing i noticed, whenever the user changes their settings, after the "Save" button is clicked, the window asking whether or not to open the "Links" folder gets displayed

I had 2 questions as well....

Can you provide a little bit more info as to what the "limitations" of MoveOriginals are?

What is meant by "Was possible to pick any folder for links folder. Now must be subfolder of app folder." Does this mean it can only link to subfolders of this app, or just the app directory on the drive? My suggestion for this would be to limit it to the drive and not a particular folder on the drive.

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ede
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The limitations

Move Originals limitation:

1. It will still display My Document link if it is an entry in the registry. I'll probably include a way to change this, but you'll have to have privileges to edit the registry

2. It will still show any removable disks in the Send To list.

I will probably change the subfolder limitation. It requires a bit of a rewrite of some large chunks of code. Right now it can be in any folder under the Convey Portable folder.

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Alright, thanks for the

Alright, thanks for the info, and thanks again for this great app. It is really very helpful

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Patrick Patience
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YES!

YES!
YES!
YES!
YES!
YES!

Omg it is SO sweet. I am fascinated by it every day. Biggrin

I need to get out more... Sad

OR NOT. Smile

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Upgrade Bug

If you Upgrade (copy the new exe into an existing folder with an existing .ini file)
The Conveyor name field and Original folder field aren't populated.
Also the Original folder option is checked but the entry field is grayed out.
So you get a shortcut to conveyor with no name, and the original move doesn't work.
Applying default settings fixes the issue.

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TRexian
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different upgrade path

Hmmm... I kinda did it the opposite way- copied the .ini and links folder to the new install and it worked fine.

Smile

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ede
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This has to

This has to do with the ini being required now. Future upgrades won't have a problem.

ceciliaFX
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OS

Does this work on WIndows2000?
I will assume it works on XP.

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"No one man can terrorize a whole nation unless we are all his accomplices." - Edward R. Murrow

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I'm not sure how the

I'm not sure how the Windows2000 folder layout is set up for the SendTo feature, but if 2000 supports SendTo and has the same directory structure for that area, then it should work

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Wences
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Works for me

On Windows 2000 Pro, English, SP4
With all the same quirks reported by the rest, but nothing serious. Won't format your disks.

ZachHudock
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Just tested this on the

Just tested this on the extremely limited account at my school, and it works great there too

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Patrick Patience
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I've tried it...

At my school, we have EXTREMELY limited accounts. It won't let us execute or download anything. Can't even download from out e-mails. Sad

I tried Convey, and it wouldn't work.

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Dang...sounds like it's

Dang...sounds like it's really strict. The usage policy at my school is rather poorly implemented, the biggest thing is that they allow us to open command prompt but not actually do anything. That makes is kinda difficult to test our assembly language programs or run our console based C++ programs. This policy is only in effect in the lab designated for computer science majors, i think its just as bad as urs in the other labs.

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arqbrulo
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Great app

This is a great app. I had read what it was and what it did but never tried it until today. However, I don't really need it. I also created an exe to open my menu and move my shortcuts to the "send to" folder and delete it afterwards. But non-the-less it's a great app.
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Wences
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Name of The Conveyor has limited length

I can't get past "Conveyor Portab" when trying to change the name of The Conveyor.
Is this by design?

PS: The L on my keyboard works OK: Look: llllllLLLLLLllllllLLLLL Smile

ede
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I'll fix this in the next version

I put a limit on the field length. It might have been a bit too small.

Wences
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Why????

Just curious: Why did you do that? Does something break if it's toooooo long?

ede
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Ignorance

When I set that up I didn't know how to make the edit box not expand vertically and horizontally. I know now. Smile and it will be fixed in the next version.

-ede

Wences
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Hahahaha

Good reason enough!

Hexadecimator
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Love it.

I love it. Best use I have so far is to put AHK in the folder.
The only complaint I have is that you forced me to add a line to my autorun script Blum

An idea for an add-on would be filetype associations, but I could probably write that myself if I got around to it. The only hard parts are undoing the changes afterwards and hoping my school doesn't block AHK reg calls (they do block regedit calls, and I'm not sure what AHK uses).

arnie1066
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Astounded!

Shock

You've created the perfect little app here. It works better than i expected.

I've not played with it much other than to add notepad++ to the links folder. I may have questions later (i have one in mind)
.....

OK my question. Is it at all possible in a future Version to decide if you want a particular app in the SendTo folder or the Open With list?

Oh one minor point...
The top of the page indicates latest version .94b, Help About shows itself as .98b.

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