Portable App Development

Hi there.

I have been trying to create a portable version of the OS C++ IDE, Code::Blocks. So far, I have found the registry key it creates when run, and exported it. Also, I have found the folder that it creates in C:\Documents and Settings\$USERNAME$, called ".Codeblocks" and the file it creates at the same place, called .cb_profile

How can I make a launcher, that loads all these things to their correct places? I trird using a batch file, but the problem is, the registry values include absoltue paths :S

Any ideas?

-Girvo

I am not sure if it is adequate to post this here...but I'm looking for an Portable Application developer in London, UK. Anyone out there please get in touch m.almansur @ gmail . com

thanks

with u3 there is a launch window for all my installed apps and it would be great to have any of my portable apps in there with the rest of them.
Can they easliy be converted to do this?

Cheers
JowelBoy

Does anyone know how to successfully wrap a registry key such as the one below for a portable template.

HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-1715567821-1275210071-725345543-1003\Software\Softpointer

Hey community,

I've been able to get Wings3D (an amazing 3D modelling package found at http://www.wings3d.com/) to fully run on my USB drive with no connection to the underlying OS, EXCEPT for a single .ini file that contains 2 absolute paths to folders in the application (all the way from the drive root).

Obviously, by simply editing the .ini the app will run, but each time it is ran, the .ini file has to somehow be edited to be pointed to the correct directory.

This is my first attempt at creating a portable app, can the portable app template handle this kind of replacement in an .ini file?

PUSS 1.02 has now been released. There have been a couple of minor improvements such as the inclusion of a horizontal scrollbar and the re-selection of the previous item in Secure. Also you will notice that the default categories are back in. Finally I have moved to app to a standard foldername so that you should find that with the next release you can extract it over the top without any issues. Please see the project page for more information and a download link.

The Liberta Team

I used to use this batch to quickly run a script and eject.

FOR %%i in (".") do set usbdrv=%%~di

copy deveject.exe "%userprofile%\desktop"
copy startx.exe "%userprofile%\desktop"

echo deveject -EjectDrive:%usbdrv% >> "%userprofile%\desktop\bye.bat"
echo del startx.exe >> "%userprofile%\desktop\bye.bat"
echo del deveject.exe >> "%userprofile%\desktop\bye.bat"
echo del bye.bat >> "%userprofile%\desktop\bye.bat"

cd /D "%userprofile%\desktop"
startx /B bye.bat

Then I got a Lexar JumpDrive Secure, which appears to Windows as a Local Drive rather than a Removable Device. It has the advantage of using an autorun.inf like CDs so my apps start as soon as I insert the stick (SP2 adds a nag popup, but that's the only hold-up).

Someone made portable versions of ethereal, ngrep, nmap, showtraf, snort, tcpdump, and nemesis by recompiling with a portable packet lib...

Repeat: His didn't need WinPCap installed.

His email is: BOBAH.XPEHOB@GMAIL.COM
http://www.packetstuff.com/index.htm
(His site's dead but google has a cache of the main page)

His Google Newsgroup is still up though.
http://groups.google.com/group/PacketStuff?hl=en

The library's site is here
And it can be downloaded here

Hi there,

I'm keen to get the Processing API working for portable drives. I have had some input from the Processing forum about how to do this. And if I get it to work, will look into using NISI to wrap up the app and the changes.

processing.org forum post

Any advice on making this robust is more than welcome. I use Processing to teach aspects of programming, and a portable version for students to carry around would be ideal.

Ben

Hi,

The current way that Firefox Portable and Thunderbird Portable work triggers the UAC and failed installation warnings in Windows Vista.
Given that half the point of having portable apps is so that they can be used on machines that the user doesn't control it's not sufficient to blame Vista and say that UAB should eb turned off.

My understanding is that the current portable apps actually work by installing themselves one start up and then uninstalling themselves on shutdown.

Do you have plans for moving to an alternative way of packaging these apps that will work without requiring any elevated privileges?