Portable App Development

It seems that there is no documentation for %WINDIR% which might work (not tested) but I found no equivalent of NSIS $SYSDIR which is required to portabilize many admin applications.

[Moved from PortableApps.com Platform support to Portable App Development forum - mod Chris]

In reviewing a program with RegShot I received the following entries:

C:\Dokumente und Einstellungen\xxx\NTUSER.DAT.LOG
C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch\xxx.EXE-3868F2CB.pf
C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch\FIREFOX.EXE-1D57670A.pf
C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch\xxx.EXE-1035DFC7.pf
C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\software.LOG

(some characters I have replaced through a "x" sign)

Do I have to note the above items, or can I ignore them?

Does anyone know how I can code a system call within the 2.0 launcher/code? Basically I need to refresh the desktop once the launched application has closed - in order to reset the original desktop. I thought that RefreshShellIcons might be enough, but this obviously doesn't seem to refresh the desktop. Without it, the desktop only reverts to its original state on the next windows logon.

I have a portable app (Eclipse Portable) that spawns a compiler (iverilog.exe). However, the compiler--which is installed under the portable app's folder--requires DLLs. I can make the compiler run by copying the DLLs to the Windows\System32 folder on the host machine. Of course, this makes the PortableApp no longer portable.

Does anyone know how to setup the PortableApp to locate the DLLs? Or configure the environment variables?

I'm new to using the PA Installer, but I get this error when using it:

Processed 1 file, writing output:
Adding plug-ins initializing function... Done!
Error: invalid VIProductVersion format, should be X.X.X.X
Error - aborting creation process

Could someone please give me a clue as to what to look for? I did a search and saw this happening 3 years ago but I'm not able to ascertain what the problem is.

does any one have an example or know of an app that uses this function in the launcher.ini for PA.c Launcher 2.0

i only ask cause i am having a hard time understanding the manual and an example of how it is used would allow me to see how it is used.

thanks in advanced.

ok, from what i understand if i wish to include custom segments for the PA.c Launcher i must have a file named PortableApps.comLauncherCustom.nsh in my source directory.

now if i want to add several segments i would have the PortableApps.comLauncherCustom.nsh file and any files called by PortableApps.comLauncherCustom.nsh

for example, here would be one part of my custom segment

PortableApps.comLauncherCustom.nsh code


!include "GetDXVersion.nsh"

Section "Main"
CheckDirectXVersion:
Call GetDXVersion
Pop $R0
IntCmp $R0 801 GetINIOptions 0 GetINIOptions


When you have an online app, and there is a firewall running on the pc, I am asked to allow the app connection to download chrome for example.

Normally this is fine, but when you use the updater within the platform it causes problems.

I am told that there is no connection to download, so I allow the prompt from the firewall and the updater carries on, only it skips chrome.

This means that the install is messed up because it has deleted the old install and now there is nothing for the launcher to do but give a "not found" error.

If I find an app, which is freeware but not Open Source software, is it enough to contact the developer per email to get the permission for creation of a portable app after the PortableApps.com standard?

So, I'm trying to make an app in NSIS that will act according to a certain hotkey that's pressed (in this case, alt + b). I think I've got the register/unregister part down, but I don't know how to store whatever was pressed into $var, then I can do what I need to from there...

I've never used the system plugin (or GetDlgItem for that matter), nor have I registered hotkeys, but I found a couple of tutorials on how to use the system plugin (from the manual), and how to register hotkeys (from MSDN).

So far, I got this from guessing and checking:

GetDlgItem $0 $HWNDPARENT 1