Portable App Development

The current PortableApps.com Format Specification is available here:
https://portableapps.com/development/portableapps.com_format

Ok, I'm posting a quick outline for comment as the full spec isn't done yet and I'd like to get some more input from the community. Here are just the basics. Nothing too fancy. Please offer up any comments or suggestions. Thanks!

PortableApps.com Format Specification: Draft 4 (2009-02-12)

1. DIRECTORY LAYOUT

Would it be acceptable for the launcher to be written from scatch and still by made offical?

thanks

i understand why we can't post most freeware apps here, because their license makes it illegal to modify them. but why can't we post freeware apps that have more flexible licenses to allow repackaging? the only reason we don't have official freeware apps is because of hosting, so if we have our own hosting, then we should be able to post them on the forums.

The standard WinSCP distribution includes file winscp.com, a command-line interface to the WinSCP.exe executable. It's basically a command-line sftp client. The current portable version doesn't include winscp.com, could it be added to the next PAF version?
WinSCP.exe needs to be running already for winscp.com to work. From my limited testing, it doesn't seem to leave anything in the registry.
More info here http://winscp.net/eng/docs/scripting

I made some themes for the orginal PAM.
Here you'll find them:

Name

Metallic Theme Set

PAM-Version

PAM 1.1 Beta4

Size

406 * 573 pix

Preview & Download

I like them.

I'm working on improving the Winamp launcher, really the only thing left to do is make the media library portable. The issue is that the media library uses absolute paths and is stored in a .dat file. Is there a way in NSIS to find B:, C:, E: or whatever the path may be and replace it with the drive letter of the flash drive? I know you can do a find and replace, but will this work in a .dat file? Also, since the initial drive letter of the path can be anything, how would I do the find and replace for it? Thanks.

Not sure if this is the correct location for this post...
I'm sure this has been asked before, but I can't find it in the forum: is there a way to automatically start an app as soon as the PortableApps menu is started? I constantly use Keepass during the day, so it would be nice to have it start together with the PA Menu. Sort of like the startup folder in windows...

Could anyone please tell me how to redirect
"C:\Documents and Settings\HOME PC\Application Data\Artweaver" using nsis? because I want those settings to be stored in the "Data" directory of the app, which I am trying to make portable.

thx in advance

edit: because subject was not very clear

Edit 2: I am trying to make my question clearer: how does a portable app handle the program which writes to "application data"? and how does it delete them and then get them to the "data" directory on the USB or so? could someone please show me the code?

I'm working on a launcher that will create file associations for .ssk and .sti files. I can't seem to get the registry to work though. Everytime I go through the Replace in file command it messes up the .reg file. It goes up from a couple KB's to 800 and tells me only binary data can be put into the registry. If anybody could help I'd appreciate it. My code is:

Outfile ..\..\StickiesPortable.exe
Name Stickies Portable
Icon "..\..\App\AppInfo\appicon.ico"
SilentInstall Silent
AutoCloseWindow True
RequestExecutionLevel user

!include "FileFunc.nsh"

I am writing a launcher and have a question about moving files. I need to be a able to move files from the settings directory to the app directory in order for the program to work. I've been looking at the SumatraPDF source to be able to do that. The problem is that the files that need to be moved could have any file name. The extension on the file name will always be the same.

Example: I need to move all files with the extension .skn from the settings folder to the app folder when the program is launched and back to the settings folder when the program is closed.