Portable App Development

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.

I'd like a switch to be added that will properly close the app. Specifically, I'd like to see this added to the Thunderbird Portable launcher, but I think it would be a good feature for all launchers.

Okay, well since there are no official PAF specs and the unofficial ones carry "don't use this" status, I figure I'll ask a different way: what do I have to do to my app if I wanted to release it on PA.com now?

I mean, if there's no specs and we're not supposed to use the unofficial ones, how is anyone supposed to release anything?

Okay, I found this out a while ago.
When a portable application such as Pidgin or Miranda runs, windows will store the settings for the behavior of the system tray icon [Always Show, Always Hide, Hide when Inactive] in the registry. However, when the program closes, these settings are kept and will be displayed under "Past Items" in the customize notifications part of the Taskbar & Start Menu Properties. This exposes all the applications which use system tray icons, that have previously been running on the computer. *gasps*

I'm working on making a launcher for a app called Skinner. But I keep getting this annoying message. My Code is:

Outfile ..\..\SkinnerPortable.exe
Name "Skinner Portable"
Icon "..\..\App\AppInfo\appicon2.ico"
SilentInstall Silent
AutoCloseWindow True
RequestExecutionLevel user

!include "FileFunc.nsh"
!include "ReplaceInFile.nsh"
!include "Registry.nsh"
!insertmacro GetRoot

Var APPDIR
Var SETDIR

Section Main
	
		System::Call 'kernel32::CreateMutexA(i 0, i 0, t "SkinnerPortable"2) i .r1 ?e'
			Pop $0
			StrCmp $0 0 DefineVariables TheEnd
		
		DefineVariables:

ok well i'm about to have to redo the png optimization for Secret Maryo Chronicles 1.5 and i wanted to know what you recommend to do. I was going to use OptiPNG but i wasn't sure what options to use to get the best optimization without messing up the graphics.

Hi all,

I've noticed that quite a few PortableApps include gdiplus.dll (and require it on Win2K and down); OpenOffice.org, Pidgin, Task Coach, Scribus, RegShot, and my own BPBible being the ones I've noticed so far.
Should we be moving that to the CommonFiles directory and setting %path% to include that? The file is about a megabyte, and, well... every megabyte counts.

What do others think?

Anyone think of password locking the PortableApps executable?

I'm messing with an emulated Slax on my USB And it's just too big. Can I UPX or compress the ISO's and still have it run through Qemu?

PS: Why not DSL? It's not persistent without partitioning your USB drive, I want to make this as painless as possible.