Portable App Development

After doing some brainstorming on portable applications and adapting existing applications so that they'd be portable, I thought it would be pretty neat to have a program where you could easily make applications portable just by writing a script file, without having to compile it. All the script would do is tell the system where the application stores its data and the system would take care of the rest.

Example
For example, let's say you want to use ProgramX on your USB drive, but it stores all its data in the registry. You could make a simple script file that would tell the system where ProgramX stores its data and then the system would take care of the rest. Since this script is read in when you want to run the application, there is no need to compile it or deal with external compilers like NSIS.

Hey all!

As I can see it there are four launchers in various stages of production at the moment which all have there own strengths.

Libertà - Many modules (Backup, Restore, Log, Sync, Auto Update, Reg Wrapping...)
Johns Menu - Compact on screen size, ease of use
Rene's App - One seriously nice (skin-able) look!
START - Small and compact size, easy to use

All of these features are SERIOUSLY impressive. Therefore I propose this…

We gather them all together in one new app.

- Its main screen is Rene's app
- It has the modules I have written
- When it is minimised the right click menu is Johns App

I've been debating directory layouts a bit and wanted some thoughts from other developers. Basically, I'm thinking internally to the apps themselves... which will also make things easier when used with the Suite and with the upcoming launcher.

My thought is this:

PortableAppName
 - App
   - appdirectory1
   - appdirectory2
 - Data
   - settingsdirectory1
   - settingsdirectory2
 - Extras
   - backup settings files, etc (coming soon)

So, for example, Portable Firefox would be:

PortableFirefox
 - App
   - firefox
   - plugins
   - PortableFirefoxCode
 - Data

I was playing around with Mono (an open-source .NET implementation) and decided to try it out as a portable application development suite. I installed it on my computer, copied the files to my USB drive, and tried to hook it up with PSPad (which is already portable). I can now compile C# code from PSPad without any dependancies on .NET being installed.

Compiler Settings
Here are the compiler settings for PSPad I used...
Compiler: drive:pathto\Mono\bin\mcs.bat
Parameters: "%FILE%"

I made a portable version of Starsiege Tribes based on the free rerelease they did back in 2004. I'm not entirely certain as to the legality of its distribution, but I've got it hosted on my site if anyone wants it or if anyone wants it listed on PortableApps.com

Here's the link to the file itself:
http://ayavaron.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2006/PortableTribes.zip

*hopes this does not kill my bandwidth*

Hi I am new, so this might be in the wrong place. This thread is a call out for discussion and collaboration of the more senior Java Developers and those more experienced with
NSIS (NullSoft Scriptable Installer System) launchers for Portable Apps.

[Here is the situation] I spent my spare time this weekend installing a number of the java applications with bundled JREs onto my WD 120 GB Passport Portable Hard Drive.
It been over a year since I had done any real java development and I wanted to organize a comfortable and flexible developer environment (IDE and other tools) that I could use independent of the JVM on the host machine while I am on the go. So the dev environment would be consistant when at home, work, computer labs or friends places. Also I want to develop small java applications that friends can use on the small thumbnail drives, but there are no consistent tools to help package the java apps for the thumbnail drives.

I have been an avid user of several of the portable apps offered for for a while now and am looking at developing some of my own and making some of the applications I use daily portable. I'm wondering how exactly most people accomplish this. I know Portable Firefox runs without ever using the computers registry, at least thats what my monitoring indicates. Some other applications seem to use a Wrapper like RegRapper to remove the entries after the program is gone. Which method do you guys prefer? Ideals I would like to make it so the application never touches the registry at all, but i'm still researching how to do that.

I posted this job add up on sourceforge and I think I may as well put it here too.

C++ with wxWidgets Developer Requested

I am looking for a C++ with wxWidgets developer to help debug my latest project, Libertà. Libertà is designed to be a simple and easy to use application launcher for applications such as those on www.portableapps.com. It also portableizes (e.g. removes registry settings after use) existing programs. At the moment the project is 90% completed but I am have trouble with some C++ as it is not my 'native' language. Your main role will be to help debug the existing code and/or replace it with more efficient alternatives. If you need ANY more information please dont hesitate to e-mail me.

Operation Cleanup:

Description:
Cleaning up the Request Apps forum, suggesting things and just basically making sure that everything is closed with a definite answer. This also means developing things if no solution exists.

Starts:
May 1st

Members:
rmccue
nm35
justin
Jonathan
mdweaver7485
(join below)

Stay tuned for updates.

@John:

(I'm posting a topic here instead of e-mailing you since you have 300+ messages to wade through. :P)

Could you make a few project pages for me? Here's what I need:

• Portable Notepad2
• Instant FileZilla
• Portable Nightingale (my portable Songbird)
• Portable Development Suite (integrated IDE, if you have a better name please tell me!)

That's all I need at the moment; I'll let you know when I need more.