Finally a launcher for all portable programs?

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UGMFree
Posts: 35
Joined: Tue Mar 03, 2009 12:02 am

Re: Finally a launcher for all portable programs?

#61 Post by UGMFree »

the_watcher wrote:I understand that Symenu is your app and you can do things the way you think is the best.
Well I better define my role as the guy that keep everything consistent :D
SyMenu is surely my app but it is the community app too. Without the suggestions that daily I receive from the most involved users the program wouldn't be the half than the great app is today.

The first suggestion you gave is interesting but unlikely practicable.
SPS works because it is in charge of everything: it drives the file system organization, it creates its version file regardless the real app version, it knows how to handle the installation package...

Pretending that a program can rebuild all this information starting from a folder which contains some files is hardly feasible.

Your second suggestion is better. You said why is not possible to indicate to SyMenu that in a certain folder there is a program that must be linked with a certain SPS. This is a really really interesting approach. I don't see a lot of problems to implement it.
When you link a program to an SPS SyMenu must surely move it to the SPS folder and reorganize it in its expected way but it could work. I have to study it.
In the meanwhile, in you case, download your programs again, because if this thing is really practicable it'll take long.

Another hint for you.
When you download a program through SPS you can copy the configuration from your old program folder to your new one. In fact usually the portable programs store their configuration in a physical file easily recognizable. In that way you don't need to reconfigure your programs by scratch.

UGMFree
Posts: 35
Joined: Tue Mar 03, 2009 12:02 am

Re: Finally a launcher for all portable programs?

#62 Post by UGMFree »

Midas wrote:Sadly, after the latest site changes, my updater script (http://www.portablefreeware.com/forums/ ... 087#p73087) no longer works.

Currently, the live link to the ZIPed updates package is gone (although it's still referred from http://www.ugmfree.it/Services/SymenuSP ... nuSuiteUrl
Hi Midas.
Maybe you try to execute your script exacly during the site release because the web service at http://www.ugmfree.it/Services/SymenuSPS.asmx perfectly works as usual.
Try directly in your browser the three services that return the downloading urls and files.
http://www.ugmfree.it/Services/SymenuSP ... nuSuiteUrl
http://www.ugmfree.it/Services/SymenuSP ... ftSuiteUrl
http://www.ugmfree.it/Services/SymenuSP ... lsSuiteUrl

Pay attention to the casing because these services are case sensitive.
Midas wrote:access is forbidden to http://www.ugmfree.it/download/SPSSyMenu/
Well it's quite normal that a web folder is not browsable. You need to check the web service first to know the correct url.

Let me know if everything works again.

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Midas
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Re: Finally a launcher for all portable programs?

#63 Post by Midas »

As I reported, because there's no live link, when directed to those URLs, Wget fails to find the ZIP...

UGMFree
Posts: 35
Joined: Tue Mar 03, 2009 12:02 am

Re: Finally a launcher for all portable programs?

#64 Post by UGMFree »

Ok I finally understood.

The problem was that I haven't looked into your script yet but you haven't read my documentation too :D

The only way to get the correct url to download the last SPS suite is through the web service and not through the web page.
The web page has changed, is changing and will change, the web service is here to stay.

Since it you want to implement a command line script to download it I can help you partially with a method to query the web service.
You can use curl with this syntax:
curl --header "Content-Type: text/xml;charset=UTF-8" http://www.ugmfree.it/Services/SymenuSP ... nuSuiteUrl

I hope you are able to complete the script starting from this point, even if I don't think a batch file is the ideal way to achieve your goal. Maybe a powershell script is more suitable.

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Midas
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Re: Finally a launcher for all portable programs?

#65 Post by Midas »

UGMFree wrote:You can use curl with this syntax:
curl --header "Content-Type: text/xml;charset=UTF-8" http://www.ugmfree.it/Services/SymenuSP ... nuSuiteUrl

I hope you are able to complete the script starting from this point, even if I don't think a batch file is the ideal way to achieve your goal. Maybe a powershell script is more suitable.
  • Thanks. I have never used curl before, but I will try your solution ASAP. 8)

    As for Powershell, I'm too old-school for that. I learned the rudiments of batch almost two decades ago and it has served me well ever since.

    Should I one day manage to learn scripting anew, I really believe my dim wits would fare better applied to AutoHotKey. Or maybe Python...

UGMFree
Posts: 35
Joined: Tue Mar 03, 2009 12:02 am

Re: Finally a launcher for all portable programs?

#66 Post by UGMFree »

I would like to update this thread to let you know where we are with the SyMenu and the SPS thing.

On Saturday I launched the version 5.00 of my program.
The version change is due to a new feature I implemented in this period that pushes more and more SyMenu to a new level of customization. Now you can customize even the built-in elements and not only your custom items. I think that this feature is available only in SyMenu among all the competitors. IMHO if a program like SyMenu wants to become an all purposes launcher, it must be higly customizable otherwise it risks to not meet the requirements of everyone.

Meanwhile the SPS program won't stop... well it's like a running train.

SyMenu suite: 481 programs
NirSoft suite: 286 programs
Sysinternals suite: 57 programs

Grand total: 824 programs...
I can't believe we are so close to 1.000 programs.

The program collections are becoming so large that I'm studying a new UI to allow the users to better manage these incredible numbers of programs.

Last thing.
With this version SyMenu lands on social (Facebook and LinkedIn). If you like the project please give your friendship to spread it worldwide.

@webfork If the social URLS are breaking the forum rules, please let me know and I'll remove them immediately.... you know I don't need moderation because I'm great to auto-moderate myself :)

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webfork
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Re: Finally a launcher for all portable programs?

#67 Post by webfork »

UGMFree wrote:If the social URLS are breaking the forum rules
Quite the contrary. First, we're a pretty relaxed forum so long as you're not posting spam or piracy stuff. Especially for the active members, either me or Andrew will message you about something that's on the fence. Second, some devs see fit to make Facebook their homepage and -- as far as Linkedin -- if your work in freeware gets you a job, that's outstanding.

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