FLAC frontend: Portable & Stealth Launcher

Discuss anything related to portable freeware here.
Post Reply
Message
Author
User avatar
Magibon
Posts: 177
Joined: Thu Feb 24, 2011 4:24 pm

FLAC frontend: Portable & Stealth Launcher

#1 Post by Magibon »

Image

FLACfrontend: Portable & Stealth Launcher

Website: http://members.home.nl/w.speek/flac.htm
Version: 1.2.1 b
License: Free
Dependency: MSCOMCTL.OCX, Administrative Rights
Requirements: XP / Vista / 7

FLAC is a free, open source, multi-platform, lossless audio compressor. It's a
console program. Windows users are used to grafical programs. That's why I made
FLAC frontend. The frontend only makes a batch file for flac.exe and executes
it. You'll need "Tag" (by Case) if you want to tag your files.

Launcher Notes:
- Stealth
- Checks for MSCOMCTL.OCX on host machine, if present, leaves it alone.
- But if it's not, it will register, then unregister after usage, and clean up
all traces.
- NSIS format

How to Use:
Simply extract to desired location, launch "FLACfrontendPortable.exe".

* Deleted old NSIS launcher.
* Here's an updated PAF launcher.. for more details read bottom post:
http://www.mediafire.com/?c063l0cdt4mpagm | 1.29 MB
Last edited by Magibon on Mon Dec 12, 2011 9:15 am, edited 2 times in total.

User avatar
JohnTHaller
Posts: 715
Joined: Wed Feb 10, 2010 4:44 pm
Location: New York, NY
Contact:

Re: FLAC frontend: Portable & Stealth Launcher

#2 Post by JohnTHaller »

Your launcher appears to be based on our PortableApps.com Launchers. Could you please post the corresponding source code as required under the GPL.
PortableApps.com - The open standard for portable software | Support Net Neutrality

GeddichNixan
Posts: 159
Joined: Fri May 09, 2008 6:03 am

Re: FLAC frontend: Portable & Stealth Launcher

#3 Post by GeddichNixan »

JohnTHaller wrote:Your launcher appears to be based on our PortableApps.com Launchers. Could you please post the corresponding source code as required under the GPL.
Oh, yes, you definitely should. Especially at this forum you should play by the rules. The same applies to your "MULTIfrontend".

BTW, thanks for both, I will try them.

User avatar
Magibon
Posts: 177
Joined: Thu Feb 24, 2011 4:24 pm

Re: FLAC frontend: Portable & Stealth Launcher

#4 Post by Magibon »

JohnTHaller wrote:Your launcher appears to be based on our PortableApps.com Launchers. Could you please post the corresponding source code as required under the GPL.

of course.. it's NSIS but i appreciate your PAL format and try my hardest to imitate..
i spent a lot of time reading the tutorials/examples and source included with your applications on your site but can't seem to understand why so many additional steps are implemented.. it just made me more confused ..

for example: FreeUPX is already stealth and portable, but yet you still wrote commands to alter the .ini to adjust the drive letter?
and even more confusing is writing commands in the .ini vs. NSIS script.

anyhow.. here's my humble, pretty straight forward source.. i also added comments incase anyone is interested in learning:

Code: Select all

removed due to unnecessary space on screen
Last edited by Magibon on Mon Dec 12, 2011 9:16 am, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
JohnTHaller
Posts: 715
Joined: Wed Feb 10, 2010 4:44 pm
Location: New York, NY
Contact:

Re: FLAC frontend: Portable & Stealth Launcher

#5 Post by JohnTHaller »

Thanks for posting the code. I'm assuming this requires admin rights, which affects portability.

Many of the additional steps are to get the app into PortableApps.com Format, in addition to making an app stealth (if it is not) and ensuring that all paths are adjusted so things like recently used files, custom settings, etc continue to work. That way it's all consistent and works with a standard installer supporting upgrades, backups, etc. There's a long list of advantages:
http://portableapps.com/about/what_is_a ... app#whypaf

The most significant one is a new one. Apps in PA.c Format wind up in our app directory which means users can automatically download and install them from our app store just by checking a box and automatically keep them up to date using our updater. When installed, our platform automatically understands what the app is and how to launch it, as well as the name, publisher, default category/folder (Internet, Games, Office, etc), where to get help for it, what the homepage is, how to automatically change to German if the user has German selected in their PA.c Menu and has it set to start apps in the same language, etc. It's all a part of the PA.c Platform:
http://portableapps.com/news/2011-07-19 ... 1_released

And, of course, all our apps work independently of our platform as well and you can use any portable app regardless of format with our platform.

If you were confused by the launcher.ini that was also mentioned, that's a part of our universal PA.c Launcher. It's configured with an INI so each app doesn't need to have its own custom launcher. And it also supports custom code for more advanced apps (updating sqlite files and things like that).
PortableApps.com - The open standard for portable software | Support Net Neutrality

User avatar
Magibon
Posts: 177
Joined: Thu Feb 24, 2011 4:24 pm

Re: FLAC frontend: Portable & Stealth Launcher

#6 Post by Magibon »

thank you for the clarification..
how hard would it be to convert this NSIS to your PAL format?
which sections could i leave out if i just wanted to implement the basic features as shown?
that would clarify tons ...


i always have problems with Administrative Rights..
i have UAC disabled so i never deal with it..
i know it's safer to use UAC but i can't deal with those annoying alerts..
it would be so hard to retrain myself with UAC ..

User avatar
JohnTHaller
Posts: 715
Joined: Wed Feb 10, 2010 4:44 pm
Location: New York, NY
Contact:

Re: FLAC frontend: Portable & Stealth Launcher

#7 Post by JohnTHaller »

Magibon wrote:thank you for the clarification..
how hard would it be to convert this NSIS to your PAL format?
which sections could i leave out if i just wanted to implement the basic features as shown?
that would clarify tons ...
Not too hard. Mainly adding in the appropriate appinfo section and source code. And using the PA.c Installer.
i always have problems with Administrative Rights..
i have UAC disabled so i never deal with it..
i know it's safer to use UAC but i can't deal with those annoying alerts..
it would be so hard to retrain myself with UAC ..
Unfortunately, it will be enabled on nearly every computer you come across. Moreso, regsitering the OCX via regsvr32 requires admin rights. That means that guest accounts and limited/standard accounts like most PCs at universities, businesses, hotels, net cafes, etc can't register the component and the app won't work. We haven't yet figured out a way to temporarily allow an app to use an OCX without registering it, meaning that any app the requires an OCX simply can't be considered portable since it will require admin rights to use portably when it shouldn't for the app to function (apps like system utilities, disk defragmenters, etc are assumed to require admin rights in terms of our thinking). I was hoping you'd stumbled onto something that would change that.
PortableApps.com - The open standard for portable software | Support Net Neutrality

User avatar
Magibon
Posts: 177
Joined: Thu Feb 24, 2011 4:24 pm

Re: FLAC frontend: Portable & Stealth Launcher

#8 Post by Magibon »

i did it! Here's the PAF launcher:
http://www.mediafire.com/?c063l0cdt4mpagm | 1.29 MB

* checks for MSCOMCTL.OCX and if present, leaves it alone. But if not present prior to usage, the PAF launcher will unregister and clean up all registry keys.
* Admin. Rights required of course.

Post Reply