2 more program launchers

garbanzo · **Joined:** Thu May 15, 2008 3:00 am **Posts:** 251

Shortcut Genie
a very simple launcher. the main attraction of this one is that it doesn't stick around after you use it. you open it, launch a program, then it closes. that's a feature, right? or you can elect to keep it open all the time. anyway this is a nice app, it has 10 buttons down the side that are categories, just drag shortcuts in and keep them in one place. dragging EXEs does not work, they have to be shortcuts. zip download.
http://www.allmalta.com/software/index.html

Fast Launcher
i like this one a lot! it's tabbed, horizontal, with nice app icons all lined up inside that have customizable tooltips. the icons on the tabs can be turned into text for a sexier look. supports transparency, command line params, run min or max, plus hotkey for any app in the launcher. best of all, one icon in the launcher can be set to launch any number of programs/scripts/etc. yay!

UniExtract didn't work so i Sandboxed it. registry entries, but just uninstall info. 3 files are stored in %appdata% but i emailed the developer asking nicely for portability, and he wrote back saying i you can just stick those files (an INI, an XML, and a DAT) in the program folder. it worked like a charm

http://www.dvasoft.com/fast_launcher/screenshots/

JohnW · **Posted:** Mon Jun 23, 2008 1:23 pm

@garbanzo
Thanks for the post.
I'd like to focus on Fast Launcher which looks rather interesting.
First, and I've made a few posts before about this, if you use the latest (beta) versions of UniExtract including innounp, then you will be able to extract.

As I understand your post, you run it so it creates 3 files in %appdata%. Then you transfer these to the program folder. From that point onward you have a portable version.
Do you know if you can set up the program with dummy files in the first place? What are the file names?

Ameri-CAIN · **Posted:** Mon Jun 23, 2008 3:02 pm

fl.ini

Code:

[Options]
CurrentGroup={FE08A165-C591-4F5F-80B5-CCFEEB5B3558}
MaxButtons=10
ShowIconInTray=1
ShowProgramsInTrayMenu=0
ShowProgramTitlesInButtonHints=0
ShowGroupTitlesInTabs=0
SnapLauncherWindow=1
UseToolbarOpacity=0
Opacity=85
LPos=1
HideWhenLaunchProgram=1
HideWhenLostFocus=1
UseHotKey=1
HotKey=856
UseHook=0
AutoHide=1
ConfirmDragDrop=1
FullSize=0
MinAtStartup=0
OneClick=0
SnapSlide=1
LangFile=C:\JunkDraw\FastLauncher\\Languages\English.lng
AppFont=Tahoma
ShowTutor=1
ShowHotKeyInHint=0
ShowTabIcons=1
OpenLastGroup=1
BackupDir=
[Position]
Left=445
Top=449

fl.xml

Code:

<data>
   <groups>
      <group>
         <code>{A6572A5F-27BD-48EB-AA9F-F7D13A061B21}</code> 
         <title>System</title> 
         <iconfilename>%PROG%\Icons\Computer.ico</iconfilename> 
         <iconindex>0</iconindex> 
         <visible>-1</visible> 
      </group>
      <group>
         <code>{FE08A165-C591-4F5F-80B5-CCFEEB5B3558}</code> 
         <title>Tools</title> 
         <iconfilename>%PROG%\Icons\Tools.ico</iconfilename> 
         <iconindex>0</iconindex> 
         <visible>-1</visible> 
      </group>
      <group>
         <code>{E6336254-EA14-45E0-8220-304F88BE5ACD}</code> 
         <title>Entertainment</title> 
         <iconfilename>%PROG%\Icons\Games.ico</iconfilename> 
         <iconindex>0</iconindex> 
         <visible>-1</visible> 
      </group>
   </groups>
   <items>
      <item>
         <code>{EE0ADBEC-1D8A-43C8-98EA-89D6BD4F0E8C}</code> 
         <group>{A6572A5F-27BD-48EB-AA9F-F7D13A061B21}</group> 
         <title>Explorer</title> 
         <iconfilename>%WIN%\explorer.exe</iconfilename> 
         <iconindex>0</iconindex> 
         <visible>-1</visible> 
         <hotkey>0</hotkey> 
         <kind>0</kind> 
         <filename>%WIN%\explorer.exe</filename> 
         <workdir>%WIN%\</workdir> 
         <params /> 
         <state>1</state> 
      </item>
      <item>
         <code>{EE0ADBEC-1D8A-43C8-98EA-89D6BD4F0E8C}</code> 
         <group>{A6572A5F-27BD-48EB-AA9F-F7D13A061B21}</group> 
         <title>Sound Volume</title> 
         <iconfilename>%SYS%\sndvol32.exe</iconfilename> 
         <iconindex>0</iconindex> 
         <visible>-1</visible> 
         <hotkey>0</hotkey> 
         <kind>0</kind> 
         <filename>%SYS%\sndvol32.exe</filename> 
         <workdir>%SYS%\</workdir> 
         <params /> 
         <state>1</state> 
      </item>
      <item>
         <code>{171EF9E3-3093-4C58-A4CE-754E23CF1F25}</code> 
         <group>{FE08A165-C591-4F5F-80B5-CCFEEB5B3558}</group> 
         <title>Wordpad</title> 
         <iconfilename>%SYS%\write.exe</iconfilename> 
         <iconindex>0</iconindex> 
         <visible>-1</visible> 
         <hotkey>0</hotkey> 
         <kind>0</kind> 
         <filename>%WIN%\system32\write.exe</filename> 
         <workdir>%WIN%\system32\</workdir> 
         <params /> 
         <state>1</state> 
      </item>
      <item>
         <code>{4A5E3E98-9199-4FC6-B95E-F7C5AFE8F62E}</code> 
         <group>{FE08A165-C591-4F5F-80B5-CCFEEB5B3558}</group> 
         <title>Notepad</title> 
         <iconfilename>%SYS%\notepad.exe</iconfilename> 
         <iconindex>0</iconindex> 
         <visible>-1</visible> 
         <hotkey>0</hotkey> 
         <kind>0</kind> 
         <filename>%WIN%\system32\notepad.exe</filename> 
         <workdir>%WIN%\system32\</workdir> 
         <params /> 
         <state>1</state> 
      </item>
      <item>
         <code>{01211538-DE59-46CA-B701-EDC105468556}</code> 
         <group>{FE08A165-C591-4F5F-80B5-CCFEEB5B3558}</group> 
         <title>Paint</title> 
         <iconfilename>%SYS%\mspaint.exe</iconfilename> 
         <iconindex>0</iconindex> 
         <visible>-1</visible> 
         <hotkey>0</hotkey> 
         <kind>0</kind> 
         <filename>%WIN%\system32\mspaint.exe</filename> 
         <workdir>%WIN%\system32\</workdir> 
         <params /> 
         <state>1</state> 
      </item>
      <item>
         <code>{1C46CB56-C51C-4598-914F-CFDDCC529C94}</code> 
         <group>{FE08A165-C591-4F5F-80B5-CCFEEB5B3558}</group> 
         <title>Calculator</title> 
         <iconfilename>%SYS%\calc.exe</iconfilename> 
         <iconindex>0</iconindex> 
         <visible>-1</visible> 
         <hotkey>0</hotkey> 
         <kind>0</kind> 
         <filename>%WIN%\system32\calc.exe</filename> 
         <workdir>%WIN%\system32\</workdir> 
         <params /> 
         <state>1</state> 
      </item>
      <item>
         <code>{1BF4A5D8-85FD-4074-ADFD-C2F1EF38403B}</code> 
         <group>{E6336254-EA14-45E0-8220-304F88BE5ACD}</group> 
         <title>FreeCell</title> 
         <iconfilename>%SYS%\freecell.exe</iconfilename> 
         <iconindex>0</iconindex> 
         <visible>-1</visible> 
         <hotkey>0</hotkey> 
         <kind>0</kind> 
         <filename>%WIN%\system32\freecell.exe</filename> 
         <workdir>%WIN%\system32\</workdir> 
         <params /> 
         <state>1</state> 
      </item>
      <item>
         <code>{83E1D7CD-61B8-4FC9-9F09-20DB277C340C}</code> 
         <group>{E6336254-EA14-45E0-8220-304F88BE5ACD}</group> 
         <title>Klondike</title> 
         <iconfilename>%SYS%\sol.exe</iconfilename> 
         <iconindex>0</iconindex> 
         <visible>-1</visible> 
         <hotkey>0</hotkey> 
         <kind>0</kind> 
         <filename>%WIN%\system32\sol.exe</filename> 
         <workdir>%WIN%\system32\</workdir> 
         <params /> 
         <state>1</state> 
      </item>
      <item>
         <code>{AE7F55D9-FE7E-4D95-AEC4-7B08C78CB932}</code> 
         <group>{E6336254-EA14-45E0-8220-304F88BE5ACD}</group> 
         <title>Windows Media Player</title> 
         <iconfilename>%PF%\Windows Media Player\wmplayer.exe</iconfilename> 
         <iconindex>0</iconindex> 
         <visible>-1</visible> 
         <hotkey>0</hotkey> 
         <kind>0</kind> 
         <filename>%PF%\Windows Media Player\wmplayer.exe</filename> 
         <workdir>%PF%\Windows Media Player\</workdir> 
         <params /> 
         <state>1</state> 
      </item>
   </items>
</data>

IconsCache.dat

(I can't copy nor paste the contents of the .dat file, but in testing a few items, it appears to work fine without the .dat file.)

garbanzo · **Joined:** Thu May 15, 2008 3:00 am **Posts:** 251

thanks JohnW for the info about the latest UniExtact, i'll get that now.

as for the DAT file, the developer's email mentioned 'certain restrictions' when using this as a portable, i imagine he meant 'no icon cache'...

i have not tested it with lots of icons. i have actually been trying out lots of launchers lately, since i decided it was time to start using one. have not found one that stays slim and resource-friendly after i put 150+ icons in it! last one i tried was asuite which jumps around in RAM usage, sometimes it's 1.5, sometimes it 10. hmm... also tried Qsel which stayed quite slim, but it's too hard to keep everything organized! anyway such is my rant.

JohnW · **Posted:** Tue Jun 24, 2008 3:31 am

Thanks Ameri-CAIN for your info.
And thanks again garbanzo.

2 more program launchers

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