Subject: Re: Link to portable version

fwcetus (96.237.206.*) wrote on 18.09.21 at 10:51

[updated reply]

Well, I do not know why the link doesn't work, but I'm not sure why it's needed anyway:

Both V.2.51 and V.2.60 (and I'm referring to just the "regular" setup programs) already allow the installation of portable versions of LingoPad, that write nearly all settings to a file ("options.ini") in the app's own directory. All that seems to be required is the presence of a file named "readonly.txt" in the app's directory (and "readonly.txt" can even be a zero-byte file - it doesn't matter what its contents are), and it appears that both setup programs allow for all of this "magic" to be done automatically ~IF~ you check the portable option box during installation. [Of course, you can also retroactively put a "readonly.txt" file in place yourself manually, in order to "redirect" LingoPad settings to "options.ini" instead of to the Registry, but this will not "import" the Registry settings into "options.ini" - you would have to reset nearly all LingoPad options yourself once again.]

When installing either V.2.51 or V.2.60, simply make sure, when you get to the "Select Components" dialog, that you CHECK the box for "Readonly (use on a Memory-Stick)" (it is UNchecked by default) to set up a portable version in any directory you wish. Specify the directory you want the portable installation to be placed in, although you can later copy or move that directory, with its stored settings file ("options.ini"), to any other location you wish. For V.2.60, you probably would also want to select the "Programmverseichnis" option for the dictionaries (I think that this is the default in V.2.51).

Depending on the options you use while running the installed portable version, though, please realize that not all settings can be truly "self-contained" in the "options.ini" file. For example, if you want LingoPad to run automatically when starting Windows, the app must write to the Registry (to "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run") -- otherwise, Windows (which does not read LingoPad's "options.ini" at startup, of course) has no way of "knowing" that you want LingoPad to run when Windows starts. [Or, if you were to use a shortcut link to LingoPad in the Startup directory instead, this would still have to be a "non-portable" setting (in that it would require placing a LingoPad shortcut file outside of LingoPad's own directory).] If you elect to have any Start Menu or Desktop link icons created during installation, doing so, of course, would also be a "non-portable" action.

This non-portable sort of limitation (i.e., having to occasionally write to the Registry) is what prompted me to use the "nearly all" expression in the "write nearly all settings to a file" clause above. It is not really any shortcoming in LingoPad per se -- it is caused by the logic and "wiring" necessary for LingoPad to perform a particular Windows task. And, I would rather have LingoPad allow such Registry writes to be made in an otherwise "(sort of) portable" version, rather than totally disallowing them altogether (except in a "regular, non-portable" installation). Perhaps the only suggestion I would make here for LingoPad's developers is that any setting in an otherwise "(sort of) portable" installation that writes to the Registry should be documented - and that's a very small "quibble".

This built-in LingoPad "portable or non-portable" functionality makes a great app even greater.