6 replies to this topic

[pscEx]

Several programs running in the PE are known which are writen in AutoIt.

The advantage is that AutoIt is freeware and it takes only some time to get a running exe w/o any need for installation, runtimes etc.

The disadvantage is that every of these programs contains a copy of AutoIt3.exe which currently (3.2.2.0) has a size of nearly half a MB.

That means: Every AutiIt generated exe contains internally about half a MB of code which all the other programs also contain.

Suggestion:
Instead of delivering AutiIt generated exe files, we deliver AutoIt complied scripts (a3x) to the PE.
These a3x contain every needed standard includes; any 'runtime libraries' are not necessary.
Sample:
My new pscName program has as exe a size of 427 kB, the compiled script has 22 kB.

To deliver AutoIt support once to the PE, I added a script '7 - AutoItSupport.script' to nativeEx_core > Basic > Build.
The script also deliveres associations.
That causes that existing scripts can be used with only one small modification.
In shortcuts, RunOnceEx-s etc. only the file name extention '.exe' has to be changed to '.a3x'.

Nobody is forced to use this way. You can use the exe files as before.
But it would be nice if we could come to standardized and unique solutions inside one PE.

Peter

For those who do not want to download (because nativeEx server is not in their list) here the code:
 7___AutoItSupport.zip   267.4KB   758 downloads

EDIT: Should be mentioned, that in the case pf pscNamePC the host-only program pscNamePCInfo (collecting the info about PC, drives etc) also is delivered as .a3x

That decreased the size of pscNamePC.Script from about 700 kB to about 70 kB.

[MedEvil]

Very good idea!
I second that.

[powaking]

Very good idea!
I second that.

Me too. Will this script work for VistaPE or just nativepe?

[Brito]

Nice idea!

[pscEx]

Me too. Will this script work for VistaPE or just nativepe?

To be project independent, these two lines have to be adapted to use API:

ExtractAllFiles,"%ScriptFile%","Folder","%TargetDir%\i386\system32"

RegHiveLoad,"WB-Software","%TargetDir%\i386\system32\config\software"

Peter

[Moon Goon]

This sounds kind of like the scheme I have for Game Maker 5/6 scripts. I have a DUMMY.EXE executable that has its own pretty icon - but all it does is call a Game Maker runtime like this: GML5RUN.EXE [Executable filename].GML

You end up with 3 files this way
DUMMY.EXE - Tiny, generic executable that passes it's name to GML5RUN.EXE
GML5RUN.EXE - Game Maker runtime that accepts .GML scripts to execute
DUMMY.GML - Actual Game Maker script the runtime, er, runs..

As long as the runtime is in the same directory or system directory everything works. No need to edit the WinPE environment for support. Maybe a similar dummy exe/runtime/script system could work for AutoIt

[pscEx]

This sounds kind of like the scheme I have for Game Maker 5/6 scripts. I have a DUMMY.EXE executable that has its own pretty icon - but all it does is call a Game Maker runtime like this: GML5RUN.EXE [Executable filename].GML

You end up with 3 files this way
DUMMY.EXE - Tiny, generic executable that passes it's name to GML5RUN.EXE
GML5RUN.EXE - Game Maker runtime that accepts .GML scripts to execute
DUMMY.GML - Actual Game Maker script the runtime, er, runs..

As long as the runtime is in the same directory or system directory everything works. No need to edit the WinPE environment for support. Maybe a similar dummy exe/runtime/script system could work for AutoIt

It is more simple!
There is only 'autoit3.exe <script>.a3x'

But the 'own pretty icon' interests me.
Currently it is not possible to give a .a3x it's own icon.

I'll think about having such a 'dummy', too.

Peter