5 replies to this topic

[pscEx]

File Name: ProduKey
File Submitter: pscEx
File Submitted: 26 May 2015
File Category: Plugins

ProduKey is a small utility that displays the ProductID and the CD-Key of Microsoft Office (Microsoft Office 2003, Microsoft Office 2007), Windows (Including Windows 7 and Windows Vista), Exchange Server, and SQL Server installed on your computer. You can view this information for your current running operating system, or for another operating system/computer - by using command-line options. This utility can be useful if you lost the product key of your Windows/Office, and you want to reinstall it on your computer.

Credits to http://www.nirsoft.net for developing this tool and licening it for free non-commercial distribution.

Click here to download this file

 

This plugin is especially for Wonko who prefers smaller apps with less functionality, compared with MagicalJellyBeanKeyFinder

[Wonko the Sane]

This plugin is especially for Wonko who prefers smaller apps with less functionality, compared with MagicalJellyBeanKeyFinder

 

Thanks.

 

I guess that now it is the right time to enlarge your horizon by pointing you to this thingie here:

http://launcher.nirsoft.net/

 

Now, while it is true that 21 Mb sounds like a large amount for a PE, when you consider that it includes 180 + utilities it starts to make some more sense.

After all one could use the launcher as base (105 Kb) and then add only the utilities he/she finds useful in the specific build by cleverly editing/modifying the \Nirsoift\nirsoft.nlp file (which is basically a good ol' .ini file ^[1] and that can be used as launcher for a number of other "portable" little tools)

 

Wonko

 

^[1] Sometimes great minds think alike

[pscEx]

Primarily I wrote this plugin to demonstrate how easy it is. It should influence people like you to write their own plugin(s), like nirsoft's launcher.

 

I primarily feel to be a WinBuilder developer. I only want to develop plugins to demonstrate, help, give ideas.

I do not feel well with beeing a plugin developer.

 

But the launcher you mention, interests me ...

 

Peter

[Wonko the Sane]

But the launcher you mention, interests me ...

I knew that as it would be an additional "open side for development", the presence of it as an optional plugin, with a very minimal \Nirsoift\nirsoft.nlp file would allow a lot of non-exactly-developers (i.e. final users) to finely customize their Winbuilder created build in a rather easy manner, expecially nowadays that the common media for a PE is not anymore a CD/DVD (in the sense of Read Only).
 
Still (and with all due respect) this kind of simple plugins are IMHO counterproductive for your scopes, as in cases like this the choice of a .xml configuration file (additionally with uncommonly non-terminated tags ) seems like being largely overkill :

Spoiler

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?>
<!DOCTYPE properties SYSTEM "http://java.sun.com/...roperties.dtd">
<properties>
<comment>Settings for ProduKey</comment>
<entry key="ShortcutArguments"/>
<entry key="!Category">System</entry>
<entry key="OpenModus">SW_SHOWNORMAL</entry>
<entry key="StartMenuShortcut">True</entry>
<entry key="IsAttached">True</entry>
<entry key="RunFromRAM">False</entry>
<entry key="DoDownload">False</entry>
<entry key="DoExtract">$Default</entry>
<entry key="ShortcutFileName">$Default</entry>
<entry key="ID">950</entry>
<entry key="ShortcutWorkDir"/>
<entry key="ShortcutTarget">$Default</entry>
<entry key="!Credits">http://www.nirsoft.net//</entry>
<entry key="DesktopFolder"/>
<entry key="!Author">Peter Schlang</entry>
<entry key="ShortcutIconFile"/>
<entry key="!Name">ProduKey</entry>
<entry key="LocalFolder">$Default</entry>
<entry key="TargetFolder">$Default</entry>
<entry key="DownloadURL"/>
<entry key="StartMenuFolder">$Default</entry>
<entry key="!Version">2015-May-26</entry>
<entry key="!Type">Plugin</entry>
<entry key="ShortcutComment"/>
<entry key="ShortcutIconIndex"/>
<entry key="DesktopShortcut">False</entry>
</properties>

as well, such a simple snippet may give the impression that writing plugins is easy which it is when they are as simple as this (copy+create shortcut only since the tool is fully portable/has no depedencies) but matters will probably change wen it comes to write a "real" plugin for a complex tool/application

/**
* this method contains all the individual actions to install the actual plugin
*/
void processHook() {
// Comment / uncomment lines as needed
winpe.openPlugin(thisFile);
if (winpe.copyApp()) {
winpe.createShortcuts();
}
}

/**
* this method is only called when the plugin is installed (only one time)
*/
void install() {
startup();
}


/**
* this method is only called when plugin is uninstalled (only one time)
*/
void uninstall() {
log.hooks.removeHooks(thisFile);
}

/**
* this method is called when WinBuilder is starting.
*/
void startup() {
log.hooks.addAction(definitions.messages.Adding_plugin_Win7PEx86, thisFile, "processHook");
}

Given the evolution of Winbuilder in the past, I presume that next release will use a Registry format and hives for the settings files .
 

Wonko

[pscEx]

I knew that as it would be an additional "open side for development", the presence of it as an optional plugin, with a very minimal \Nirsoift\nirsoft.nlp file would allow a lot of non-exactly-developers (i.e. final users) to finely customize their Winbuilder created build in a rather easy manner, expecially nowadays that the common media for a PE is not anymore a CD/DVD (in the sense of Read Only).

I have had the opininion that you read everything in this forum.

But one topic you appearently misssed: "How To Add Custom Folders"

Copying the complete Nirsoft Launcher Folder to <basedir>\lib\user_cd brings as result in the PE:

Contents of this folder is fully in the user's responsibility and not controlled / distributed by WinBuilder.

 

Given the evolution of Winbuilder in the past, I presume that next release will use a Registry format and hives for the settings files .

One of your great-ancestors said:

Si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses.

WinBuilder is designed to work on "every" OS.

What about using a windows proprietary (registry) format for settings?

 

Peter

[Wonko the Sane]

Well, the point is not about the format being proprietary (as by now there are several Open Source projects capable of managing it) the point was only about being overkill for the specific (simple) kind of informations that will be stored in it.

 

For the Registry, that particular format makes sense, for the BCD it does not.

 

To write a book (or a nicely laid out letter or article), Microsoft Word makes sense, to jolt down your grocery list, it makes much less.

 

By the same token, .xml being an extended markup language makes sense when something requiring markup (and extended markup for that matters) is required, it makes far less so if all the informations in it can be stored with the exact same degree of accurateness in a set of name=value statements, optionally divided in sections (i.e. what a plain, normal .ini allows).

 

That was the idea in the (OT   ) note.

 

Wonko