NSIS Plus

[sdbarker]

Where does this great app stand? The most recent version that I have is .80. If there are not going to be any more releases, what about opening the source?

-Scott

[bballer182]

What in the world are you talking about this "NSIS Plus"?

Maybe NSISw?

[sdbarker]

Nope, I was right. NSISplus.

I know what nsisw is. I use it all the time.

Check This Thread

It's been out of development for some time as far as I can tell, but I really liked where it was going. A few more touch ups, and it would have been a great idea for controlling build types and such (I'd still use vim for all of my source editing).

I hope some word comes of it.

Or perhaps, anybody know another decent GUI?

-Scott

[SmartyMan]

Originally posted by sdbarker
Where does this great app stand? The most recent version that I have is .80. If there are not going to be any more releases, what about opening the source?

-Scott

I havent released more versions yet, because there was absolutely no reaction on my first release in this forum and I dont want to obtrude myself or my software to this community.
The current version has 107.235 Bytes (as .zip) and thats already to big for an attachment in this formum :-/

[sdbarker]

Think you'd wanna send it to me? Any of the following methods work:

E-mail: net dot redrubberball at scott (just reverse stuff)
AIM: The5ETank
ICQ: 1034986
MSN: sdbarker99@hotmail.com
Y!: sdbarker_99

Thanks,

-Scott

[SmartyMan]

Originally posted by sdbarker
Think you'd wanna send it to me?

Here is a version w/o installer (which makes the archive small enough for an attachment in this forum), just decompress it in your NSISplus folder.

Again, any comments are welcome.

[sdbarker]

Great!

Except...

I keep getting A ton of message boxes when I try and open tree items from my script. I haven't had much time to play with it though, but I'll know more about it when I do.

Thanks again!

--edit--
Actually, it appears they occur when I click pretty much anything. They say "Cant find this pattern as page. Do you like to perform a full text search?" and there are yes and no buttons.
-- end edit --

-Scott

[SmartyMan]

Originally posted by sdbarker
Great!

Thanks.

I keep getting A ton of message boxes when I try and open tree items from my script. I haven't had much time to play with it though, but I'll know more about it when I do.

Actually, it appears they occur when I click pretty much anything. They say "Cant find this pattern as page. Do you like to perform a full text search?" and there are yes and no buttons.

Maybe you dont have extraced the archive with the included paths, so that the new help.txt is now located in your NSISplus folder but not in the data folder (where it belongs).

If this is not the reason, it would help if you can tell me on what item you clicked to get that message.

[sdbarker]

This occurs whenever I click on my Defines.

-Scott

[SmartyMan]

Originally posted by sdbarker
This occurs whenever I click on my Defines.

-Scott

Then just move the nsisplus/help.txt to nsisplus/data/help.txt.
The mentioned box appears every time you click on an item whose description is missing in help.txt; the V0.90 help.txt contains every command that is documentd in makensis.htm, so a description of "!define" is included and the box can only appear if the current help.txt was not loaded.

I had a look at the source anyhow, and the box is gone now, because the fulltext search is very fast and for that it is now performed w/o asking the user.

[SmartyMan]

Here is an Update:
Some minor changes on the help system, support of functions, Todo-Entrys can have actions now.

[sdbarker]

A couple suggestions:

A submenu that lists your configurations, so you can, for example, go to Project -> Set Active Configuration and it lists your configurations in a menu there, so you don't have to go into the project settings to change it.

Also, the ability to, on a configuration basis, set which executable to attempt to build with. For example, I have several different builds of makensis.exe and I want to use different ones for different configurations.

I hope this makes sense.

-Scott

[SmartyMan]

Originally posted by sdbarker
A couple suggestions:

A submenu that lists your configurations, so you can, for example, go to Project -> Set Active Configuration and it lists your configurations in a menu there, so you don't have to go into the project settings to change it.

You attempt to save one mouseclick?

Also, the ability to, on a configuration basis, set which executable to attempt to build with. For example, I have several different builds of makensis.exe and I want to use different ones for different configurations.

Can you explain why you would like to use other compilers than the latest ones?
I assume that you have seen the "use bz2" switch, usable for every configuration

[sdbarker]

Yeah, saving a mouse click. But when you have twenty different versions to build, that's 20 mouse clicks, plus the time to make them all and such.

Using different builds of NSIS is good because I have custom versions of it. For example, right now, I have the standard build, the bz2 build, and two other builds that I use for various software distributions that don't have some of the features compiled into them that I never use, so that it makes my software distribution smaller. Being able to set which one I use (so I don't have to always use the default or bz2, which are both bigger than I need to use.

Does that make sense?

-Scott

[SmartyMan]

Originally posted by sdbarker
Yeah, saving a mouse click. But when you have twenty different versions to build, that's 20 mouse clicks, plus the time to make them all and such.

So, we're talking about making things faster and easier?
OK, I've just implemented a "make all" functionality, compiling all your configurations with one mouseclick
But I am curious: what kind of project needs 20 different configurations?

Using different builds of NSIS is good because I have custom versions of it. For example, right now, I have the standard build, the bz2 build, and two other builds that I use for various software distributions that don't have some of the features compiled into them that I never use, so that it makes my software distribution smaller.

How many bytes you can save with your selfmade compilers?
But its OK, you shall have your custom compiler option for every configuration in the next release (its already implemented).

[sdbarker]

Originally posted by SmartyMan

So, we're talking about making things faster and easier?
OK, I've just implemented a "make all" functionality, compiling all your configurations with one mouseclick
But I am curious: what kind of project needs 20 different configurations?

The language distributions for StrokeIt, most likely. They all use the exact same installer source, but include different files based on a define, which is set on the command line parameter.

StrokeIt: http://www.tcbnetworks.com/strokeit

Originally posted by SmartyMan

How many bytes you can save with your selfmade compilers?
But its OK, you shall have your custom compiler option for every configuration in the next release (its already implemented).

enough to make a different to dialup users. I could get you some exact figures if you really would like to know.

-Scott

[SmartyMan]

The language distributions for StrokeIt, most likely

BTW: very nice tool
Will there be an update soon, fixing the small bugs?

enough to make a different to dialup users.

Well, I am a dialup user
The last version I have downloaded was about 97KB - I had downloaded it even if it had 200KB.
OK OK, more obejctive argument: an empty NSIS installer is about 30 KB so I assume that you can save about 15KB in the best case.
That will make a difference of less than a minute in download time (analog modem), while it takes you hours to create a custom compiler
every time NSIS is updated

OK, now that your ideas are fulfilled, are there more wishes/comments?

[sdbarker]

Originally posted by SmartyMan

BTW: very nice tool
Will there be an update soon, fixing the small bugs?

What small bugs are you referring to? In StrokeIt? If so, post the Forum there, and I'll make sure and check them out.

StrokeIt Forum: http://www.tcbnetworks.com/strokeit/forum

Originally posted by SmartyMan

Well, I am a dialup user
The last version I have downloaded was about 97KB - I had downloaded it even if it had 200KB.

200k would have taken twice as long. Its worth the time for me to make all of my software as small and fast as possible to provide my users with the best experience they could possibly have.

Originally posted by SmartyMan

OK OK, more obejctive argument: an empty NSIS installer is about 30 KB so I assume that you can save about 15KB in the best case.
That will make a difference of less than a minute in download time (analog modem), while it takes you hours to create a custom compiler
every time NSIS is updated

Nah, not hours. Maybe a half hour at best, because I always play with all the options again trying to get the filesize down some more.

But again, it's worth it to me to spend the time to make a better experience for my users.

Originally posted by SmartyMan

OK, now that your ideas are fulfilled, are there more wishes/comments?

Not that I can think of off of the top of my head. Once I get the new version and play with it, I'll be sure to let you know.

Thanks a ton.

-Scott

[SmartyMan]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by sdbarker

What small bugs are you referring to? In StrokeIt? If so, post the Forum there, and I'll make sure and check them out.
[/QOUTE]
Sorry, but none of the bugs is really reproducable; is there an option to enable the writing of a logfile?

Its worth the time for me to make all of my software as small and fast as possible to provide my users with the best experience they could possibly have.

Well, then you should think about including the "how to stroke..." docs instead of saving a few bytes in the installer, because your dialup users will take more time with dialing up again and saving the web page than with downloading additional 1-2KB with the installer

Not that I can think of off of the top of my head. Once I get the new version and play with it, I'll be sure to let you know.

OK.

[liquidmotion]

try slate blue:

http://www.morphedmedia.com/slateblue.asp

or

http://download.cnet.com - search "slate blue"

[sdbarker]

I've tried Slate Blue before and didn't care for it at all.

It's also substantially larger than NSISPlus.

Speaking of NSISPlus... when is that new version going to be posted?

-Scott

[SmartyMan]

Originally posted by sdbarker
I've tried Slate Blue before and didn't care for it at all.

Speaking of NSISPlus... when is that new version going to be posted?

Nobody has asked for it
Here is the update: many details changes, e.g. support for autorun.inf files, doubleclicking error messages of makeNSIS, "compile all", custom compilers, version copying configurable for every single VS-Project entry.

[SmartyMan]

The update of NSISplus (V0.93) is ready and can be downloaded at www.nsisplus.de.vu

[veekee]

Hi !
I wanted to thanks SmartyMan for developping NsisPlus !
The fact is tat i'm a french translator, and wanna know if you planed to add to nsisplus any translation facilities or if we could mail to discuss about a french translation ! As you do not publish your mail, mine is veekee@fr.st !

One bug found lol ! When using /nocustom, this is considered as a normal type !

Good work !

[Rovastar]

Typo

In Edit Entry $ to Select Symbol box.

Options OK and 'Abbrechen' (I presume German for Cancel or as the Google on translator says 'break off' )

(Edit

I do not know if it is a bug or not as I am new to NSIS and your bit of software but double clicking on InstallDir to get up edit entry. It says
Statement:
InstallDir <and then the install directory you want>

It should say (IMHO)
InstallDir:
<and the install directory you want.>

/End Edit)

I hope it helps,

Rovastar

[SmartyMan]

Originally posted by veekee
Hi !
I wanted to thanks SmartyMan for developping NsisPlus !

No problem, I like to do some private stuff beside the projects I am payed for.

The fact is tat i'm a french translator, and wanna know if you planed to add to nsisplus any translation facilities or if we could mail to discuss about a french translation

Well, I havent thought of this yet, since there where no reaction on NSISplus at all in this forum so far.
Most of the displayed text (online help, documentation) comes in ASCII form, so you should have no problems translating this; if you are willing to do this, I'll be happy to include you work in future updates of NSISplus.

[QUOTE]
One bug found lol ! When using /nocustom, this is considered as a normal type !
[/QOUTE]
Can you explain more precisely what you want to say? "/nocustom" is a switch for the InstallType command and therefore handled by makeNSIS, so where is the problem with NSISplus?

Good work !

Thanks

[SmartyMan]

Originally posted by Rovastar
Typo

In Edit Entry $ to Select Symbol box.

Options OK and 'Abbrechen' (I presume German for Cancel or as the Google on translator says 'break off' )

I will fix this for the next update.

double clicking on InstallDir to get up edit entry. It says
Statement:
InstallDir <and then the install directory you want>

It should say (IMHO)
InstallDir:
<and the install directory you want.>

This is not a bug, since all statements not listed in the project tree showing this type of dialog; but I think I see what you want to push me on and I will think about a "better" solution for the next update. OK?

[veekee]

What about the ASCII texts tou're talking about .. in the final exe, i have to use hex editors to translate them ! The problem is that i have to use as much bytes as you (and french words are longer than english ones .... but smaller than german ones ) !
Would it be possible to include them in resource section for the next release (easier for me hey )?

Can you explain more precisely what you want to say? "/nocustom" is a switch for the InstallType command and therefore handled by makeNSIS, so where is the problem with NSISplus?

I mean tat it is possible to tell NSISplus that this section belongs to InstType /NoCustom (i did not test what would be the compiled result : a "InstType missing !", probably

[veekee]

errr, i forgot one little (little) bug =) ! When using left panel, i can activate or inactivate the InstType options... If i select on the left a section, this is activate, even if the cursor on the right panel is on Strings or Switches. By the way, if i select on the left a String, InstTyp can't be changed, even if i select on the right a section ! I mean, selecting a line on the right do not change the left panel, although selecting on the left is changing the right side !

Waouf... finished =)

[SmartyMan]

Originally posted by veekee
What about the ASCII texts tou're talking about .. in the final exe, i have to use hex editors to translate them !

As I said, most of the text to translate is the online help (data/help.txt) and the docu (nsisplus.html)

Would it be possible to include them in resource section for the next release (easier for me hey )?

In the next version you will get all the text used by menus, dialogues, MessageBoxes etc. in a separate ASCII file, which will enable you to translate all the text once (instead of re translate all the resouces for every update).
Most of the code needed for this new feature is already implemented

I mean tat it is possible to tell NSISplus that this section belongs to InstType /NoCustom

I played with that yesterda and after a few tries I saw what you mean, so this "bug" is fixed now.

[SmartyMan]

Originally posted by veekee
I mean, selecting a line on the right do not change the left panel, although selecting on the left is changing the right side !

Thats correct, the project tree adjusts the other views but will be (nearly) never adjusted by other views.
Visual Studio does it the same way.