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jenocin
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Registered: Feb 2006
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OS: WINXP/2k3, FreeBSD 5.4/6, Ubuntu 5.10, OS X 10.4, Suse 10

U3P Creation Application

I am thinking about creating a simple app to create the U3Ps automatically from existing "portable" apps. Just wanted to know if this is something people would be interested in.

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02-23-2006 07:03 PM

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derekthegeek
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Registered: Feb 2006
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OS: XP Pro

Yes

I would be very interested. I would be even more interested in finding an open source alternative to U3.

- DTG

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02-24-2006 03:28 AM

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jrfuda
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Registered: May 2006
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OS: WinXP

I've read the various threads about U3ing existing portable apps and am extremely interested in this. Any progress?

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05-01-2006 10:39 PM

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bubazoo
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Registered: Jun 2006
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why don't you just post it, and those interested can download/read it?

why ask then not reply back? thats just spamming

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06-11-2006 03:20 AM

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bubazoo
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Registered: Jun 2006
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I AM however, getting close to figuring this out... I will post what I know so far..

a .u3p file, is basically a .zip file that has been renamed to .u3p, and has the following directory structure in it...

data/
device/
Host/
manifest/

in the .u3p files I have found, the "data" and "device" directories have been empty. The "host" directory, contains the "exe" and all associated .cfm, .hlp, .ini, etc files.

the "manifest" directory contains 1 file called "Manifest.u3i"
which is basically an xml file, but that is all I know so far..

if anyone else has any information regarding this, please post.. The only thing I'm not so sure about at this point, is what is required in the xml file, and what isn't? for instance, what if the portable app doesn't come with an icon file,
under <icon></icon> do you leave that part out? or do you put the exe file in there? I am still confused about that yet, but I am in the process of experimenting with that to see if that directory structure will zip up and install or not without a u3 API being compiled in or not .
I also don't know about the application uuid, can you just make one up? I don't know yet....

anyone else willing to contribute to this please let me know

Last edited by bubazoo on 06-11-2006 at 03:33 AM

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06-11-2006 03:29 AM

winrules
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Registered: Jun 2006
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I would really like to have a program like this

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06-18-2006 01:47 AM

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pataguillon
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Registered: Jul 2006
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OS: XP

Such app is not realistic at all because :

1/ you cannot build "Manifest.xmi" file without knowing specific details about the app (solution = interact with user, but then your app becomes less simple to use)

2/ you cannot know what to put in "Data" / "Host" / "Device" directories....idd, you can put the entire app in the "host" directory, but this is really stupid because this means that you are NOT going to execute this app from your U3 device......but you cannot either put all in "Device" directory because it has limited space, so you have you to put user datas in "Data", etc....

This is not simple to make an u3p from scratch without knowing the app.

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07-04-2006 09:34 AM

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Ashes for Tears
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Registered: Apr 2006
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OS: Windows XP SP2

Yeah, that all sounds really complicated. Though I am curious:
Why do you guys feel so strongly about making a regularly tweaked app into a .up3? Since U3 extracts data to the hard drive (regardless of whether it's a proper 'U3' app or not), I'm not really comfortable using the launchpad to engage more that is absolutely neccassary.

Anyway, I digress: If anyone is interested, another enterprising programmer has created a shortcut making application for the launch pad. Initial testing is turning out well, though when removing a shortcut, you will need to delete said app as well.
For icons, all you have to do is point the path to a proggie or .ico file. All in all, another toy to support my lazy lifestyle.

Have fun, guys!

Mirror 1:

[url]http://hypyke.home.comcast.net/U3Shortcut.zip[/url]

Mirror 2:

[url]http://goowy.box.net/index.php?rm=box_v2_download_shared_file&file_id=f_13127868[/url]

Mirror 3:

[url]http://rmccue.stsolutions.us/EasyTracker.php?id=1[/url]

Original Thread:

[url]http://portableapps.com/node/2163[/url]

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07-14-2006 09:24 AM

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eureca
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Registered: Jul 2006
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OS: Win XP

There are ways to implement U3P without having the EXE extracted to the local drive and running it from there. The app I just released will let you "fool" U3 into running any app directly off the drive, and allow you to use U3 LaunchPad to launch it, remove it, etc. If you're interested in trying PackageFactory (it's free) you can download it from [url]http://www.eure.ca[/url]

I made sample U3P files with complex apps like Portable Thunderbird and it runs beautifully off U3 LaunchPad, yet it took some 10 seconds to create that U3P file.

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07-29-2006 09:05 AM

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stamba
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Registered: Sep 2006
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OS: Windows Xp, Edubuntu

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by bubazoo [/i]
[B]...the "manifest" directory contains 1 file called "Manifest.u3i"
which is basically an xml file, but that is all I know so far..

if anyone else has any information regarding this, please post.. The only thing I'm not so sure about at this point, is what is required in the xml file, and what isn't?...
anyone else willing to contribute to this please let me know [/B][/QUOTE]

Hi.
"Manifest.u3i" is easy to make. You can download utility called "U3 Manifest Creator", from [url]http://software.u3.com/[/url]
It's free, but requires registration.

Install this utility on your U3 smart drive, and run it. After that, it is a matter of seconds before you start making them.

If there is anything I can help, write me on my email.
Good luck with U3 coding...

******
Oh, and I forgot to tell you, from the same site, you can download tool "U3P2EXE", which can easily convert any .u3p file to an .exe installation.

Last edited by stamba on 09-07-2006 at 06:50 PM

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09-07-2006 06:39 PM

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xvnate
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Registered: Sep 2006
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OS: 3CP0

U3 package prototyper

here's a link to a utility that U3 has now. It's not open source but it works. It's written in runtime revolution.
[url]https://www.u3.com/developers/files/U3%20Package%20Prototyper.exe[/url]

You do have to sign up as a developer to download it.

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09-15-2006 06:39 AM

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sos1043
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Registered: Sep 2006
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Posts: 13

OS: XP; W2K;

Will the U3Shortcutcreater work on .bat files or just .exe's? I tried the xml route after several attempts w/ the creator, all ending up with path not found errors.
thx, jm

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09-28-2006 04:45 AM

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xvnate
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Registered: Sep 2006
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OS: 3CP0

the package prototyper just works on exes so it's not the right utility for you.

There are a couple of approaches that you can use for running bat files. If you are comfortable use the cmd shell (cmd.exe), then get the release version of cmdRunner out of the U3Action kit. Install it on you U3 smart drive and then setup the env so that your bat files are in the path and you can just run them from the command runner shell. Follow th instructions displayed in the cmdrunner shell when it starts for customizing the environment.

The other way is to use U3Action and Manifest Creator to create an app where the batch file is run from a button on the U3 Launchpad itself.

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09-29-2006 07:36 PM

sos1043
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Registered: Sep 2006
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OS: XP; W2K;

Well, it's another start. The cmd shell is comfortable, just not as conveinient as the menu i suppose. i'd have to add the choose (choice) variable as i have a couple .bats to run & want to chng my mind from time 2 time.

As for the Manifest creator, having some difficulty on the appStop & hostCleanUp. The .bats already have exits on them, but i'm stumbling on what values i should be using if i *have to* use/fill in for these two values. -->So once I figure this out, I can save this manifest file..... in case i trash things a bit to reinstall... right?

If i have the u3p project folder unchecked, it's probably good to make a sub-folder in the system folder, keeping all the apps in a *Program Files* kinda format ... right ?