Within the optional [CopyLocalFiles] section: This section is used to copy files in from a local installation of an application.
CopyLocalFiles is used to indicate that this section is enabled. It should be set to true.
CopyFromRegPath is used when the path to the local files is indicated within a key in the registry. Generally, this will be in the form of HKLM\Software\AppName.
CopyFromRegKey is used in conjunction with CopyFromRegPath. It indicates the Key within the registry path above that should be used.
CopyFromRegRemoveDirectories is used to indicate the number of directories to strip from the Key read in to arrive at the directory that should be copied. If the Key indicates a path to a file rather than a directory, it should be increased by one. For example, if the Key generally points to C:\Program Files\AppName\bin\AppName.exe and you wish to copy all the files in C:\Program Files\AppName, it would be set to 2: one to remove the file name AppName.exe and one to remove the 'bin' directory from the path.
CopyFromDirectory is used to indicate the local directory to copy into the portable app. If used in conjunction with the registry entries above, it will be used as a fallback if the registry entry is missing or doesn't point to a valid path. This entry is normally in the form %PROGRAMFILES%\AppName. Several environment variables are available including: %PROGRAMFILES%, %COMMONFILES%, %DESKTOP%, %WINDIR%, %SYSDIR%, %APPDATA%, %LOCALAPPDATA% and %TEMP%.
CopyToDirectory indicates the relative path within the portable app that the files will be copied to. This is usually in the form App\AppName. If the directory does not exist, it will be created.
Within the optional [DownloadFiles] section:
This section is used to download and optionally extract files from the internet.
DownloadURL specifies the URL to the file that will be downloaded. It is normally in the form http://example.com/path/filename
DownloadName is the name that will be displayed while the file is downloaded. This must be a valid DOS name and should not include special characters like :, ", \, etc.
DownloadFilename is the name of the file that will be used while it is worked with locally. This should normally be the same as the filename from the DownloadURL. It is normally in the form filename.exe or filename.zip.
DownloadMD5 is used to specify the MD5 hash of the file downloaded. This allows the installer to verify that the file has not changed since the installer was created. Use of this entry is *highly* recommended.
DownloadTo is optionally used if the downloaded file should just be copied into the portable app as-is. The entry is normally in the form App\AppName. This entry is not to be used with the extraction entries that follow.
AdditionalInstallSize is used to specify the size of the files that will be added to the files contained within the installer. The entry should be a number only and be in KB
(DEPRECATED) Extract1To and Extract1File are used for simple extraction of files from ZIP files only. The Extract#To entries should specify the relative path to where the files will go within the installed portable app (typically App\AppName). The Extract#File is used to specify the name of the file to extract. No wildcards are permitted. Up to 10 entries in the form Extract1To/Extract1File, Extract2To/Extract2File may be made. Extract#To supports the use of <ROOT> to indicate the app's root directory. Deprecated Note: ExtractTo and ExtractFile have been deprecated in favor of AdvancedExtractTo and AdvancedExctractFilter. The methods used for ExtractTo are not fully compatible with non-ANSI directory names. This functionality remains for this version of the PA.c Format for compatibility reasons. Applications will be automatically converted to the new method in a later release.
AdvancedExtract1To and AdvancedExtract1Filter are used for more advanced extraction from ZIP files as well as many installer EXEs. The AdvancedExtract#To entries should specify the relative path to where the files will go within the installed portable app (typically App\AppName). The AdvancedExtract#Filter entries are used to specify a filter for the files to be extracted and are in the same format used by 7-zip. Some examples include *.txt for all text files, * for all files, *a* for files that contain the letter a, Src\*.cpp for all cpp files within the src directory, etc. ** can be used to indicate all files in the archive recursively (including sub-directories). Up to 10 entries can be made. AdvancedExtract#To supports the use of <ROOT> to indicate the app's root directory.
DoubleExtractFilename is used when a downloaded file contains an archive within an archive. The DoubleExtractFilename should be set to the name of the archive inside the archive. For example, if you are downloading a file called setup.exe which contains a file data.zip that has the files needed within it, DoubleExtractFilename would be set to data.zip. The DoubleExtract#To and DoubleExtract#Filter are performed on the extracted archive and are in the same format as AdvancedExtract1To and AdvancedExtract1Filter above. Up to 10 entries may be used. DoubleExtract#To supports the use of <ROOT> to indicate the app's root directory.
Within the optional [Languages] section:
Each entry is used to specify whether that language is available as a user is installing the portable app and appinfo.ini is set to Multilingual. If this section is omitted, all languages are included. If this section is included, ENGLISH= is required. All other languages are optional and default to false.
Within the optional [DirectoriesToPreserve] section:
This section specifies directories that will be preserved even if a given directory (App, Data, Other) is set to be removed on an upgrade. Up to 10 entries in the form of PreserveDirectory1, PreserveDirectory2, etc are available. Each should be in the relative paths within the app. If you wish to preserve the directory App\AppName\plugins, it would be entered as PreserveDirectory1=App\AppName\plugins within this section. If no directories need preserving, this section should be omitted.
Within the optional [DirectoriesToRemove] section:
This section specifies directories that will be removed even if a given directory (App, Data, Other) is set not to be removed on an upgrade. Up to 10 entries in the form of RemoveDirectory1, RemoveDirectory2, etc are available. Each should be in the relative paths within the app. If you wish to remove the directory App\AppName\locales, it would be entered as RemoveDirectory1=App\AppName\locales within this section. If no directories need removing, this section should be omitted.
Within the optional [FilesToPreserve] section:
This section specifies files that will be preserved even if a given directory (App, Data, Other) is set to be removed on an upgrade. Up to 10 entries in the form of PreserveFile1, PreserveFile2, etc are available. Each should be in the relative paths within the app. If you wish to preserve the files App\AppName\*.hlp, it would be entered as PreserveFile1=App\AppName\*.hlp within this section. If no files need preserving, this section should be omitted.
Within the optional [FilesToRemove] section:
This section specifies files that will be removed even if a given directory (App, Data, Other) is set not to be removed on an upgrade. Up to 10 entries in the form of RemoveFile1, RemoveFile2, etc are available. Each should be in the relative paths within the app. If you wish to remove the files App\AppName\*.lang, it would be entered as RemoveFile1=App\AppName\*.lang within this section. If no files need removing, this section should be omitted.
An End User License Agreement (EULA) or other licensing file can be displayed in the PortableApps.com Installer by including an EULA.txt or EULA.rtf file in the Other\Source directory. The PortableApps.com Installer will automatically locate it and configure it for use. Please ensure that the license is in Unicode format and not ANSI.
Custom Code may be included with your installer by including a file called PortableApps.comInstallerCustom.nsh within the Other\Source directory. This file is coded in NSIS and can include 3 macros: CustomCodePreInstall (which is run before installation), CustomCodePostInstall (which is run after installation) and CustomCodeOptionalCleanup (which is run at the beginning of installation if the optional section of an installer is not selected, intended for use in app upgrades when the existing app may have had the optional section included). In addition to the standard NSIS functions, the following NSIS features are available: ConfigRead, ConfigReadS, ConfigWrite, ConfigWriteS, GetParent, GetRoot, VersionCompare and the LogicLib features of NSIS. Please ensure that the file is Unicode encoded (not ANSI/DOS).
The PortableApps.com Installer code itself should not be altered directly within the confines of it being a PortableApps.com Installer. As always, the source code is available under the GPL and may be freely modified and used in other GPL-licensed works.
Every release of an app in PortableApps.com Format must use the current PortableApps.com Installer. If a larger application is being compiled that has a longer development and testing time, and a new version of the PortableApps.com Installer is released during testing of a release the version of the installer the app is currently using may be kept provided that the new Installer version is less than 30 days old on the day the application using the older version is released.
