Marcus' Macro Blog
A long time ago in a land far away called Windows 95 it was normal to store application settings and data in the program’s folder. Then Microsoft came out with all kinds of guidelines and the “correct” procedure was to use the registry. With a locked down standard user account, and with a default Vista install, an app can’t store data in its own folder anyway. Now, everyone wants their apps to be portable. And one way to do that is to store the settings and data in the program’s folder. Exactly what we did 10 or so years ago. So we’ve come full circle. Or rather, we now need to support both methods.
Enter the “Macro Scheduler Portable Install Creator”.
I’ve put together a little tool which will create a portable Macro Scheduler Std install for you which will run independently, keep its settings and macro files in its own folder and not leave any settings on the host PC. It will run without requiring administrative credentials. It can be used to put a self-contained Macro Scheduler install on a USB drive, for example, which will run on any Windows PC.
Download the beta from:
http://www.mjtnet.com/software/msched_portable_creator.exe
Requirements/Notes:
* The creator requires Macro Scheduler 11 to be installed. It will copy some files from the Macro Scheduler 11 installation to the portable folder. Once created your portable install will run anywhere.
* The wizard does not copy any of your script files. It creates a fresh, empty installation. If required you can import macros afterwards using File/Import Macros. In a portable install all macro files are stored in the portable folder. You can create macro groups but the group path cannot be changed (otherwise it would no longer be portable).
* A standard (not pro) installation is created. Macros can only be compiled from a full install of Macro Scheduler Pro.
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I just tried the portable version this afternoon. Was as easy and smooth as advertised.
I installed the Portable version of Macro Scheduler on an old 256Mb flash drive, and
also installed on a newer U3 compatible flash drive. Was no difference, both handled
the installation and operated perfectly.
I inserted the flash drive into an XP system that never had Macro Scheduler installed.
I double clicked on the executable file and Macro Scheduler 11 started right up. I was
able to open the Editor and the Help and all the normal utilities. I had loaded some
macros onto the flash drive and I did a Macro Import and they were instantly listed on
the control panel. When I closed Macro Scheduler and removed the flash drive, there
was no trace that any software had been installed, because none was. All files are
resident on the flash drive as expected of a true portable program.
Later on, I went to a system that already has version 11 installed. I made sure that
copy was not running first. Then I ran the executable from the flash drive and once
again it performed as I hoped and expected. When I closed the program and removed the
flash drive, the resident version was started with no changes to it at all.
This will now make it easy for me to load my toolbox of Macro Scheduler utilities on
the flash drive, and run the Macro Scheduler scripts on any system with no need to an
installation on that computer!
Great work!
MJT, you are the best, no one else comes close to the type of support and quality
products you have provided for us.
Is it possible to load the compiler also into the USD drive, perhaps by copying the compiler exe?
At present I’m afraid not. For the compiler to work it has to be installed in the regular fashion.
Downloaded 7.0.6.1 and created a portable version on my XP laptop. Then tried it on my Vista laptop (which doesn’t have Macro Scheduler installed) and was prompted for the license code. After entering the code, everything worked as expected. Then I tried it on another XP laptop(which also doesn’t have Macro Scheduler installed) and was again prompted for the license code. I thought the license code was copied from my primary install and I wouldn’t be prompted for it. Any idea what’s happening here?
Thanks,
Vince
The portable creator was written for Macro Scheduler v11 and has not been tested in previous versions. Since previous versions use a different registry key name that is probably the issue.