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U3 Installer


simonsimple

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Hi,

My wife and I have been using Imgburn since the beginning and before, many thanks for the great software, we even got a great deal for our web hosting through nethosted.co.uk who renew each year at the same great rate, once again many thanks :)

 

I now use a U3 memory stick on my daily travels and have been searching for a disc burning software to use without any success, are there any plans to release a U3 version of Imgburn?

 

Many thanks

 

Simon

www.simple-pc.com

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I know nothing about U3 and can't say that I'm really interested in learning about it, sorry.

 

ImgBurn is already 'portable' and that's as good as it's going to get.

 

When you say it's already portable, do you mean it will run from a memory stick? If so how do I install it to the memory stick?

 

Many thanks

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Umm... I guess I could make an (unofficial) U3 installer for the current version of ImgBurn if that would help, and if it was okay with Lightning UK! of course?

 

That would be great, as you say if OK with Lightning UK? Please let us know :)

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Well I'd half worked on creating one for ImgBurn a while back, as there are several non U3 portableapps I have on a standard flash drive that I wanted use to on my sandisk cruzer as well, it was only with the idea of being for my own personal use though.

 

Anyway I've finished one for ImgBurn now and everything works as expected, but I'll wait to hear if Lightning UK! wants to check it out first or if he has a suggestion to attach it to another post or upload it somewhere for you to try, or none of the above? :)

Edited by jeff_nz
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Looking at the manifest file, the '/SETTINGS' parameter should probably also be in quotes if that's possible?

 

So...

 

    <appStart cmd="%U3_HOST_EXEC_PATH%\U3Action.exe">-appStart  \"%U3_DEVICE_EXEC_PATH%\ImgBurn.exe\" /PORTABLE /SETTINGS %U3_APP_DATA_PATH%\ImgBurn.ini </appStart>

 

becomes

 

    <appStart cmd="%U3_HOST_EXEC_PATH%\U3Action.exe">-appStart  \"%U3_DEVICE_EXEC_PATH%\ImgBurn.exe\" /PORTABLE /SETTINGS \"%U3_APP_DATA_PATH%\ImgBurn.ini\" </appStart>

 

?

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Looking at the manifest file, the '/SETTINGS' parameter should probably also be in quotes if that's possible?

 

So...

 

    <appStart cmd="%U3_HOST_EXEC_PATH%\U3Action.exe">-appStart  \"%U3_DEVICE_EXEC_PATH%\ImgBurn.exe\" /PORTABLE /SETTINGS %U3_APP_DATA_PATH%\ImgBurn.ini </appStart>

 

becomes

 

    <appStart cmd="%U3_HOST_EXEC_PATH%\U3Action.exe">-appStart  \"%U3_DEVICE_EXEC_PATH%\ImgBurn.exe\" /PORTABLE /SETTINGS \"%U3_APP_DATA_PATH%\ImgBurn.ini\" </appStart>

 

?

 

Many thanks for this, I've installed it on my Sandisk Cruzer and it works great! It's a great addition, will you be adding it to the download page? It would be great to get the updates for the U3 stick when released. They'll certainly be another donation heading your way :) Many thanks

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Looking at the manifest file, the '/SETTINGS' parameter should probably also be in quotes if that's possible?

 

Hi Lightning UK!

 

Hmm, you might be right. I just tested it and while both variations are accepted and load the ini file, the second one is probably more correct as you suggest...

 

I've just re-read the relevant part of the U3Action user guide and neglected to take into account fully the second half of this statement:

 

Standard command line parameters for the application itself should not

require escaping with backslashes, but this is application specific. Do use

escaped double quotes to encapsulate any application command line

parameters incorporating environment variables whether they are U3

environment variables or not.

 

Do you want me to re-upload the file replacing it with the amended version?

 

Edit: It's done! The amended file is now available at the link above.

Edited by jeff_nz
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Many thanks for this, I've installed it on my Sandisk Cruzer and it works great! It's a great addition, will you be adding it to the download page? It would be great to get the updates for the U3 stick when released. They'll certainly be another donation heading your way :) Many thanks

 

Hi Simon, I'm glad you find it useful.

 

I don't want to put words in Lightning UK!'s mouth but I think from what he said above that he probably doesn't want to officially support or maintain a separate installer outside of the forum community, and I can understand that being that U3 is basically a propriety format... (of course I could be totally wrong :))

 

With that in mind, if I'm still around the forums when a new version of ImgBurn is released I could probably just update this thread with a new file, or failing that it should be simple enough for you to roll your own upgrade package file by using this one as a template... just ask if you need some tips on that.

Edited by jeff_nz
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If there's just some script that can be made to build the U3 file then I'll do it - that's what I do now for the current NSIS installer. I have a batch file to copy files, compress, make the installer etc.

 

I hate to do things manually because it means I have to remember things I really don't care to remember! lol

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Ah, good thinking! :)

 

I don't know if anything like that exists for U3 files, and unfortunately I find deciphering even the simplest of batch files to be a daunting experience, let alone creating one from scratch, so I can't be of much help there either sorry (you can tell I'm not a programmer... hehe)

 

Not that I need to tell you this, but it would involve copying files, modifying the version attribute for ImgBurn in the manifest file, zipping up the 3 folders and renaming the zip file to u3p... if all that can be automated I couldn't say?

Edited by jeff_nz
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Ah so it's just a normal zip? I did open it in 7-zip originally but that program is pretty good at handling special formats so I wasn't sure.

 

Assuming the basic structure is the same, I guess it's pretty straight forward to automate it - but only now you've done all the leg work of course :D

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Yep it's just a zip file (and yes I find 7-Zip an invaluable tool also :))

 

Here are some extracts from the deployment guide that could be relevant:

 

The U3 Package is a compressed zip file that uses a .u3p extension in place of the .zip extension. The zip file should have all the selected directories in the root directory.

 

Note: Zip compression must be used. Other formats, such as .arj and .rar, will not be recognized by the U3 Launchpad.

 

and some more about the manifest file:

 

uuid - A unique 128-bit value that identifies the application. All versions of the same application must use the same uuid.

 

version - The current version of the application. The format is “X.X.X.X”, for example, 1.13.0.21. Only integers 0-9 are acceptable. The U3 Launchpad uses this value to determine if there is a new version available and if the version being installed is newer, older, or the same as the current version.

 

 

 

Assuming the basic structure is the same, I guess it's pretty straight forward to automate it - but only now you've done all the leg work of course :D

 

That's okay, I needed the exercise anyway... :D

Edited by jeff_nz
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Hi Lightning UK!,

 

Just a little extra note about the manifest file... when I originally cobbled it together some time ago I took the description field from ImgBurn.exe exactly as is and used that in the manifest file for the 'description' (seemed logical) and for the 'short description' I just shortened it a bit.

 

As you can see from the attached screenshot, the information in the manifest file about the program is used in the U3 Add Program Wizard... I've been thinking about it and perhaps the program description should really be the same as the short description, mainly for aesthetic reasons I guess, then it would fit on one line and wouldn't feel disjointed (also the ImgBurn at the beginning is probably superfluous in this context).

 

Just a minor detail and maybe doesn't matter but thought you might like to be aware of it.

 

 

P.S. the short description is used for the tooltip when you hover over the program name in the U3 launchpad.

post-2655-125639379623.png

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