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portable MUSHclient.

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Posted by

Shaun Biggs USA (644 posts)

Date

Sun 18 Mar 2007 06:16 AM (UTC) [ quote ]

Message

This is probably about the most insane thing I'm asking for yet, so please bear with me on this. I reecntly crashed at a friend's house for a few nights, and I forgot to put MUSHclient back on my USB drive after wiping it. When I went to go install it onto the USB drive, I wound up changing my friend's registry. I cleaned it up, but I'd rather not have to. Is there any way that you could make a portable version of MUSHclient? Either something like what's at http://portableapps.com/ or just make a -portable command argument for the installer to make it not poke the registry. Granted, anything portable like that should impossible to actually register, but the splash screen shows up when I just copy over my MUSHclient directory anyway.

It is much easier to fight for one's ideals than to live up to them.

Posted by

Onoitsu2 USA (246 posts)

Date

Reply #1 on Sun 18 Mar 2007 12:29 PM (UTC) [ quote ]

Amended on Sun 18 Mar 2007 12:35 PM (UTC) by Onoitsu2

Message

I have created yet another program in Autoit for use with MUSHclient. I call it MUSHclient Live, in the same aspect of FireFox Live. Ok Setup and usage instructions ...

1. Place In MUSHclient Installation Location
2. Run ONCE on HOST PC (The Source PC for the MUSHclient files) to Extract the Settings.
3. Place ENTIRE MUSHclient Installation Folder onto desired storage medium (If CD is used, then it will not keep previous settings already on the portable system, NOR update the extracted settings with any altered ones)
4. Run MUSHclient Via the MUSHclient_Live.exe, and Enjoy.

Breakdown of program's operations:
1. If MUSHclient.exe does not exist in same location, quit with error
2. If Mushclient.reg does not exist in same location, then try to extract from registry, if not exist, quit with error
3. If another copy of MUSHclient_Live is running, then quit with notification (ONLY 1 COPY Can Properly Function)
4. If MUSHclient Settings Exist in Registry Already, Extract to backup_mushclient.reg, remove ALL MUSHclient Settings (Prevents Conflicts, and Unneeded Updates to Settings).
5. Insert settings from Mushclient.reg (Created with First Run)
6. Updates the folder locations to absolute paths that are located on the storage medium, or wherever Program run from. (I.E. logs = Location\logs\, worlds = Location\worlds\, plugins = Location\worlds\plugins\)
7. Runs MUSHclient, and waits till you quit.
8. Re-Extract Settings from registry (to keep any changes), remove ALL MUSHclient Settings in Registry (Again to Prevent Conflicts), if mushclient_backup.reg exists then Insert back into Registry, then remove mushclient_backup.reg

URL: www.torasin.com/~venificius/MUSHclient_Live.exe

I hope that MANY find this useful :)

Laterzzz,
Onoitsu2

Posted by

Shaun Biggs USA (644 posts)

Date

Reply #2 on Sun 18 Mar 2007 10:54 PM (UTC) [ quote ]

Message

I just copy my C:\Program Files\MUSHclient directory to a USB drive and run it off of there. The few seconds of waiting is fine by me. And with a little modification, I can get it to automatically load plugins with no problem. I'm mostly concerned for when I bring the wrong flash drive or forget to bring one at all. I'd rather not muck around with my friends' registries.

The MUSHclient live option sounds similar to the PortableApps programs. I just suggested PortableApps because I can just toss them onto my Treo and run off of my phone.

It is much easier to fight for one's ideals than to live up to them.

Posted by

Onoitsu2 USA (246 posts)

Date

Reply #3 on Mon 19 Mar 2007 09:59 AM (UTC) [ quote ]

Message

Ya MUSHclient Live is just like Firefox Live, I have "dissected" the Fire Fox Live, and all that does is copy the proper registry settings from the profile folder, and then run the Normal Firefox Executable. Pretty near the same as mine, only mine uses .reg files to back up the settings, so that ANY moderate to advanced user (one comfortable with mucking around with the registry) can understand the "profile" file itself.

The only problem I can foresee is if you use a plugin that is located anywhere other than the default plugin location, OR a folder located in that same location, due to the way the location will be stored in the world file. This could cause an error message, stating that it cannot find the specified plugin, yada yada yada, and then all you will have to do is re-add the plugin to the world file, and all will be well again.

Laterzzz,
Onoitsu2

Posted by

Shaun Biggs USA (644 posts)

Date

Reply #4 on Mon 19 Mar 2007 12:11 PM (UTC) [ quote ]

Message

Actually, with all the swapping in and out of registry files, do you need any sort of admin access in order to use this live version you have? I'm not terribly used to Windows, since I've been running various flavours of linux for several years now. I'm not sure how affecting the registry works anymore. Also, any idea how this works on Vista with its overly hyped up security features?

It is much easier to fight for one's ideals than to live up to them.

Posted by

Onoitsu2 USA (246 posts)

Date

Reply #5 on Tue 20 Mar 2007 09:24 AM (UTC) [ quote ]

Message

Actually you SHOULD NOT need anything more than a REGULAR user account, meaning a NON Guest account, as this is using the HKEY_CURRENT_USER location in the registry, which is perfectly allowed typically, exceptions being CERTAIN Microsoft, and other settings within, but this SHOULD work without Admin privs.

As for Vista, I don't think ANYTHING will actually WORK on it ... lol, but that is just my opinion of ANY BRAND spanking new OS from MS, it needs to have at least 1 MAJOR patch in order for it to function PROPERLY, even XP needed that, heck even Windows 98 as well...

Laterzzz,
Onoitsu2

Posted by

David Haley USA (3,881 posts)

bio Moderator

Date

Reply #6 on Tue 20 Mar 2007 09:54 AM (UTC) [ quote ]

Message

Wow, major caps there. :-)

Although it is nice to have third-party solutions, I would be happier with a built-in solution. There are several reasons why I might want the settings to be stored in the active directory, without needing another application. The first and foremost is that it makes migrating settings easier; you just need MUSHclient, nothing else.

Also, I get twitchy about running third-party executable files without seeing the source, especially when the registry and so forth is involved. It's nothing about you Onoitsu2; I feel the same about pretty much every executable I see for download off the Internet. :-) Generally for me to run something I need to have reason to believe I have basically no choice but to run the executable. (Or have some reason to believe that the source is trust-worthy.)

David Haley aka Ksilyan
Head Programmer,
Legends of the Darkstone

http://david.the-haleys.org

Posted by

Onoitsu2 USA (246 posts)

Date

Reply #7 on Tue 20 Mar 2007 10:11 AM (UTC) [ quote ]

Message

well ANYONE requesting the source, I would be happy to send it to them, but it was coded in AutoIt, so you will need that to compile it.

If you want the source, drop me an e-mail using the forum e-mail option, or at onoitsu2@yahoo.com, and i will e-mail it to you :)

I ALSO understand that a "first-party" solution would be nice, but I like making things that solve problems, without having to disturb the authors of the software. Take for instance, I am currently creating a program using AutoIt, that adds a pane to the MUSHclient toolbar, that expands and contracts via a button or hotkey, that recieves UDP messages from mushclient, on port 4444, so that you can set the buttons in the pane to do things on the fly, or set a few aliases to alter them based upon different situations. The Button text and what they send to the world file is customizable, as well as a tick timer (Aardwolf Only Currently, fixed 30 second), that is a label that counts down, as well as a progress bar, that is shown when pane expanded, that graphically ticks down. Am planning on adding more soon, but taking a break so brain does not implode :)

Laterzzz,
Onoitsu2

Posted by

Zylogia (12 posts)

Date

Reply #8 on Thu 20 Mar 2008 01:45 AM (UTC) [ quote ]

Message

I'd like to "bump" this discussion, and also add my own wrinkle to the list...

My reason for requesting "portability" comes from the fact that I play on 3 different computers, with 3 different OS. Currently, I have MUSHclient installed on each of the computers, 2 Windows and 1 Linux/Wine. I don't like having settings in the Windows registry, but I can live with it.

My problem is (I suspect) simpler: I do not know in advance the drive letter for the .mcl, script and log files. Even on the same computer, the letter will change from day to day depending on the sequence I use to insert USB drive.

Current solution:
1) Insert USB drive, run MC, open world
2) Suffer through error messages.
3) Edit paths. Save world. Quit.
4) Restart MC, reopen world. (Log file now gets created.)

I would love a solution that avoided steps 2-4.

P.S. The biggest headache is getting the log file to open, as I log every session to a logfile directory, with a unique name.

P.P.S. Directory structure is...
USB:\World1
......World1.mcl
......World1.lua
......\Logs
.............Logfile_1
.............Logfile_2

Posted by

Onoitsu2 USA (246 posts)

Date

Reply #9 on Thu 20 Mar 2008 03:25 AM (UTC) [ quote ]

Message

I for one have never had an issue with drive letters, and this is going from approx 60 possible computers in the College Computer Lab, and 2 at home.

I have all plugins located in 'worlds\plugins\' or in a folder located within that location that is named appropriately to the server.

My 'Mushclient Portable' executable will alter the path that the registry looks in each run, and prevents these issues.

It ALSO removes all trace of the Mushclient settings in the registry. And if a previous Mushclient installation on the computer existed, then it will backup those settings, and use the ones stored with the portable installation, then once it is closed will restore the existing installation's settings.

As for logs, my program also alters the location of the logs folder, as long as it is located in a 'logs' folder within the Mushclient folder.

As for usage in linux and wine, well that I have not tested, BUT should work just fine, if Mushclient works as well.

-Onoitsu2

Posted by

Zylogia (12 posts)

Date

Reply #10 on Thu 20 Mar 2008 07:32 PM (UTC) [ quote ]

Message

Thanks for the reply. The problem I have with Linux (and this may be my ignorance showing) is that the path name to the script and log files becomes totally different from the Windows system. This results from the way Linux treats my USB drive -- it mounts the drive as a subfolder in the MEDIA folder. Wine (and the application directory for MUSHclient) is sitting way over in another path.

Perhaps a linux guru could tell me how to automount the USB drive "in" the directory structure where MUSHclient expects to see the .mcl file. I've not yet figured it out.

I looked at Mush Portable before I wrote my first post, and decided it probably would not do the trick for me because of the above issue. I may go back and look at it again.

In any event, it would be nice if this functionality were present in the standard product. Basically, I'd like everything to be relative to the .mcl file I execute. That is the one common denominator, as far as I can see.

Posted by Nick Gammon Australia (18,772 posts) bio Forum Administrator

Date Reply #11 on Thu 20 Mar 2008 08:07 PM (UTC) [ quote ]

Message

Quote:

My problem is (I suspect) simpler: I do not know in advance the drive letter for the .mcl, script and log files. Even on the same computer, the letter will change from day to day depending on the sequence I use to insert USB drive.

...

The biggest headache is getting the log file to open ...

You can find out this from GetInfo:

http://www.gammon.com.au/scripts/doc.php?function=GetInfo

In particular:


66 - MUSHclient application directory
67 - World file directory
68 - MUSHclient startup (initial) directory

Given the startup directory, you should be able to script a log file open, or even by simply using a special code on the automated log file startup (see logging help):


Special characters for date/time etc.
-------------------------------------

General
-------

%E - MUSHclient initial (startup) directory
%F - world files directory
%L - log files directory
%n - new line (in some cases only)
%N - world name
%P - player name

Now by using something like %E\logs\<somename> you could make the log files open under wherever it is that MUSHclient is installed this time.

Or if you script the open in your script file, tack the path onto whatever GetInfo (68) returns.

If your problem is the list of worlds that open at startup (and this surely isn't an essential feature) then you could edit the Registry entry to change the absolute pathname (eg. "C:\Program Files\MUSHclient\worlds\something") to be a relative pathname, (eg. "worlds\something").

- Nick Gammon

www.gammon.com.au, www.mushclient.com

Posted by

Tspivey Canada (50 posts)

Date

Reply #12 on Mon 08 Dec 2008 02:16 PM (UTC) [ quote ]

Message

I thought I would bump this up again and add my own suggestions. I like
the idea of a portable MushClient. Taking the idea
of the % substitutions in the logging configuration, could the same thing
be done for anything that requires a path (e.g. script file)? for example:
%F\%N\%N.lua
I think that this would be useful for anywhere where we can put a path (e.g. the sound
edit box in the trigger dialog). In my oppinion this
would make it easier to distribute things such as preconfingured worlds,
(the sound packs for the blind for example). I could use a plugin,
but there's no easy way to modify them once created, so for example
if there was a trigger that you wanted removed, it would be far easier to just keep
everything in the world.

Posted by

Nick Gammon Australia (18,772 posts)

bio Forum Administrator

Date

Reply #13 on Tue 09 Dec 2008 02:12 AM (UTC) [ quote ]

Message

Can I just ask why you say plugins are hard to modify? They are just text files, and I would have thought that for blind users, a text file would be easier to manipulate than GUI-type dialog boxes.

For example, to remove a trigger, you look through the file for <trigger> ... </trigger> and delete those lines and the ones between them.

- Nick Gammon

www.gammon.com.au, www.mushclient.com

Posted by

Tspivey Canada (50 posts)

Date

Reply #14 on Tue 09 Dec 2008 11:35 AM (UTC) [ quote ]

Message

In certain situations, modifying a text file is easier. If I want to remove a trigger that matches if someone pokes me
in the ribs, with the gui dialog I can just press
control-shift-8 alt-f pokes enter, focus is still
on the list so if it's not the correct trigger just press alt-n, and alt-r y to remove it. Enter closes the dialog,
and the trigger is gone. The same goes for modifying one. If the shortcuts are there, or the dialog is
accessible and doesn't take much effort to navigate around, it's often faster to use
the dialog than to remember that I would need to add
omit_from_output="y" or send_to="12".

If the dialog isn't accessible or the interface is just confusing and
difficult to work with and a text file is available, then I would just edit the text file.

I can't think of any dialogs that I've ever had problems with in MUSHClient. Everything uses standard
controls, so just works.

The dates and times for posts above are shown in Universal Co-ordinated Time (UTC).

To show them in your local time you can join the forum, and then set the 'time correction' field in your profile to the number of hours difference between your location and UTC time.

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