kishore
18th November 2002 22:18 UTC

Defining order of Shortcut menu item appearence
Hi,

I'm using NSIS version 1.98 on Windows 2000 to create installation program for my application. While creating shortcuts using CreateShortCut' directive in the script, I'm not able to define the order in which they appear on the Windows start menu. These short cuts appear in random order on different machine. In otherwords, following directive in .nsi file:

CreateShortCut "$SMPROGRAMS\Test\S1.lnk" "notepad s1.txt"
CreateShortCut "$SMPROGRAMS\Test\S2.lnk" "notepad s2.txt" CreateShortCut "$SMPROGRAMS\Test\S3.lnk" "notepad s3.txt"
CreateShortCut "$SMPROGRAMS\Test\S4.lnk" "notepad s4.txt"

The above directives cause the short cut menus to appear in random order as shown below. Also, this order is different on different machines.

Start -> Test -> S3
-> S1
-> S4
-> S4

Can anyone please let me know how I could define the order in which they appear on the Windows start menu.

Thanks,

Kishore.

n0On3
19th November 2002 02:45 UTC

In Win98SE there's a registry branch (HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MenuOrder\Start Menu) where windows stores items' positions. You can define as you like, export the branch you want, and then import that branch during installation with thi line: ExecWait "REGEDIT.EXE /S 1.REG"

kishore
19th November 2002 14:53 UTC

Originally posted by n0On3
In Win98SE there's a registry branch (HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MenuOrder\Start Menu) where windows stores items' positions. You can define as you like, export the branch you want, and then import that branch during installation with thi line: ExecWait "REGEDIT.EXE /S 1.REG"

kishore
19th November 2002 15:54 UTC

Originally posted by n0On3
In Win98SE there's a registry branch (HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MenuOrder\Start Menu) where windows stores items' positions. You can define as you like, export the branch you want, and then import that branch during installation with thi line: ExecWait "REGEDIT.EXE /S 1.REG"

virtlink
19th November 2002 18:13 UTC

You can't set the order of the items in the Start-Menu. However, if you have Windows ME or higher, you can, as a user, sort the items by name.

n0On3
19th November 2002 19:32 UTC

virtlink, well you can't set the order, but you can import the branch where windows saves the order, methinks.


I don't know why you use the "/e" switch.

before using this: ExecWait 'RegEdit /s "$INSTDIR\1.reg"'

you have to create '1.reg' with the information you want. To do it, create the start menu group the way you want it to be installed, and launch regedit go to that branch I gave you look for your start groug and export the branch of that group to that 1.reg file.

If you have any trouble you can post your working script to check it with my computer.

dëëjayz
11th September 2003 22:08 UTC

This solution is working on windows 2000, but doesn't seem to work on XP... Any clue to do the same on XP? haven't test on Win Nt4, but will do the test soon.

Thank you.

n0On3
12th September 2003 10:45 UTC

You can use Registry Shot to find what really changes in the registry when changing the order of items.

You'll have to do it by yourself, because I don't have a wxp around.

good luck :)

dëëjayz
12th September 2003 16:05 UTC

Thanks!

BTW< the file you sent was not working.. old version I guess!

Here a more recent file of regshot.

virtlink
12th September 2003 16:09 UTC

Yeah, the n0On's version didn't accept Windows XP as a valid OS, since it doesn't support NT systems, and recognizes XP as one.

dëëjayz
12th September 2003 20:52 UTC

Okay, I've done a switch between XP, 2000 and NT 4.0 for the ordering items... Something like this:

Call GetWindowsVersion
Pop $R0
StrCmp $R0 "2000" 0 +2
ExecWait 'RegEdit /s "$PLUGINSDIR\2000 Client.reg"'
StrCmp $R0 "XP" 0 +2
ExecWait 'RegEdit /s "$PLUGINSDIR\XP Client.reg"'
StrCmp $R0 "NT 4.0" 0 +2
ExecWait 'RegEdit /s "$PLUGINSDIR\NT 4.0 Client.reg"'

Does work fine, but for the current user... If I logoff and logon another user, doesn't get the menu items ordered correctly... I've tried to edit the reg file by changing the HKCU for HKLM, but none of these windows version will work... Only work in current user who've done the installation.

Is there any way to make it applied to another user?

n0On3
12th September 2003 23:51 UTC

hehe, it seems I have to update my computer, the OS, and regshot too. :rolleyes:

dëëjayz
15th September 2003 14:36 UTC

Isn't a good opportunity? ;) eheheh

Andrikos
18th June 2004 13:11 UTC

This is my solution for right sort order:

CreateShortCut "$SMPROGRAMS\...
Sleep 10
CreateShortCut "$SMPROGRAMS\...
Sleep 10
CreateShortCut "$SMPROGRAMS\...

zimsms
18th June 2004 13:25 UTC

Try:

4.9.7.3 SetShellVarContext current|all

before your createshortcut calls for setting the appropriate location.