Pretty simple I think.
We allow the user to select the install folder on the hard drive. Seems a logical extension to that is to allow the end user to choose their prferred Start Menu folder that it installs to.
--Lyle E. Dodge
lyle@lyledodge.com
Archive: Feature Suggestion: User Defined Start Menu Folder
Pretty simple I think.
We allow the user to select the install folder on the hard drive. Seems a logical extension to that is to allow the end user to choose their prferred Start Menu folder that it installs to.
--Lyle E. Dodge
lyle@lyledodge.com
why?
it's a useless feature.
Usless Feature?
Not sure you followed what I was talking about.
I'm talking about the folder under the Programs section of the Start Menu that the program shows up in as they click through to Start | Programs | WhateverICallMyProgram.
Should the user *not* have control over that? As in what to call "WhateverICallMyProgram"
What if I called my program group under the Start Menu "Really Cool" and they want it to be called "Really Sucks".
Should they not be able to?
If so, by the same logic, we should not give them control over (rather NSIS shouldn't have the feature installed) what directory it installs into under Program Files on the hard drive.
Is it still a useless feature?
--Lyle E. Dodge
lyle@lyledodge.com
Well, such a feature is found in most installers, but I don't find it really useful. It adds a great deal of complexity, and I don't mind not having it.
TheProblem with this is
The problem is (and this has personnally PO'd me off many times) that other installers which allow this usually allow you to see the default (eg. S.M./Programs/MyProg ) and shows a list of the rest the program groups (Accesories, StartUp, etc.). If you click on another item (eg. accesories), the default is erased. I don't want to install the shortcuts to /Accesories , I want to install the WHOLE group to Accessories (eg. S.M./Programs/Accesories/MyProg). The installers usually aren't very helpful about letting the user know what is going on here. If we add these features to NSIS, it will probably bloat it up. What you could do is after it has installed to S.M./Programs/MyProg, show the user a readme with instructions on how to change or move (or remove) the group. And perhaps open S.M./Programs so the user can see where you installed it. I can see the occasional need for this, but to be truthful, if the user is advanced enough to care about Start Menu names, they are *probably* advanced enough to rename it themselves without any prompting.
Just my 2 cents, no offence intended :)
-=Cassidy=-
Maybe So...
...but is it any less useless than the user choosing the directory on the hard drive? If we're going to restrict what program group it falls in to it's only a logical extension that we restrict that too. I don't really believe we should restrict either, obviously.
I'm also not trying to argue for the sake of arguing. I do really believe that giving the end user virtually 100% control of what we puke on their hard drive is in _our_ best interest.
These little feature suggestions I've made have (in other threads as well) all been concepts that wouldn't be required in your script. So, I'm not sure where the fear comes from of improving the product and making it more competetive in the marketplace. True NSIS is not vying for dollars from InstallShield, Vise, and others but is improving the product a bad thing?
Yeah, yeah, it's open source I know. But I think the most consistent product comes from Justin not a bunch of forked versions of NSIS. So ulitmately it's up to him to add or not, as far as I'm concerned.
I guess I'm still at a loss as to why there is such a fear of optional features and how the user controlling what program group is any different (or less "advanced") than them choosing the directory on the disk.
No offense taken by anything. I just want to see NSIS improved and don't mind throwing out a feature I'd use as a suggestion. Maybe you wouldn't use it. Great! Don't. But for those that would use it having it there makes our product appear that much better.
Peace.
--Lyle E. Dodge
lyle@lyledodge.com
...
It's not a matter of restriction. Freedom of choice is most defineatly (sp?) a good thing. But freedom of choice at the cost of added confusion and complexity...not good. If NSIS allowed the user to choose the Start Menu Group, how exactly would it be implemented? Would it do this as other installers do? I think that the way I've seen it done in other installers is clumsy, and I wouldn't use it in a installer I was making. If a different implementation would make it easier (read: less frustrating), maybe I would use it. NSIS is open-source so you can make you own modifications, we can't expect Justin to think of and write every possible feature we want into it (how can he compete with teams of programmers being paid only to code installer-makers). If you coded this feature as an include file (or whatever), you could post it here and those who wanted it would use it.
Of course, this discussion may just get Justin interested in how he can put this feature in for you, while keeping it as simple and painless as possible for me. (Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, Justin :) )
-=Gonzotek=-
p.s. I am not afraid of anything, I work for an elementary school. ;)
Start Menu
I too think this would add too much confusion when installing the prog - and too many people would end up with icons scattered throughout the Accessories group instead of being together in the correct directory.
If people do want to change the name of the program group later, they can anyway. The whole point in making an installer is so that end users dont need to worry about these things. If you want to give the end user complete choice, where do you stop, should they decide what registry entries are added themselves. Users might as well just unzip the files into the correct place and create shortcuts on their own.
As you can probably tell I definetely don't think this feature would help anyone's program, or NSIS's reputation for making quick/easy installer's
I try to overcome this by having a single icon placed on the desktop. Any other features (Read Me, Help, etc.) I try to incorporate into the program, i.e. Help -> Read Me, opens Notepad or something...
I don't worry about uninstall icons because there's an entry in Add/Remove Programs.
Also, consider this: I've seen a few installations make a folder under the program folder named 'Program Name', fill it with shortcuts, and make a desktop shortcut to this folder.
That way, you can double click the icon on the desktop, and a window will open with other shortcuts.