mkeeley
18th June 2002 22:29 UTC

NSIS Workbench (FNSIS)
Hello all,

It's been a long time in coming but I've finally managed make the time to release and update to the NSIS Workbench, THE workbench ;).

I've changed the wizard to generate a WriteUninstaller line rather than an UninstallExeName but, as I haven't been keeping track of NSIS changes, don't know if there are other things that need adjusting (I'm sure you'll let me know if there are!)

I've created a quick page at:

http://www.techmarc.co.uk/fnsis.htm

where the latest version can be downloaded from.

Marc Keeley

Sunjammer
19th June 2002 00:28 UTC

Installer Errors
My chosen install location was the default but on drive d: instead of c:

I got this in the details window once install had completed...

Error creating: uninst.exe
Output directory. D:\Program Files\NSIS Workbench
Copy to D:\Program Files\NSIS Workbench\NSIS.~CH
Copy failed
Copy to D:\Program Files\NSIS Workbench\NSIS.~PL
Copy failed

-- then all the extracts and the shortcut creation which all worked fine.

mkeeley
19th June 2002 00:40 UTC

Thanks for letting me know. I'll have a look, it might be I'm using WriteUninstaller incorrectly???

Marc

Sunjammer
19th June 2002 00:46 UTC

One other thing, how on earth do I close an open file??? It seems like a really basic thing to do but there is no close menu option and ctrl-f4 doesn't work either!

Also, where does it get it's context help information from? I was just wondering if it can be kept upto date by users or whether it has to be done by you?

Other than that, I'm gonna start using it now, it already has at least two life saving features, the context help and the dialog box expert (I'm forever screwing that one up). I'm sure I'll find more wizzo features in a minute :)

mkeeley
19th June 2002 01:02 UTC

You don't close the file, it's a SDI app so either there's a blank file or an opened file. Think of Notepad or Wordpad, you don't close the document.

The context help is contained within the Functions list on the left, both those and the code snippets can be maintained by the user via the new/edit/delete buttons above the tabs. So if you want to edit the context help for a function select the function and click on the Edit button, the help is in the description field.

The edit field above the functions list performs a incremental search through the functions so, for example, entering CO will select CompletedText, COP, CopyFiles and so on. As the grid scrolls to the functions position it's also a quick way of getting to say the W functions.

As you've already found if you double click on a function then it's parameters are prompted for (not all functions support this but many). Also if you type, say, CRCCheck in the edit window followed by . (point) the available options are displayed in a pick list.

One day there might even be a help file, you never know!

Marc

Sunjammer
19th June 2002 01:36 UTC

Originally posted by mkeeley
[B]You don't close the file, it's a SDI app so either there's a blank file or an opened file. Think of Notepad or Wordpad, you don't close the document.

mkeeley
19th June 2002 01:46 UTC

You can't have multiple files open in the single session, there's only a single edit window. But you can have multiple instances running.

Oh, another feature is the code templates Ctrl-J, e.g. cs Ctrl-J expands to CreateShortcut. Ctrl-J on it's own displays a list of all code templates.

Marc

Sunjammer
19th June 2002 02:57 UTC

Yeah scratch that comment of mine about multiple files, call me "not very awake" ... I was just thrown at first by the fact that those files listed on the file menu are not on a recent files submenu, just made me think of the window menu in other apps. (and I managed to not read the important 3 letters S D I :))

Smile2Me
19th June 2002 08:03 UTC

Hi Marc,

indeed some more things have changed in NSIS. For instance, new commands like SectionsGetFlag and macro. But there is more, please check the version history / the docs to be sure not to forget anything. Please post an up to date functions.dat on your webpage. That way, we don't have to do it ourselves.

Thanks, greetz,
-Hendri.

Sunjammer
19th June 2002 09:23 UTC

Bug?!?
Just a minor niggle. "Build & Run" resets the view to the current cursor position which is really annoying if I've scrolled down a way using the mousewheel.

Sunjammer
19th June 2002 11:44 UTC

Updated
I've updated my copy of the function list with all the new stuff and removed the stuff that has gone from nsis.

I haven't really put the information in the box for the parameter hints to NSIS Workbench so it won't prompt you in most cases for the arguments automatically. This is because I don't know how to specify them yet and it took long enough actually putting all the new functions in!!!

I've attached my files, not sure which are needed, in the hope that you can use it Marc to update your download on your website.

mkeeley
19th June 2002 14:27 UTC

Thank you for that, I'll incorporate it in to the next release.

Currently there are only 3 parameter types:
S - String, can specify multiple string params e.g. SSS for 3 string params.
O - Option, Format O|Option1|Option2...
I - Icon, displays open dialog allowing you to select .ico

Marc

mkeeley
19th June 2002 15:09 UTC

Re: resetting the view to the cursor position. The reason is when you build it does a find in the script for the output file name (outfile "xxx"), it first sets a bookmark to the current cursor position and returns to that bookmark once it has found the file name. If however you've used the mouse wheel you haven't moved the cursor just the view.

What I've done is add an option to make the cursor follow the scrolling. You need to enable this in the options screen (Cursor follows scrolling).

liquidmotion
19th June 2002 19:38 UTC

Originally posted by Sunjammer


Ah yes but unlike notepad you can have multiple files open. I started using it and as I started tinkering with one of my project files, then remembered something I wanted to do to another so opened that. I normally do this kind of thing a lot. I'll end up with loads of unrelated files open!!! In notepad you'd close the file by opening a new one, or you'd spawn another instance of notepad.

Ho hum. If that's the worst thing I can come up with you'll be well pleased I'm sure :p

liquidmotion
19th June 2002 19:40 UTC

by the way, i'm glad you started working on this again. it was always better than Slate Blue :)

maybe now that I'm coding in delphi i can help out :P

mkeeley
19th June 2002 19:45 UTC

Hello Liquid,

Just haven't had the time. haven't got much now but have made enough so that I can any small changes required for it to work with the latest NSIS.

I've a good MDI editor that I wrote which is sold as part of a pack, but on the whole you don't need MDI for a setup. On the occasion you do need a couple of scripts open then open a couple of instances.

Glad to hear you're finally using a grown up language ;)

Marc

eccles
19th June 2002 21:14 UTC

It's great that you're working on this again Marc :) Easily the most professional looking NSIS editor I've used.

Just to remind everyone about this utility I wrote to semi-automatically keep up-to-date the syntax highlighting in NSIS Workbench with new releases of NSIS. (Could be modified for other editors too I would guess).

Unusually for a script so old, it compiles cleanly with the latest NSIS without change!

Have fun...

Dave Laundon.

mkeeley
19th June 2002 21:22 UTC

Hello Dave, hope you're keeping well.

Thanks for the link, I hadn't forgotten about it, saves a lot of typing. Had a quick look for it last night but didn't find it (didn't look that hard though).

Won't be any major changes to FNSIS for now, just wanted to try and make sure it works OK with the latest version. Also I expect version 2 of NSIS will move the goal posts, so not much point spending much time on it at the moment.

Marc

mkeeley
20th June 2002 02:10 UTC

I've uploaded an update should sort out the unistall problem. Also includes the cursor follow scrolling option and included the new functions library that SunJammer created.

www.techmarc.co.uk/fnsis.htm

Marc

Sunjammer
20th June 2002 07:04 UTC

Just thought, if you included my new functions library files without modification then anyone running pre v2.0a0 version of NSIS will find that those functions that were removed in 2.0a0 are not present in their function library (my personal copy of the files was intended to give me information on the function set I had to work with see).

Maybe it's all part of a wicked plan to make sure people use the latest version of NSIS !! :igor:

Sunjammer
20th June 2002 14:44 UTC

I noticed while trying to highlight some text that it is not possible to use the left arrow key to move back through the text line by line (i.e. cursor position wraps from beginning of one line to the end of the previous line). For what I was trying to do this isn't a problem, you CAN highlight like this using the mouse.

If this is a very simple thing to implement it would make your editor more user friendly, and standardise it's behaviour. Otherwise forget it - I assume like most people you have other demands on your time that are more important :D

mkeeley
20th June 2002 16:37 UTC

Looks like normal behaviour to me, perhaps I'm mis-understnading. In Also, unfortunately, changing the edit window behaviour is probably too much work.

Marc

Sunjammer
20th June 2002 17:48 UTC

Don't worry about it then, it's not vital ;-)

Just to address your "normal behaviour" comment tho, some programs that work the way I said are :

• * Notepad
  * Visual Studio
  * Wordpad
  * This forums multiline edit boxes
  * Microsoft Word

mkeeley
20th June 2002 18:09 UTC

Oh, I understand what you're saying now. Not sure if I can change it, I'll have a look though.

Marc

AndiG2
22nd June 2002 13:04 UTC

Thanks!
;) Hi Marc,

it's absolutely great you've started working on this again. I've never used any other editor- and would in future :p

Cheers,
Andi

Sunjammer
23rd June 2002 21:50 UTC

Bug
Found a bug. Turn on the "Cursor follows scrolling" then drag the horizontal scroll bar in the edit window. The cursor will move up and down lines as you do so!

mkeeley
23rd June 2002 21:56 UTC

Thanks for letting me know. I'll have a look as soon as I get a spare few minutes and post back to this thread when it's resolved.

Marc