Compiling The Launcher

Now the script is ready, we should compile it and the portable version of MNK is ready. However, we have to extract the icon from the main exe first. To do this, launch “extraico.exe” from “ToolsIcons from File” directory. It is a very simple application, just drag and drop “MyNotesKeeper.exe” from “C:Portable My Notes KeeperAppdata” directory to its window. Two icons appears in extraico.exe’s window.

The first looks very attractive, select it and click on the second icon on the toolbar, then select “Save selected” (or Ctrl+S). Save it to “C:Portable My Notes KeeperSource” with name “Portable My Notes Keeper.ico”.

It is important that the name of the .ico and the name of the .nsi files should be the exactly the same, or you won’t be able to compile the script. So in “Source” directory you should have these two files:

Portable My Notes Keeper.nsi

Portable My Notes Keeper.ico

Also, the third line in the .nsi file should be !define SNAME “Portable My Notes Keeper”. If you get error when compiling with NSIS, you should check if these names are the same first.

Okay, everything is in its desired location, let’s build up the launcher exe. Open “makeNSISw.exe” from directory “ToolsNSIS 2.17″. Drag and drop “Portable My Notes Keeper.nsi” file from directory “C:Portable My Notes KeeperSource” into this window. If everything goes fine, the last line in the NSIS window should be (values may differ, of course):

Using zlib compression.

EXE header size: 36864 / 34816 bytes

Install code: 654 / 2890 bytes

Install data: 8302 / 30728 bytes

Total size: 45820 / 68434 bytes (67.0%)

If there was an error during compiling, check what NSIS says about the error. There is always a line number when NSIS encounters an error. Go to your script and check that line. Maybe it’s just a mistyping or a missing or extra quotes. But if you’ve followed my instructions properly and I didn’t make any mistake, you should find a “Portable My Notes Keeper.exe” in directory “C:Portable My Notes Keeper”.

Now do some testing to see if it works and how it works. If the program MNK won’t start, check if everything is okay in line containing ExecWait in the .nsi file. If it starts up, go to the About box and see if it is registered. You have to re-compile the exe if you modified something in the script, of course.

One common mistake is that one can think that if a program starts up and says it is registered, it works well also. That’s not true. You have to test if every function of the software is working properly. So, in this case, create a new note in MNK (File-New), write something in it, insert a picture, change settings in the options, save it, restart it, so make everything you can to test it thoroughly. Test it on at least 2 or 3 clean PC’s to ensure that it works as expected. There’s always a possibility that something is left on your PC after the uninstallation of the software, that’s why you have to test it on other PC’s also.

Of course, you cannot test everything but you should try to test your portable as much as you can to ensure that it is working good.

If everything is OK, then congratulations! You’ve just made your first portable! Below is your well-deserved gift. Enjoy!

Now only one thing is left: examining what happens if a local installation is present on the PC. It may seem not so important now that you’ve just compiled the launcher successfully but if you want to create a really good portable, you should take care of the host computer’s health also.