File properties PrivateBuild and SpecialBuild not shown in Vista/Win7 - windows

I'm trying to get some custom info to be seen in the file->properties view of our NSIS installers, mostly who built what when a developer is building an installer on his/her own machine. (For testing, etc)
I thought PrivateBuild and Comments would suit nicely, but they don't show up when viewing File Properties -> Details.
According to this answer by Rong-Chun Zhang (scroll down a bit) these properties aren't shown any more. The workaround is to implement a shell extension, but that seems to be over the top for just some text strings that we need to track.
Adding mercurial rev-hash and build user/computer to versions or description makes the string too long, and line-breaks don't work properly. :(
Any good workarounds?

I guess you just have to accept the fact that Vista/7 are dumbed down compared to XP.
It is possible to check the command line for arguments in NSIS, so perhaps you could add support for a /dumpversion parameter and just open a MessageBox and quit in .onInit

Related

Inno Setup message list somewhere?

Is there an official list of Inno Setup messages like "WinVersionTooLowError" somewhere? I need to change the "This will install AppName on your computer" but don't know how. Thanks!
The default language file should have a complete list, you can view the online CVS version here.
The translation download page contains this note:
Starting with version 5.1.0, the Inno Setup compiler will accept a
translation even if it's missing messages (it will use the default
English messages to replace them) or contains unknown messages.
so you should be able to create a custom English language file that only changes a couple of strings if that is what you want, but it is also possible to override the strings without using language files.
You might also want to take a look at Inno Setup Easy Translator

additional settings for wkhtmltopdf?

I am converting some docs to pdf using wkhtmltopdf (currently using perl and the command line versions). Is it possible to change the "PDF Producer", "PDF Version" and "Fast Web View" fields? The current defaults are "wkhtmltopdf", "1.4 (Acrobat 5.x)", and "No", respectively. I didn't see anything in the wiki page
Pass the following with the command line to see supported features: " --extended-help"
Not sure if those specific params are supported or not.
I patched wkhtmltopdf to support an additional flag recently, and it would be quite easy to add parameters to change those. I don't believe they are supported currently, though.
PDF Producer: Nope. Most apps want folks to know that particular app generated the PDF.
PDF Version: Nope, but trivial. The version number at the beginning of the file is just a courtesy really. What exactly are you after with this? Chances are you don't really need it. The PDF generated isn't going to acquire any features automagically just because the PDF claims to be this version or that. It's only really used so a viewer opening a newer PDF can say something like "I don't support this version, some stuff might not work". Because everything will work regardless (unless someone happens to have a VERY old version of Acrobat/Reader), I don't see the issue.
Fast Web View: Nope, and decidedly non-trivial. "Fast Web View" means everything needed to display the first page of the PDF is sorted to the front of the file, and there are various "hints" on where an app downloading the PDF can find this or that. It's not just a flag, not by a long stretch.
Zero for three. Sorry.

Customize VisualStudio syntax highlighting even more

I am wondering if it is possible to set VisualStudio IDE so it highlights private/protected/public variables of the class differently as well as change formatting on locals (i.e. variables that are either passed in or declared inside a function, like this).
I did not find any such options in the normal Fonts and Colors menu of VS. Also a search on SO reveals that (at least as of 2 years ago) only add-ons provide such features. But is there a way to manually edit some file? Just because we don't get a nice UI to edit, doesn't mean underlying framework automatically doesn't support it. I mean add-ons have to plug into something to do their magic in the editor. Any insights into this issue?
Thanks!
EDIT: I have found the following information on MSDN Syntax Highlighting (Managed Package Framework). But the explanation/examples given are woefully inadequate. Does anyone know of a more extensive docs/tutorials/etc. for MPF?
I could be wrong (probably am) but I think plugins that do what you want replace the default highlighter in Visual Studio, so I don't think there is a file you can edit. As far as I know, you need a plugin. ReSharper might do this...I'm not sure though (I don't use it)

Is OS X Installer package postflight localization supported?

I've created an OS X installer package that includes localized resources (License.html, Readme.html, etc.) In particular, it includes a localized postflight script, since some of the post-install actions differ from language to language; opening a per-language file after the install completes, for example. The package is created as part of an automated build, not through Package Maker.
Originally I used the 'full' locale name as the localized Resource folder name; for example, English.lproj. Everything worked fine. Recently, I switched to the ISO name, i.e. en.lproj, since I discovered that was what Package Maker was using, and this question indicates that form is preferred. Everything worked exactly the same, except that the postflight script is no longer executed.
I did some more testing, and noticed that, even when it works (using the full language name as the name of the folder), it logs this message to the console:
Localized installer script postflight found in the <name> package. Using compatibility mode.
I can find barely any mention of Installer localization in Apple's developer docs, much less anything specific about scripts. Does anyone have experience with this? Is it a bug for it not to work with en.lproj, or was it a bug for it to have worked before?
Things that I don't understand:
If you're not creating these packages with PackageMaker, what are you creating them with?
Why would a postflight script ever need to be localized when conditional logic would almost surely suffice?
It turns out that, no, this is not supported anymore.

What are the most important IDE features missing in Vim?

I have been programming almost exclusively in Vim since 1/1/2001, and I feel that Vim fulfulls all my needs as an editor/IDE, but I can't help but wonder if perhaps there have been some new killer features developed for other IDEs in the last decade that would allow me to be more productive than I can be using Vim. So I ask: What are the most important IDE features missing in Vim??
Integrated debugging with all the fanciness that Visual Studio/Eclipse provide (thread debugging, etc etc)
Autocomplete with inline documentation support for methods/properties
Build and run from 'within' the editor application
I miss the excellent refactoring support and code tips from tools such as Resharper. Regexs are powerful for code modification, but understanding the code as Resharper does is just a tad better IMO.
Fortunately I can get both Resharper and Vim in Visual Studio so I am happy.
The real question is: what do VIM have that IDEs are missing.
I find that refactoring would be a real nice thing to have. Changing a java package name in vim with lots of source files can be pretty cumbersome.
Originally the refactoring was the killer feature that made us switch from Emacs. I have now used Eclipse extensively for Java for the last 6 years, and I expect any replacement to have:
Refactoring: Rename variables, functions, change method signatures (including all calls to it).
Debugging: "You are here" "Your current variables are" plus stuff like "go to the defined class for this object" or "go to the actual type for this object". I belive the latter requires quite a bit of integration between debugger and editor.
Code replacement while debugging. Change code, press Ctrl-S and the code in your debugging session is updated with what you just changed. A killer feature for big programs.
Navigation: Simple navigation of class hierarchy (please show me all implementations of this method in this interface and similar).
Javadoc integration - Eclipse can show javadoc just by hovering the mouse over an identifier.
Plus some more :)
Edit: I occasionally miss the Emacs functionality inside Eclipse, but the Eclipse editor has become stronger so it is not so bad anymore. In this regard the Save Action allowing a Format at every save was a killer. This ensures that changes show up properly in the source repository.
Search in files: In most editors, there is a separate window doing the search in files, and simultaneously editing can continue on the main window. The search results are updated as and when they are found. Also the current results can be viewed by clicking on it, even when the searching is ongoing, without waiting for the entire search to be completed.(whereas in cim one has to wait till vimgrep/ctags has finished to view the results)
This is particularly useful for search in large number of files.
So basically something like a search in background and simultaneously show results which can be clicked on to view them simultaneously.
(something like Microsoft Visual Studio 6.0 does)
The things I missed were code completion and debugging. That's why I started using eclim http://eclim.sourceforge.net/index.html so I could use vim for what it does best and eclipse when I actually need it. Try it out - it's a fantastic combination.
It's like the old question "What's worn under a kilt?"
Answer: "Nothing. Everything's in perfect working order!".
But seriously, I'd like to see a more intuitive (easy to use) help system added to Vim.
There is nothing missing in Vim that an IDE has. The only thing we could argue about is; Vim needs to be customized and IDE comes out of the box.
Let me comment the other answeres and how to solve such "needs".
build
As mentioned, use :make and learn how to customize it.
refactoring
Use the very well known ropevim (for Python), it makes a great reafactoring tool. You won't need more than that. There are many others, search for your language.
Autocompletion
I use this snippet together with mapping to TAB (I think supertab plugin does that)
" python stuff
python << EOF
import os
import sys
import vim
for p in sys.path:
if os.path.isdir(p):
vim.command(r"set path+=%s" % (p.replace(" ", r"\ ")))
EOF
" tags for python libs
set tags+=~/.vim/tags/python.ctags
autocmd FileType python,mako set omnifunc=pythoncomplete#Complete
autocmd FileType html,mako set omnifunc=htmlcomplete#Complete
autocmd FileType html,mako set omnifunc=htmlcomplete#CompleteTags
autocmd FileType mako set filetype=mako.html.js
Help system
in Vim is perfect, you just have to learn it's system. It has it's own conventions how are things organized.
Debugging
I don't know for other languages than Python, but running pdb and !python % does it's job.

Resources