SyMenu Forum

Gianluca

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11/06/2019 Topic: can't create program suites Gianluca Administrator	Well I have to tell precisely one thing because I'm suspecting it's not so clear. When you have a certain logical item organization (all under the root, all under categories, all under a folder named accordingly to the suite, all organized with a custom criterion, or a certain mix of the previous scenario, or whatever you can imagine.....) SyMenu won't alter in any way your organization. So why you tell you won't update your programs? SyMenu is able to recognize a program that needs to be updated regardless its logical location. Plus, if you clone a logical item, because you like to have more than one in different logical folders, SyMenu will recognize both of them and update all but won't move them. Your organization is sacred for SyMenu. Instead when you add something new, SyMenu doesn't know where you want it, so it will put it in a certain logical position accordingly with your preferences (button 1 or button 2). Example. I don't like the default categories organization so my strategy is: - I add a new program on the root; - I move it through the configuration form in a suitable logical category folder and sub folder. So feel free to update all your programs because SyMenu won't (logically) move them in any way. edited by Gianluca on 11/06/2019
11/06/2019 Topic: can't create program suites Gianluca Administrator	Usually when you update or force update a program, both from a remote package or from a manually downloaded one (local package), the previous configuration is preserved. The only condition is that you leave the updating task to the SPS Manager form (Get new apps) because it knows how to update/overwrite every program preserving their configurations. If you manual overwrite a program from the file system, you are on your own and further the SPS Manager doesn't know you already updated it. If you have a problem with certain programs loosing their configuration, please let me or the related editor know because it's probably a bug. Anyway to avoid problem, please always backup your programs before updating.
11/06/2019 Topic: can't create program suites Gianluca Administrator	yes, you are missing the simplest thing of all: the automatic update. SyMenu can check if a new version is available and auto update itself with no problem for your program or configuration. There is a native entry called "check for update" that does the job. Anyway, if you want to update it be hand, even if I consider it senseless, overwrite the old package with the downloaded one. The configuration folder (config) and the programs folder (programFiles) are not available in the downloaded package so you can overwrite safely. And please report here the result.
12/06/2019 Topic: can't create program suites Gianluca Administrator	Strange thing. Probably the previous automatic update gone wrong for some reason... Indeed the error is not helping very much. Anyway the important thing is that you update in some way. Regarding your question about the new process, no it's not precisely as you describe and, no, it's not a new process, but it's only the old process with less options. To briefly recap: - you have two options because you can decide that all your new programs will be located on the root OR that all your new programs will be located in a folder whose name is the same of the program category. So you have two options and not only one; - only your NEW programs are moved on the root or into the folder-category. Every old program you update, REMAINS in its own folder.
14/06/2019 Topic: Changing Start button icon/logo Gianluca Administrator	Sure there is. Read the manual at Customization for publishers: https://www.ugmfree.it/SyMenuManual.aspx#Customization edited by Gianluca on 14/06/2019
14/06/2019 Topic: Changing Start button icon/logo Gianluca Administrator	Yes it's the expected behavior. Anyway you can resize your image to avoid the cut.
20/06/2019 Topic: Very light outer lines in configuration menus Gianluca Administrator	Well SyMenu already has a limited theme editor but it's only effective for the contextual menu. But probably you've already used that. I could extend the selected theme to the regular forms too but, since it's a huge job, I would like to understand if having a consistent theme across all the application is an valuable thing for others users too. Unfortunately I'm the only dev here and every feature I implement, steals time to the others.
20/06/2019 Topic: ScreentoGif - New release! Version 2.17.1 Gianluca Administrator	Thank you for your report. You'll find the update tomorrow.
20/06/2019 Topic: Very light outer lines in configuration menus Gianluca Administrator	Ok understood. Now the borders for the different objects are a #E0E0E0 color. I can change it with an #CDCDCD without loosing anything of the general program appearance. Do you think it could be enough?
20/06/2019 Topic: Very light outer lines in configuration menus Gianluca Administrator	Ok then. Consider it done for the next version. And may the force be with you and your eyes!
21/06/2019 Topic: Very light outer lines in configuration menus Gianluca Administrator	Well naturally I can make any SyMenu detail customizable. The only question I always ask myself is the real usefulness of this, but it seems that the form customization is considered very useful these days Probably the color change I proposed is not the ideal solution. Nor for the consistency of the form style (BTW I like this plain and essential style but I understand is not the best one for clearness), neither for a more evidence of the form edges, and your suggestion could be a better one but again is not THE solution. So I probably need to return to my previous solution: user customization for the forms too and not only for the contextual menu. I have to think how to implement this feature but I hope to find one solution suitable to any needs.
21/06/2019 Topic: Was v6.08 released prematurely? Gianluca Administrator	Wow you won the prize for the most complex and long message. It's very difficult to reply to this kind of messages so please forgive me if I won't be clear enough or complete. "I tried to install the complete suite" You are not the first one to do that but I still don't understand why... Do you really need 1.300 programs...??? "There seem to be different reasons for different portable tools why they could not be installed" Yes you're right. SyMenu doesn't count on a single hosting place for all its programs but it prefers to use the original web sites where the programs are published. It's quite normal that a decentralized system like this is unreliable. A web site could be down for maintenance, could be black listed by your AV software, could be slow to reply, could have been reorganize since the last visit I and the other editors did. And, yes, the problems usually arise after the last update we did. "May somebody explain how to handle the observed problems?" Timeout: please retry again. 404 not found: report to the SPS editor through the special button you have in every program card. 403 forbidden: try to open the download link with your browser to understand if your system is refusing to access that particular resource or if the web site refuses to download the package without visiting it (yes... it happens). Check available disk space and permission...: do what the message is asking you. A good workaround for any of these problems is to download the package by hand (you have the link in the program card) and use the contextual option "Add from local package". "Sourceforge timeout" "Why do some tools download of a mirror while others try to download of the main repository" "Are those mirrors hardcoded into SPS by the SPS maintainers or does SPS perform a selection" "Repeated download created timeout" Yes I confirm the timeout problem and I don't know why it happens. But I can ensure you that if you try another time the timeout disappears. There is not an answer. Probably the SPS editor decided for a mirror when he reviews the program the first time. Hardcoded. Nice assumption, probably true. But who cares? Sourceforge is only one of our hosting repositories, it's currently responsible for 100 programs that are less than 10% of all the programs in the SyMenu Suite. The only case when you repeatedly ask it to download something is when you download the entire suite and you did it once in a life or less. I can't judge the Sourceforge policies but if you insist a bit trying again, you'll get what you want, so these policies are not so strict. "The AV causes timeout" When an AV stops a download SyMenu can't do anything else than declaring the timeout but it can't know why the timeout has happened. The AV could be one of the causes but the lack of connectivity can be another. What can you do for this? I really don't know. If your AV refuses a program, trust your AV, change it, or create an exception for that program. "Some tools fail to download as the download gets refused by the repository specified in SPS!" Please report the failing download to the SPS editor. We can change the repository or exclude the program from the suite. On your side, you can download the package with your browser and proceed with the local package installation. "Some tools fail to download as the file or folder specified in SPS doesn't exist (anymore?)." Yes, anymore. At the time of the program review, it existed, now probably the internal package structure has changed. Please report it to the editor. "Some tools fail to download as the URL specified in SPS could (no longer ?) be resolved by Internet DNS!" Yes, no longer. Probably the hosting web site is dead. Please report it to the editor. "Then there are still time outs for other tools where I don't yet have any hint for the reason." Try not to go too deep in this. The Internet is a strange and dangerous place, the connection can be slowed down, thwarted, killed, twisted, hided, diverted, hijacked.... My advise: take a coffee and retry in another moment. "the downloaded package is in zip-format but unpacking resulted in error" Please report it. Probably the package has changed from the last SPS update. OK, I finished. I hope some of your doubts are solved now. It is really important now, that I resume the concept behind the SPS system because the way we describe it in this thread, is terrible... it seems a system designed by a kindergarten child. The SPS system is a terrific way to re-order the chaos we have to deal with the Internet. My initial idea was to create something similar to the Google Play Store but dedicated to the portable freeware software for Windows. Unfortunately, I'm not Google and my resources are very limited so instead of a centralized hosting repository I decided to create a de-centralized one, counting on the hundreds of web sites that publish freeware software. This architecture is by definition very fragile, I'd say a 10% failure is physiological, and really difficult to maintain. BTW thanks to all the SPS editors that help me in this crazy job. But guys, the result is amazing. We are managing 1.300 programs, giving the SyMenu users the opportunity to install, update, remove them with one click. Maybe it's not the Google Play Store I initially dreamed but there is no other project that comes near to these numbers and this is enough for me to consider it a success. edited by Gianluca on 21/06/2019
24/06/2019 Topic: SyMenu package manager eror in SPS editor contact Gianluca Administrator	The SPS documentation recommends to put any email address in the form of: mailto:abc@def.gh So no bug here but only a little oversight by the SPS author. Refresh you SPS definition to find the revision.
24/06/2019 Topic: SyMenu package manager eror in SPS editor contact Gianluca Administrator	chef wrote: What's wrong with this forum software configuration? This forum software configuration doesn't seem to work as expected neither in preview nor when submitting You simply misunderstood the documentation. You wrote (img)symenu.contact.20190623.png(/img) because "symenu.contact.20190623.png" is the name of your attached image but you have to write a logical name instead: (img)att1(/img) and for your second image: (img)att2(/img) Please note that in my examples I'm using "(" instead of the correct "[" to avoid the forum interpretation, but you need to use the square brackets.
24/06/2019 Topic: Bug resp. limitation in new VirusTotal integration Gianluca Administrator	It simply means that the editor hasn't reviewed its SPS yet.
24/06/2019 Topic: The SPS scripting engine Gianluca Administrator	The dependencies release with a certain package is not our business. As SPS editors we release the packages as they are released from their authors. Since the AutoIT major is still stuck on the 3.3.14.5 (https://www.autoitscript.com/site/autoit-script-editor/downloads/) I can't update it or update one of its dependency (SciTE). If in your opinion a separate SPS package for SciTE is needed you can try to create it by your own and eventually share it with the community. I'm always open to new SPS editor and always available to help the newbie!
24/06/2019 Topic: Was v6.08 released prematurely? Gianluca Administrator	chef wrote: I can now further provide feed back that the forum software feature preview isn't the kind of preview I'm used to of forum software. The preview looks quite different as it does not preprocess every markup used! It does not use markup of quotes! Is this a bug of the forum software or a known limitation of the trial version? It's a know limitation of the forum software (trial or full).
24/06/2019 Topic: Was v6.08 released prematurely? Gianluca Administrator	chef wrote: Decentralisation provides methods for increasing reliability. ...only when every node of the decentralized system is aware that is part of a centralized system. In my case every hosting web site is not aware it is part of the SPS decentralized system so it can: - go off-line; - change its structure; - change its links; - change its policies on automatic download; - implement redirects that break something. and os on. So this kind of decentralized system is unreliable by definition.
24/06/2019 Topic: Was v6.08 released prematurely? Gianluca Administrator	chef wrote: Then I wanted to report it to SPS editor. This revealed the next bug. Clicking on the corresponding option opens a new tab in the web broswer. But the opening page is a web error page I contacted the editor to ask him to re-activate the contact form. chef wrote: Create a free contact form for your website! Sorry no time for this, the priority is SyMenu not the web site. chef wrote: When did you try the last time to contact SPS editor by means of SyMenu? I never get in touch with the editors through SyMenu. I have their emails. chef wrote: SyMenu reports me that VVV_Easy_SyMenu is SPS editor while the URL of the error page suggests that vvv-easy is the name of that editor. How may I contact him resp. her? Please wait, he usually fixes anything wrong in a really fast way. I'll keep you updated on this. EDIT: The editor replies that he is unavailable for a few days. So we have to wait for a while for the fix. chef wrote: And here you see another bug resp. limitation of this forum feature as I don't have any influence on font size. It's a side effect of quoting off different sources and how the forum software handles it. I can only influence style like bold, italics or underlined as far as I can see. Again with the forum... I can't correct the forum bugs because I'm not the forum author. IMHO it's a good software, it's free, it's easy to use, it's compatible with the platform I'm using for the web site, it it's bugged it's not so bugged to be unusable, and I have not time to create a forum software by myself. So please try to workaround all the bugs of this bad software and don't report them to me. edited by Gianluca on 24/06/2019
24/06/2019 Topic: Was v6.08 released prematurely? Gianluca Administrator	chef wrote: The best option would be that SPS allows such a mirror list [of download URL] and SPS editors use it This could be a nice feature above all if your considerations about the SourceForge limitation policies against repeated download is true. Can you supply some official documentation regarding this limitations? I don't think a limitation like this can be kept secret because otherwise they'll start to have bug reports from their unaware users.