Question

We currently package Bitfighter for Windows using NSIS, and (sometimes) manually create a separate archive for running the game portably. I’m hoping to streamline the process to make building a portable version easier, thus encouraging us to do it regularly.

The current way we create our portable installs is to install the game normally (using the NSIS-built installer), then zip the install folder, and add a marker file called “portable.” I’d like to bypass the install step, and build the portable archive directly.

The main advantage of combining this with the NSIS installer is that it will streamline the build process, and will allow us to maintain a single list of files to be included.

Has anyone ever done anything like this?

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In the end, I used a variation of the accepted answer, and used NSIS !ifdef directives to build two installers using the same codebase. By specifying /DPORTALBE, I will get a portable installer.

The code can be found in our Google Code repository.

Answer 1

Why not combine the normal and portable modes in one installer?

!define NAME "foobarbaz"
!define UNINSTKEY "${NAME}" ; Using a GUID here is not a bad idea
!define DEFAULTNORMALDESTINATON "$ProgramFiles\${NAME}"
!define DEFAULTPORTABLEDESTINATON "$Desktop\${NAME}"
Name "${NAME}"
Outfile "${NAME} setup.exe"
RequestExecutionlevel highest
SetCompressor LZMA

Var NormalDestDir
Var PortableDestDir
Var PortableMode

!include LogicLib.nsh
!include FileFunc.nsh
!include MUI2.nsh

!insertmacro MUI_PAGE_WELCOME
Page Custom PortableModePageCreate PortableModePageLeave
!insertmacro MUI_PAGE_DIRECTORY
!insertmacro MUI_PAGE_INSTFILES
!insertmacro MUI_PAGE_FINISH
!insertmacro MUI_LANGUAGE English


Function .onInit
StrCpy $NormalDestDir "${DEFAULTNORMALDESTINATON}"
StrCpy $PortableDestDir "${DEFAULTPORTABLEDESTINATON}"

${GetParameters} $9

ClearErrors
${GetOptions} $9 "/?" $8
${IfNot} ${Errors}
    MessageBox MB_ICONINFORMATION|MB_SETFOREGROUND "\
      /PORTABLE : Extract application to USB drive etc$\n\
      /S : Silent install$\n\
      /D=%directory% : Specify destination directory$\n"
    Quit
${EndIf}

ClearErrors
${GetOptions} $9 "/PORTABLE" $8
${IfNot} ${Errors}
    StrCpy $PortableMode 1
    StrCpy $0 $PortableDestDir
${Else}
    StrCpy $PortableMode 0
    StrCpy $0 $NormalDestDir
    ${If} ${Silent}
        Call RequireAdmin
    ${EndIf}
${EndIf}

${If} $InstDir == ""
    ; User did not use /D to specify a directory, 
    ; we need to set a default based on the install mode
    StrCpy $InstDir $0
${EndIf}
Call SetModeDestinationFromInstdir
FunctionEnd


Function RequireAdmin
UserInfo::GetAccountType
Pop $8
${If} $8 != "admin"
    MessageBox MB_ICONSTOP "You need administrator rights to install ${NAME}"
    SetErrorLevel 740 ;ERROR_ELEVATION_REQUIRED
    Abort
${EndIf}
FunctionEnd


Function SetModeDestinationFromInstdir
${If} $PortableMode = 0
    StrCpy $NormalDestDir $InstDir
${Else}
    StrCpy $PortableDestDir $InstDir
${EndIf}
FunctionEnd


Function PortableModePageCreate
Call SetModeDestinationFromInstdir ; If the user clicks BACK on the directory page we will remember their mode specific directory
!insertmacro MUI_HEADER_TEXT "Install Mode" "Choose how you want to install ${NAME}."
nsDialogs::Create 1018
Pop $0
${NSD_CreateLabel} 0 10u 100% 24u "Select install mode:"
Pop $0
${NSD_CreateRadioButton} 30u 50u -30u 8u "Normal install"
Pop $1
${NSD_CreateRadioButton} 30u 70u -30u 8u "Portable"
Pop $2
${If} $PortableMode = 0
    SendMessage $1 ${BM_SETCHECK} ${BST_CHECKED} 0
${Else}
    SendMessage $2 ${BM_SETCHECK} ${BST_CHECKED} 0
${EndIf}
nsDialogs::Show
FunctionEnd

Function PortableModePageLeave
${NSD_GetState} $1 $0
${If} $0 <> ${BST_UNCHECKED}
    StrCpy $PortableMode 0
    StrCpy $InstDir $NormalDestDir
    Call RequireAdmin
${Else}
    StrCpy $PortableMode 1
    StrCpy $InstDir $PortableDestDir
${EndIf}
FunctionEnd



Section
SetOutPath "$InstDir"
;File "source\myapp.exe"

${If} $PortableMode = 0
    WriteRegStr HKLM "Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\${UNINSTKEY}" "DisplayName" "${NAME}"
    WriteRegStr HKLM "Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\${UNINSTKEY}" "UninstallString" '"$INSTDIR\uninstall.exe"'
    WriteUninstaller "$INSTDIR\uninstall.exe"
${Else}
    ; Create the file the application uses to detect portable mode
    FileOpen $0 "$INSTDIR\portable.dat" w
    FileWrite $0 "PORTABLE"
    FileClose $0
${EndIf}
SectionEnd


Section Uninstall
DeleteRegKey HKLM "Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\${UNINSTKEY}"
Delete "$INSTDIR\uninstall.exe"
;Delete "$INSTDIR\myapp.exe"
RMDir "$InstDir"
SectionEnd

Or a simple version with no GUI support:

!include LogicLib.nsh
!include FileFunc.nsh
!include Sections.nsh

Section
SetOutPath "$InstDir"
;File "source\myapp.exe"
SectionEnd

Section "" SID_CREATEUNINSTALLER
WriteRegStr HKLM "Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\${UNINSTKEY}" "DisplayName" "${NAME}"
WriteRegStr HKLM "Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\${UNINSTKEY}" "UninstallString" '"$INSTDIR\uninstall.exe"'
WriteUninstaller "$INSTDIR\uninstall.exe"
SectionEnd

Section Uninstall
;...
SectionEnd

Function .onInit
${GetParameters} $9
ClearErrors
${GetOptions} $9 "/PORTABLE" $8
${IfNot} ${Errors}
    SetSilent silent
    ${If} $InstDir == ""
        StrCpy $InstDir "$Desktop\${NAME}"
    ${EndIf}
    !insertmacro UnselectSection ${SID_CREATEUNINSTALLER}
    SetOutPath $InstDir
    WriteIniStr "$InstDir\Config.ini" "Install" "Portable" "yes" ; Mark as portable install
${EndIf}
FunctionEnd

If you wanted to, you could probably create a setup that can generate the zip file: mysetup.exe /GENERATEPORTABLEPKG=c:\path\to\7z.exe and then the setup would extract the files, use ExecWait to call 7zip and then clean up and exit…