Feature Request - FARR Alias install commandline switch

[justice]

Problem
Currently it's up to the user to install aliases, and the folder in which they should install them in different depending on the OS and the type of alias (should it be editable or not by the user). From the help file:

These .alias files are located in the AliasGroups\ subdirectory of FARR, and are further broken up into AliasGroups\Installed and AliasGroups\MyCustom.

On my Windows 7 64bit machine, the AliasGroups folder is not there but in C:\Users\<username>\Documents\DonationCoder\FindAndRunRobot\AliasGroups and the MyCustom folder did not exist.

Now when a third party supplies an alias to enable FARR to use the third party tool, the install will have to give instructions for the user for the correct operating system, plus a series of steps to know where the alias is stored after installation and where it should be manually copied to (and extracted, because there are usually icons and other related files).


Feature
I'm requesting a feature for FARR (based on discussions in the IRC chatroom) for FARR to install aliases for the user in the correct folder, using commandline switches. Third-party tools, can then simply read the registry key and call farr:

 (64bit)

Code: Text [Select]

1. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Find and Run Robot_is1\InstallLocation

 (32bit - needs confirmation)

Code: Text [Select]

1. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Find and Run Robot_is1\InstallLocation

Implementation proposal
The alias should be zipped but the extension renamed to .AliasZip, (with the extension registered to farr) so that one can install the alias by double clicking.

The Zip file should contain a folder called either MyCustom or Installed, with inside that a folder with the name of the alias (example) containing icons and the alias etc.


Example
With the feature FARR will extract the alias in a temporary folder, and then copy it to the right location, and refresh the aliases-list in FARR with the following code:

Code: Text [Select]

1. FindAndRunRobot.exe /installAlias "Path\To\Example.AliasZip"

Feedback welcome.

[ewemoa]

The general idea of getting FARR's help to install aliases sounds good to me -- as in, I'd like that!


I understand it may be helpful for 3rd party applications to be able to locate FARR's executable, but I'd prefer to be able to opt-out of registry changes so I hope the PORTABLE=TRUE setting for FARR will allow for that possibility.  


On a related note, as a not-as-bullet-proof option for locating FARR's executable, I wonder if for many FARR users, FARR tends to be running most of the time.  In such a case, is it not possible to locate that FARR exe path programmatically?  I think this can be with the likes of GetModuleFileNameEx.  See for example, the following:

  http://www.autohotkey.com/forum/topic44752.html

However, this wouldn't work as well for the case where someone is using more than one FARR at a time (I used to ).


Is this a good place to ask for the ability to be able to drag-and-drop alias / plugin zip files on to FARR's windows in order to install them?

[cranioscopical]

Feedback welcome.

-justice (January 17, 2012, 06:52 AM)

I think mouser should consider renaming FARR to HAR, i.e. Hunt the Alias Robot. 

Kidding aside, I think you make a good point.