From the original SynthMaker forum (2004–2014), with its members’ names and dates.
trogluddite ·
Hi,
I'm interested in trying to make it easy to re-skin my GUI's. I'd like to have my PNGs all in a folder which is then read when my exe or vst loads up. This folder would then be kept in the same directory as the exe/plugin for easy installation. Would also be nice to save .ini files for people's favourite MIDI settings etc.
After some mucking about, I've come up with using the %CD% system variable to get the filepath of the osm, exe or vst upon loading. (many thanks to DWB for his environment variable module - I'd never have worked out how to do that)
It seems to work OK, I can move a compiled exe to different folders and it seems to always give the right path. However, I'm very shady about how exactly these variables work, and I'm worried that using %CD% (Current Directory) might not be totally reliable (if say, another app is accessing a temp file at the same time). Also, do these variables have consistent names and functions across different windows versions?
I don't want to leave users with a blank screen, after all.
Am I on the right track here, or is there a better way to do this?
The Luddite
aliasant ·
Ok. So you say its working on your system.
What system are you running ? 🙂
exonerate ·
There's a primitive which does exactly this called "Plugin Folder", just use that. 🙂
Cheers 😉
Exo
Tzarls ·
There´s a primitive called "Plugin Folder" that tells you the path of the exe or dll file....why don´t use it instead? 🙂
infuzion ·
exonerate wrote: There's a primitive which does exactly this called "Plugin Folder", just use that.
While that is true, I think this OSM is worth keeping on the HD, since knowing where %TMP% points to can be handy if one has to save a WAV or text file temporarily. Some people put their VSTs on a drive they don't expect to write to often.
aliasant ·
Well.
It didnt work for me with this location: F:\SM Builds 6
Or this one: G:\SM Backup\SM Builds 6
After removing the "6" in "SM Builds 6" it works so.
Numbers in directory names is a nono?
trogluddite ·
Wow, thanks for so many replies! 🙂
aliasant wrote: What system are you running ?
Oops - bit dumb of me to forget that! Using Windows XP Pro SP3.
exonerate wrote: primitive which does exactly this called "Plugin Folder"
Would rather not use this because my project is designed to be used stand alone if possible - I would prefer that even users who don't use VST can still use the exe with no loss of features - also I wanted to see if my alternative was possible just out of curiosity.
aliasant wrote: It didnt work for me with this location: F:\SM Builds 6
This is the most important thing - it is demostrated to be unreliable; I think I will go to plan B, to use the user application data folder, as this can be found reliably and does not move.
Thanks again to you all - I have never before used a forum where people are so generous with their help 😍
The Luddite
trogluddite ·
Got the solution I need now, so thanks again for the help.
[old link]
The Luddite
Tzarls ·
Well, I haven´t checked your schematics yet so I don´t know what method you are using, but I guess you are using temporary text files to get info in and out of SM. If that is the case, I suggest you to test your apps in Windows Vista - 7, becase those OS are very restrictive regarding the permission to write to certain folders. I made a big protection OSM which worked great using W XP and didn´t work at all in Vista.
trogluddite ·
Tzarls wrote: I suggest you to test your apps in Windows Vista - 7
Oh Yes, Microsoft do like to make life easy for us don't they! 😠
Luckily I've got a couple of mates who are braver than I am, who use the new operating systems. I'll buy them a beer or two and enrol them as beta testers.
Your point is well made though; my work around at the moment is to use the user's application data folder - but I don't even know if that exists in Vista/7. I've had such a nightmare with multiple boot partitions in the past, so I'm a bit wary of screwing up my machine - I've got it running loverly at the moment. Should probably just get myself some second hand piece of junk and let Bill Gates & co. loose on that.
The Luddite
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