All-In-One-Installer and parts paths

[Don Heyse]

So, this lpub/lsynth parts path issue made me realize I have Windows 7 now and can test the All In One Installer. So I did.

I picked everything but POV. That made it search in vain for some POV ini files to make lgeo happy, or something like that. Probably should give a warning that LGEO isn't much use without POV, but whatever.

Anyhow, I noticed the installer added registry entries for LDView and MLCad so they could find the official parts, and there was even a path to the lsynth parts for LDView in the registry. However the ldglite install was useless out of the box because the installer didn't create an ldraw.ini file in the Windows directory. Just to be sure, I made one like this and it worked.

C:\Windows>type ldraw.ini
[LDraw]
BaseDirectory="C:\Program Files\LDraw"

Would it be possible to add this to the installer?

Or would it be better to update ldglite to use the LDView registry entries to find the parts? (especially considering Microsoft has made it more difficult create an ldraw.ini file in the Windows directory in in recent versions of Windows)

By the way, does LDView use the generic ldrawini code, an enhanced version, or something else?

Don

[Willy Tschager]

Don Heyse Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I picked everything but POV. That made it search
> in vain for some POV ini files to make lgeo happy,
> or something like that. Probably should give a
> warning that LGEO isn't much use without POV, but
> whatever.

The search is performed in case you haven't picked POV, 'cos POV is already on your disc. Since I cannot know why you haven't picked POV, but want to make sure everything works in case POV is installed, the search is performed anyway. I have grouped POV and LGEO now the way I have grouped LDView and its Prefsets. Hopefully this gives some clues.

> Anyhow, I noticed the installer added registry
> entries for LDView and MLCad so they could find
> the official parts, and there was even a path to
> the lsynth parts for LDView in the registry.
> However the ldglite install was useless out of the
> box because the installer didn't create an
> ldraw.ini file in the Windows directory. Just to
> be sure, I made one like this and it worked.
>
> C:\Windows>type ldraw.ini
>
> BaseDirectory="C:\Program Files\LDraw"
>
> Would it be possible to add this to the installer?
>
> Or would it be better to update ldglite to use the
> LDView registry entries to find the parts?
> (especially considering Microsoft has made it more
> difficult create an ldraw.ini file in the Windows
> directory in in recent versions of Windows)

It's up to you. If you send me a fine .ini I can add that. Installer software is gained almost full access once you have told the UAC that you trust the setup exe. The only cons I can think of is: Yet-another-file, while I already have a script in place that adds a link to LDGLite's home page, in case you've ticked its checkbox. Adding a reg-entry could therfore be done in a wink of an eye. Consider also that the AIOI adds a system variable named "LDRAWDIR", containing the path to the LDraw folder to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, "SYSTEM\\CurrentControlSet\\Control\\Session Manager\\Environment

used by the MLCad.ini for the unofficial part paths

> By the way, does LDView use the generic ldrawini
> code, an enhanced version, or something else?

Not that I would know. The AIOI adds a REG_SZ named "LDrawDir" containing the app-path to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER, "Software\\Travis Cobbs\\LDView

w.

[Don Heyse]

Hmm, maybe this is a Windows 7 thing. The environment variable LDRAWDIR in

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, "SYSTEM\\CurrentControlSet\\Control\\Session Manager\\Environment

worked, but only after a reboot. I could swear on XP all I had to do was open a new command prompt window to see new environment variables. Oh well.

Anyhow, with the LDRAWDIR environment variable working there's no need to create an ldraw.ini file in the AIOI.