Download EduApps User Manual

EduApps User Manual
NDCO Project 2010
Introduction to Portable Applications
A portable application (portable app) is a computer software program that is able to
run independently, without the need to install files to the system it is run upon.
Portable Applications run from external devices, most commonly USB thumb, flash,
pen or stick drives.
They are commonly used on a removable storage device such as a USB flash
drive, flash card or floppy disk. Portable apps should not be confused with software
portability where software allows its source code to be compiled for different
computing platforms.
Portable applications can be run on any computer system with which they are compatible but typically require a specific
operating system such as MS Windows XP (or above), certain versions of a Linux distribution code or on MAC OS.
These can be desktop, laptop, notebook or netbook style computing devices.
Portable software is typically designed to be able to store its configuration information and data on the storage media
containing its program files (i.e. the device upon which the program is stored – most commonly being a USB drive of
some description).
The main advantage is that the required software that a user needs is always available and does not need to be preinstalled. The software application can be used anywhere and at anytime on host computers running the required
operating system.
Some commercial Portable Apps of assistive technologies are available for purchase as commercially available solutions
– with many other freeware and open source programs available at no cost to the user.
How a Portable App Works
‘A portable application does not leave its files or settings on the host computer. Typically this means that
the application does not write to the MS Windows registry or store its configuration files (such as an INI
file) in the user's profile; instead, it stores its configuration files in the program's directory. Another
requirement is that file paths can change on changing computers, at least drive letter is different for most
systems, this means that application should store file paths in relative format. While some applications
have options to support this behaviour, many programs are not designed to do this. A common technique
for such programs is the use of a launcher program to copy necessary settings and files to the host
computer when the application starts and moves them back to the application's directory when it closes.
An alternative strategy for achieving application portability within MS Windows, without requiring
application source code changes, is application virtualisation: An application is "sequenced" or
"packaged" against a runtime layer that transparently intercepts its file system and registry calls and then
redirects these to other persistent storage without the application's knowledge. This approach leaves the
application itself unchanged, yet portable.’
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_apps
EduApps - AccessApps; TeachApps; LearnApps; MyApps; MyStudyBar, MyVisBar
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