Portable version

[bestpika]

I found that the app only needs a few files to work, is it possible to release the official portable version?

[zumoshi]

Hello,
It does only need a few files. If dll dependencies get embedded and config file set to be in the same folder as opposed to AppData could even be a single .exe with a .conf file.
However, the main reason I didn't release it as a portable installation is that the app is only useful if added as the default browser of the system which happens during installation. Doing this manually is hard. Even if we make the app do this on the first launch, what happens if you put it on a USB stick and remove it? The system won't have a default browser and would throw an error when you try to open a link.
Not to mention its config is the list of browsers and rules, which may be different on each PC. What happens if you add a rule to open x.com on firefox, then move the USB stick to a PC that doesn't have Firefox installed?

Could you explain your use case that requires BrowserSelect to be portable?

[bestpika]

I don't like to install software, I like to use the portable version of the app.
This allows me to better manage the applications that are on my computer.
And in Windows 10, if the default browser is removed, the system will prompt you and let you change the default browser.

[MailYouLater]

This would be really cool, but as Zumoshi stated, it should have a method of handling what happens when the drive it's in is removed.

My first thought was that when not installed _{^{(portable mode)}} a stub exe with a minimal config file _{^{(to store portable BrowserSelect location and previous default settings)}} could be 'installed' to act as the default browser and forward requests to the actual BrowserSelect exe, then if it gets called and can't find the location of the portable BrowserSelect exe _{^{(as stored in the minimal config file)}} it would restore the previous default browser settings, forward the request to the default browser, and delete itself along with its config file.

I really like the above basic concept, but then I remembered that the main BrowserSelect exe is pretty small... perhaps small enough, that _{^{(after adding the ability to interpret the minimal config file mentioned above)}} a copy of it could be used instead of making a separate stub exe. This not only makes it so you don't need to develop another small program, but also opens up the possibility of making it so that if the portable installation of BrowserSelect is missing, it could not only restore the previous browser defaults, but instead offer both the option to restore the previous browser defaults, or to do a full _{^{(non-portable)}} install on the computer, in case the user used it portably to try it out, then decided that they want to install it permanently on the computer.

Perhaps the last bit about making it so that the portable version's leftovers can perform a full install isn't feasible, but I'm fairly certain the rest is, and I would love to be able to use it portably like this.

[nepravelniy]

If we're gonna talk about it, I'm gonna speak up too
it is practical to use the BS as a browser launcher. let's say you have a flash drive with BT in the root, and in the directories there are different types of files. it is also convenient to write paths to them and open browsers through a single shortcut. im actually where using another software this way and was looking for alternative for my thumb drive