Registered: Sep 2005
From: Germany

NSISList: Simple List Plugin

Hello

I have created a very simple List plugin, namely NSISList.

Well, I know there already is NSISArray, but find it a bit complex to use.
Also coding myself makes more fun than using existing plugins

Currently only one instance (one list at a time) is supported.
And it's not documented yet, although the example should be self-explaining.

Bug reports welcome...

Edit (Afrow UK):
Attachment removed. Download from http://nsis.sourceforge.net/NSISList_plug-in#Download.

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Registered: Jun 2007
From: Otrokovice, Czech Republic

Why do we need another plugin as there is NSISArray?

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Registered: Mar 2006
From: Ath. GR

As far I can say, this appears pretty different than nsis array, but even if there's not noticeable difference I prefer to have more than one options.

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Registered: Apr 2006
From: Somewhere in Germany

@LoRd_MuldeR

Call it Alpha as long as it isn't feature complete.

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Registered: Sep 2005
From: Germany

Okay, I have added support for multiple lists. You can now create as many lists as you like. Each list is created with a (unique) name and you can use this name to access the list later. Also the missing "Insert" operation has been added, so you can insert items at a specified position now...

Edit (Afrow UK):
Attachment removed. Download from http://nsis.sourceforge.net/NSISList_plug-in#Download.

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Registered: Sep 2005
From: Germany

Sorry, just found a bug in the "Insert" operation. Inserting with an improper index could cause the installer to crash! Now the index will be clipped to the bounds of the list, so inserting with an invalid index won't cause crash anymore.

See the example for details...

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Registered: Mar 2006
From: Ath. GR

That's an absolutely interesting plugin my Lord and it's getting better as I can see.

When I'll have time, I will try to implement it with
Advanced Uninstall Log, it seems it would eliminate the disadvantage of throwing the list several times.

Nice job whatsoever

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Registered: Sep 2005
From: Germany

Thanks for your reply

1. Added "Index" command to return the index of an item
2. Added "AllRev" command to push all items onto the stack, in reverse order
3. Moved the includes to a separate file
4. Added a "Torture Test" for NSISList

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Registered: Sep 2005
From: Germany

Added "Load" and "Save" to load/save a list directly from a plain text file.
See the example installer...

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Registered: Sep 2005
From: Germany

Right another update: I re-enabled single instance support. So if you don't want to mess around with several lists, you can simply use the "default" list now. This list is identified with an empty string "", it doesn't need to be created and it cannot be destroyed. The default list will be created implicitly when then plugin is loaded and it will be destroyed automatically when the plugin is unloaded.

See the example installer, as always...

Last edited by LoRd_MuldeR on 07-10-2008 at 10:46 PM

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Registered: Sep 2005
From: Germany

I think it should be feature complete now: Added "Set" (change value of existing item), "Exch" (exchange two items by their indexes) and "Move" (move item by it's index). Also some code clean-up was done. In case no major bugs are discovered, I'd call that one finished. Writing some docs now...

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Registered: Sep 2005
From: Germany

First attempt to create some docs

Attachment: nsislist.txt
This has been downloaded 143 time(s).

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Registered: Sep 2005
From: Germany

Final version has been released on the Wiki page:
http://nsis.sourceforge.net/NSISList_plug-in

Have fun

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Registered: Mar 2006
From: Ath. GR

Nice job LoRd_MuldeR, and the docs too. Would be somehow possible to decrease the dll size?

edit: sorry, I forgot the obvious THANKS!

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Registered: Sep 2005
From: Germany

quote:

---

Originally posted by Red Wine
Would be somehow possible to decrease the dll size?

---

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Registered: Sep 2005
From: Germany

Uhm, Lazarus fails at one of the NSIS API functions

Error message is "project1.lpr(61,25) Error: Illegal qualifier"

code:
function PopString(): string;
var
  th: pstack_t;
begin
  if integer(g_stacktop^) <> 0 then begin
    th := g_stacktop^;
    Result := PChar(@th.text); // <- ERROR HERE !!!
    g_stacktop^ := th.next;
    GlobalFree(HGLOBAL(th));
  end;
end;

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Registered: Mar 2006
From: Ath. GR

Okay!
I guess you may overcome the 100 kb limit if you split your package
I'm testing the examples right now... I'd say you should change the name to Advanced List Plugin to get closer

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Registered: Sep 2005
From: Germany

I just tinkered with the code and I actually made it compile with Lazarus. The resulting DLL was more than 1 MB in size! Either my Lazarus compiler settings are completely wrong or it creates even bigger binaries than Delphi. Also the DLL crashed with my example installer. That most probably is because I modified the API code wrongly...


Splitting a 200 KB file

I'll keep on an external mirror then

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Registered: Sep 2005
From: Germany

Removed the compiled examples from the download, now it's 61 KB in size
http://nsis.sourceforge.net/NSISList_plug-in#Download

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Registered: Sep 2005
From: Germany

NSISList Plugin (2008-07-16)
This update adds Map support to the NSISList plugin

The map is implemented in the header file, using only native List functions.
See the "Examples\NSISList\NSISList_Map.nsi" for info!

http://nsis.sourceforge.net/NSISList_plug-in#Download

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Registered: Jun 2007
From: Otrokovice, Czech Republic

Just curious - why do you use Lazarus? Isn't Delphi more "windows native"?

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Registered: Sep 2005
From: Germany

quote:

---

Originally posted by pospec
Just curious - why do you use Lazarus? Isn't Delphi more "windows native"?

---

I don't use Lazarus

In fact I own a copy of Delphi 7 Professional and I use it for all my projects.
One problem with Delphi is, that it creates huge DLL/EXE files, compared to plain C.
Well, Delphi's standard library is really nice, but it's not "lightweight" at all.

I tried Lazarus in the hope it will produce a smaller DLL, but the opposite was the case!
It produced a file bigger than 1 MB, Delphi's DLL was only ~100 KB in size.

On the one hand, 100 KB still is pretty big for such a simple plugin!
On the other hand, we live in the Mircosoft.NET time now

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Last edited by LoRd_MuldeR on 07-16-2008 at 12:39 PM

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Registered: Sep 2005
From: Germany

Okay, if I strip the Lazarus DLL then it's only 150 KB in size
Well, that's still bigger than Delphi's DLL so I'll stick to Delphi for compiling!

Nevertheless the sources for Lanczos are included in the download.
Hopefully somebody can fix them to work...

Having an alternative compiler can never be wrong

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Registered: Jun 2007
From: Otrokovice, Czech Republic

Hi LoRd_MuldeR again!

Map implemetation is nice. However, I'd like to have more functions (simillar to List object - e.g. Count, First, Last and so on).

Do you think that you'll add these functionalities or should I DIY?

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Registered: Jun 2007
From: Otrokovice, Czech Republic

Another question - documentation reads following:
${List.Unload} (...) This function will unload the NSISList plugin, destroy ALL lists including all of their items and release all memory used by NSISList.

Do I have to call List.Destroy then? It seems that calling List.Unload once for an instance is enough.

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Registered: May 2009
From:

Thanks for this plugin, the map support is very useful.

I just have a couple of queries/requests.

Firstly, is there a way I can get this plugin to send error messages to a variable instead of displaying a message box.

Secondly, is there a way I can test to see if a map is already created. I create one in a function that needs to be available in other functions, but if a page is returned to it tries to recreate the map which causes an error box to appear.

If there is a way to do the first thing I guess that would solve the second thing as I could just check the error message after calling create.

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Registered: Sep 2005
From: Germany

quote:

---

Originally posted by pospec
Hi LoRd_MuldeR again!

Map implemetation is nice. However, I'd like to have more functions (simillar to List object - e.g. Count, First, Last and so on).

Do you think that you'll add these functionalities or should I DIY?

---

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