Can't control romcenter start-up path

[TheManuel]

Hello.

I used to have Romcenter installed within "My Documents" rather than "Program Files". At some point while updating versions, I installed in "Program Files" along with the rest of the programs. The problem is that now, every time RC starts, it creates a folder called Romcenter with the ini file there and folders for "datas" and "xml" respectively.

I have edited the ini file to make sure all paths including "DataFilePath" point to the correct romcenter location, which is C:\Program Files\Romcenter but every time I shut RC down, it simply writes to the ini file in "My Documents" and if the folder does not exist, it creates a new one. It can't seem to find the ini file in the same directory as the exe file. It always goes for My Documents wherever it may be.

I have searched thorugh the registry but can't find anything relevant.

Do you have any suggestions?

Thank you.

[RomCenter]

I guess you're using rc3.

In rc3, ini file is searched in the "user/my documents" folder. Simply because windows Vista does not allow anymore to store user datas in "program files" folder.
Can we change the ini location ? Actually, no. Rc does not use the registry, so it needs a default path to look for the ini file.

If it is really a problem to several users, I could add a second 'startup.ini' in the "program files" folder with the location of the main romcenter.ini...

[TheManuel]

Hi and thank you for your answer.

I am indeed using RC3. I would not ask that you provide a feature just for me but hard-coding the location of the ini file to a path that is not the same location as the exe is a little odd, especially if it cannot be changed. How are other applications getting around the Vista problem you describe?
Also, would not adding a second startup.ini file in "program files" be subject to the same exact problem as having the romcenter.ini file in "program files"?

Thanks again.

[Wanderer]

Hi

I had also made similar comments in this thread. I support "%APPDATA%\romcenter" as the folder to store RC's settings (instead of "My Documents") and i would also like to be able to use RC's installation folder to store romcenter.ini.

[RomCenter]

Vista UAC won't allow any modification in the "program files" folder without user confirmation, or administrative rights. That's why a lot of people disable UAC...

This is not a 'vista problem', this is a great security feature. This way, I'm sure no virus or no other programs can modify a romcenter program file.

Other programs use the registry to know where is their data folder.

The creation of a startup.ini is very different that to store the romcenter.ini in 'program files'. This startup.ini will only store the path to the data folder. If you want to change that path, you will have to confirm to vista that you really want to do it. And that's all.
romcenter.ini is updated each time you change a parameter, a window size, so it must be in a free writable path.

AppData or Document path... I choose the document path because the appdata is a hidden path and it is harder to find the databases files there.

[Wanderer]

The creation of a startup.ini is very different that to store the romcenter.ini in 'program files'. This startup.ini will only store the path to the data folder. If you want to change that path, you will have to confirm to vista that you really want to do it. And that's all.
romcenter.ini is updated each time you change a parameter, a window size, so it must be in a free writable path.

Yes i understand, i just proposed this as a workaround to Vista security. I assume the "startup.ini" file will probably be changed once (if one needs to change it he could probably use a text editor) so any security warnings will appear just one time. If he's using Vista, he will have to make sure the data path (stored in "startup.ini") is in a location which will not cause vista to popup security warnings all the time. In XP, one will be able to set the data path anywhere he wants to. That, combined with the use of environment variables would give the user much freedom (for data path at least). It's just a way so that the "Vista" security model will not cause usability issues to older OSs too.

AppData or Document path... I choose the document path because the appdata is a hidden path and it is harder to find the databases files there.

I see. Unfortunately you are not the only one who is forced to do this because of the "hidden" thing. Other developers do that too because of MS stupidity (IMHO). MS is trying to set some standards and by doing one stupid thing, they're pushing the developers to avoid using them (way to go MS)! That's why long ago, i've stopped using "My Documents" to store my data.