Legolash2o

To improve Win Toolkit greatly and also a learning experience for me. I've decide do redo all exception handling, error boxes, log saving and uploading. I've been wanting to do this for a very long time as there has been a long standing issue when uploading error logs, which has affected about 95% of uploaded error logs. Basically the log file has weird ASCII characters, squares, etc... Which makes it unreadable.

This issue of course helps nobody but rewriting it is a huge task! A lot of it will be backend code so you shouldn't really notice it. So now you're probably wondering how the changes will affect you. So here are the improvements I will be implementing.

NOTE: No personal information is sent in logs. Just details about the computer hardware and the error details.

Your benefits:
Exceptions will be shown in YOUR language but when uploading and writing to a file. It will also add English if possible. This means in your log file, it will show both languages. Error logs file name will start with version number and then a unique error number. Easier to find a specific error.
  My benefits:
Uploaded error logs will be uploaded in both languages so I can understand it. Upload logs will start with the unique identifier so that all errors which are the same will be group together. This will save me HUGE amount of time. Get rid of useless logs which help nobody  
Other Changes:
Better log layout  Error logs will automatically upload in the background there and then rather than at close. I may add a balloon tip near the clock to show when one has been uploaded/saved. Uploading will upload the string directly rather than the text file which is where most things of wrong with the characters. It's a huge task and I will be dedicating tonight to get it done. The biggest change you will notice is that exceptions will be shown in your language and bugs will get fixed quicker!

Any questions, small requests or suggestions for this?
 
Stage 1 (Done):
Make new abstract class and efficient methods to get the job done. Record relevant details to help solve errors. Record more exception details such as stacktrace. BIG: Make logs readable from any language. Have a simple code to know which bugs are big, small or unhandled errors. Automatically give similar errors a unique ID so all the same bugs are grouped together. Show exceptions in user language. Stage 2 (W.I.P):
Gradually upgrade old error messages into new ones with more detail Show more information to user by clicking a more detail button.

As part of my final year project (if approved). I will be focusing a lot on threading. Currently Win Tookit uses background workers with apparently are bad for performance.
 
I've been experimenting and here are some results compare the current method used by Win Toolkit and a new method.
 
Parallel will also use more CPU cores and I will let you choose in Options how many you want to use. By default it would be ProcressorCount - 1, so if you have a quad core with hyperthreading (8), it will use 7 by default.
 
Test 1: The test was to get the MD5 values for 1300+ MSU files.
--------------------------------------------
Not Updating GUI:-
Current: 19270ms (19 seconds)
New: 5499ms (5.4 seconds)
350% speed increase!
 
When updating the GUI:-
Current: 38417ms (38.4 seconds)New: 9576ms (9.5 seconds)
401% speed increase! 
--------------------------------------------
Test 2: The test was to get the MD5 values for 55652 files.
 
Not Updating GUI:-
Current: 466165ms (466 seconds / 7.7 minutes)
New: 4943ms (4.9 seconds / 0.082 minutes)
 
9430% speed increase!
 
When updating the GUI:- 
Current: 500754ms (501 seconds / 8.34 minutes) (testing....)New: 13334ms (13.3 seconds / 0.22 minutes)
 
3755% speed increase!
 
-----------------------------------------------------------
The results so far look very promising!
 
Imagine integrating EVERY gadget, EVERY wallpaper, EVERY custom files, EVERYTHING except Updates + Drivers being integrated at the same time as everything else.
 
I'm still continuing my research...

To improve Win Toolkit greatly and also a learning experience for me. I've decide do redo all exception handling, error boxes, log saving and uploading. I've been wanting to do this for a very long time as there has been a long standing issue when uploading error logs, which has affected about 95% of uploaded error logs. Basically the log file has weird ASCII characters, squares, etc... Which makes it unreadable.

This issue of course helps nobody but rewriting it is a huge task! A lot of it will be backend code so you shouldn't really notice it. So now you're probably wondering how the changes will affect you. So here are the improvements I will be implementing.

NOTE: No personal information is sent in logs. Just details about the computer hardware and the error details.

Your benefits:
Exceptions will be shown in YOUR language but when uploading and writing to a file. It will also add English if possible. This means in your log file, it will show both languages. Error logs file name will start with version number and then a unique error number. Easier to find a specific error.
  My benefits:
Uploaded error logs will be uploaded in both languages so I can understand it. Upload logs will start with the unique identifier so that all errors which are the same will be group together. This will save me HUGE amount of time. Get rid of useless logs which help nobody  
Other Changes:
Better log layout  Error logs will automatically upload in the background there and then rather than at close. I may add a balloon tip near the clock to show when one has been uploaded/saved. Uploading will upload the string directly rather than the text file which is where most things of wrong with the characters. It's a huge task and I will be dedicating tonight to get it done. The biggest change you will notice is that exceptions will be shown in your language and bugs will get fixed quicker!

Any questions, small requests or suggestions for this?
 
Stage 1 (Done):
Make new abstract class and efficient methods to get the job done. Record relevant details to help solve errors. Record more exception details such as stacktrace. BIG: Make logs readable from any language. Have a simple code to know which bugs are big, small or unhandled errors. Automatically give similar errors a unique ID so all the same bugs are grouped together. Show exceptions in user language. Stage 2 (W.I.P):
Gradually upgrade old error messages into new ones with more detail Show more information to user by clicking a more detail button.

In case you didn't know, I've been drafting up my proposal to finally work on a new Wintoolkit v2 as my final year project at university. It will be EPIC. I've received feedback and made changes to my proposal, just awaiting for further feedback. Once that is done, I will submit it
 
I will keep you guys up-do-date in this thread as soon as I hear anything. Basically it will be starting WinToolkit from scratch. Here are a few things you should expect.
 
 ·         Make more use of mutli-tasking
All-In-One Integrator will integrate wallpapers, gadgets and others at the same time as other tasks, saving even more time. Run other tools whilst integration is in progress. Converting files, downloading and so fourth. Click here for multi-threading experiment results.
 
·         Run speed profile tests to see if code can be made more efficient.
 
I want Win Toolkit v2 to be very very efficient and run as fast a possible. This includes running automated tests which tell me the slow areas of my code and then I basically plan how I can make it fast. Every millisecond will count! This WILL improve ALL-In-One Integrator dramatically!!!!!!!!
 
·         Conduct extensive testing to ensure final software meets requirements.
 
I will have to do testing reports and documentation, hopefully you guys can help too.
 
·         Design and implement automated testing.
 
I will use the tools available in Visual Studio to design automated testing. This will ensure that if i make a change it wont screw up anything that worked previously. Each method will have multiple automated tests.
 
·         Automated online databases
The only database using SQL will keep automatically keep track of what of updates are LDR or GDR saving previous extracting time. Keep tracking of what updates can and can't be integrated. Allow me to add notes to updates so if an issue appears with an update I can make it show notes without havign to download a new version. The above three implementations will be amazing. You would not have update WinToolkit to solve integration issues, it will all be done without lifting a finger by anyone! It also includes other benefits.
Keep tracking of Win Toolkit updates. Track errors and bugs.  
·         Automatic Updating
 
Win Toolkit will update itself automatically (can be turned off) and will hopefully download only parts of the file which has changed saving your bandwidth. You will also have the option to download beta updates.
 
 ·         Consistent and predictable release cycle.
 
Test Builds: Pretty much every night.Beta Builds: Every Saturday night.Main Builds: First Saturday of the month.  WinToolkit v1Wanted to know what Win Toolkit looks like in its physical form? I decided to print out all the code and will be painfully going through it all to look for areas of improvement! 
 

Yay, i think 3.5 will die in future, that's a reason for example.

As part of my final year project (if approved). I will be focusing a lot on threading. Currently Win Tookit uses background workers with apparently are bad for performance.
 
I've been experimenting and here are some results compare the current method used by Win Toolkit and a new method.
 
Parallel will also use more CPU cores and I will let you choose in Options how many you want to use. By default it would be ProcressorCount - 1, so if you have a quad core with hyperthreading (8), it will use 7 by default.
 
Test 1: The test was to get the MD5 values for 1300+ MSU files.
--------------------------------------------
Not Updating GUI:-
Current: 19270ms (19 seconds)
New: 5499ms (5.4 seconds)
350% speed increase!
 
When updating the GUI:-
Current: 38417ms (38.4 seconds)New: 9576ms (9.5 seconds)
401% speed increase! 
--------------------------------------------
Test 2: The test was to get the MD5 values for 55652 files.
 
Not Updating GUI:-
Current: 466165ms (466 seconds / 7.7 minutes)
New: 4943ms (4.9 seconds / 0.082 minutes)
 
9430% speed increase!
 
When updating the GUI:- 
Current: 500754ms (501 seconds / 8.34 minutes) (testing....)New: 13334ms (13.3 seconds / 0.22 minutes)
 
3755% speed increase!
 
-----------------------------------------------------------
The results so far look very promising!
 
Imagine integrating EVERY gadget, EVERY wallpaper, EVERY custom files, EVERYTHING except Updates + Drivers being integrated at the same time as everything else.
 
I'm still continuing my research...

In case you didn't know, I've been drafting up my proposal to finally work on a new Wintoolkit v2 as my final year project at university. It will be EPIC. I've received feedback and made changes to my proposal, just awaiting for further feedback. Once that is done, I will submit it
 
I will keep you guys up-do-date in this thread as soon as I hear anything. Basically it will be starting WinToolkit from scratch. Here are a few things you should expect.
 
 ·         Make more use of mutli-tasking
All-In-One Integrator will integrate wallpapers, gadgets and others at the same time as other tasks, saving even more time. Run other tools whilst integration is in progress. Converting files, downloading and so fourth. Click here for multi-threading experiment results.
 
·         Run speed profile tests to see if code can be made more efficient.
 
I want Win Toolkit v2 to be very very efficient and run as fast a possible. This includes running automated tests which tell me the slow areas of my code and then I basically plan how I can make it fast. Every millisecond will count! This WILL improve ALL-In-One Integrator dramatically!!!!!!!!
 
·         Conduct extensive testing to ensure final software meets requirements.
 
I will have to do testing reports and documentation, hopefully you guys can help too.
 
·         Design and implement automated testing.
 
I will use the tools available in Visual Studio to design automated testing. This will ensure that if i make a change it wont screw up anything that worked previously. Each method will have multiple automated tests.
 
·         Automated online databases
The only database using SQL will keep automatically keep track of what of updates are LDR or GDR saving previous extracting time. Keep tracking of what updates can and can't be integrated. Allow me to add notes to updates so if an issue appears with an update I can make it show notes without havign to download a new version. The above three implementations will be amazing. You would not have update WinToolkit to solve integration issues, it will all be done without lifting a finger by anyone! It also includes other benefits.
Keep tracking of Win Toolkit updates. Track errors and bugs.  
·         Automatic Updating
 
Win Toolkit will update itself automatically (can be turned off) and will hopefully download only parts of the file which has changed saving your bandwidth. You will also have the option to download beta updates.
 
 ·         Consistent and predictable release cycle.
 
Test Builds: Pretty much every night.Beta Builds: Every Saturday night.Main Builds: First Saturday of the month.  WinToolkit v1Wanted to know what Win Toolkit looks like in its physical form? I decided to print out all the code and will be painfully going through it all to look for areas of improvement! 
 

Good Luck & may the code be with you!

Thought I'd post to show I'm still alive. I haven't been online for the past week as I had someone over for the week. I am still coding so don't worry even though my mental health really isn't good. Freaking out about money, coursework but mostly health, usually life stuff. AAAHHHHHHHHHHH.
 
Anyways, expect some more test builds during the week. Hope everyone is well!

All LDR branches are dead? Link please?

This area of the forum is provide information about each tool.
DON'T

Please do not post bugs in this forum or ANY of the topics.
Please do not post issues in this forum or ANY of the topics.

DO

If I have missed out any information which other users may find helpful, then feel free to post it in the correct topic.
If you have any questions about a tool such as 'how can i do this or that?' then ask in the correct post.

This tool lets you remove built-in Windows packages from your image, for example Windows Media Player, Windows Media Center or Internet Explorer. The difference between this and vLite is that this tool uninstalls them the official way rather than remove files the downside is that the image does not shrink as much as just removing the files. It also lets you remove old updates.
WARNING: Anything you remove using this tool can't be undone, it is permanent!

Step 1: When you first open up this tool you will be asked to select the image you wish to work with. Click 'Browse' and select the install.wim you wish to work with and then either click on the item Windows version you want and press select or just double click.

Once done, the image will start to mount and retrieve all available packages within the image, it will not show ones which have already been removed.
Note: You may notice that this list has more than the list available in 'All-In-One Integrator', this is because in the AIO i have only included the basics, whilst Component Remover will include everything, including updates.
Step 2: Select the items you want to remove
Once all the items have been listed, you can select the components you wish to remove.
Green: Safe to remove.
Yellow: Unknown, be careful removing these
Red:This will break something, something depends on this feature but it will hopefully say what it is.
Step 3: Begin
Once you have everything selected, you can now click 'Remove Components', once done it will rescan and shows you what's left in the image.
Step 4: Save
Once done, you can go ahead and close the tool, click 'Yes' and it will ask you if you want to save the image, i recommend you to 'Save & Rebuild', however if you are going to be working on more than one image then just rebuild once you're done with your last image.

This tool lets you create addons for Windows 7 Toolkit, this tool has a lot of potential, more than people realize! Used correctly, this tool can have your progams pre-installed after Windows installation.
This tool is the most complex, but you becomes very easy to use ones you get your head around it but this is not for the faint hearted. So good luck!
Note: I will only be covering the basics!
Info

This is one of the easier screens and is pretty self explanatory and i'm pretty sure you can figure this out.
Files

This will copy file to the mounted wim image when someone adds this addon. So go ahead and click 'Add Files' at the bottom.
1. Click the folder button and browse to the file you wish to copy.
2. Select the destination, you can choose to a pre-defined area and then add '\\filenameyouwant.exe'
You can also type it in manually like 'C:\Windows\System32\RunOnce.exe' but you would not type the beginning 'C:\' so it would be 'Windows\System32\RunOnce.exe'
Folder

Same as above, select the folder you wish to have installed and then select where you want the folder to go.

Add any *.reg files you wish to have installed or required for your addons, some users use a program like InstallWatch which tells you what registry/file changes where made to your computer during an installation. You then export the registry changes and import them here.
Delete Files

Type in the location of the file you need deleting for example 'Windows\System32\Example.exe'
Shortcuts

This is where you can create shortcuts for the program you made. You can just copy and paste a pre-existing shortcut from an installation in the 'File' tab and tell it where it needs to go i.e. Desktop.
You don't need to use 'Icon' if the exe you pointed too already has one. Also 'Arguments' is mostly left blank as you don't need anything like /s /q /quiet, etc..
Commands

This is for commands which you want to run after Windows has been installed.
It doesn't seem like it has alot of potential but trust me it does! Used correctly, you can do anything with this tool.
As mentioned above you can use InstallWatch to record what an installation does, so that you can use that information to make an addon which then has that program pre-installed when you have Windows installed.
Any questions about this tool (not bugs) just post in here and i will try to reply.

Put the drivers in a folder called 'Drivers' on the DVD root and WinToolkit will only install what's needed.

Put the drivers in a folder called 'Drivers' on the DVD root and WinToolkit will only install what's needed.

The 'All-In-One Disk Creator' lets you create all in one disks, so for example you can have Windows 7 SP1 x86 and Windows 7 SP1 x64 in disk, you could further include Vista or 2008 server if you wished.

Step 1: Select your first image.
Press the 'Browse' button and select your first install.wim, you should then see all the images get lists
Step 2: Select your second image
Press the 'Browse' button again and select your second image, you should now see even more images added.
Optional 1: Add more images
You can keep hitting browse and add more and more images until your ready.
Optional 2: Delete the images you dont want!
Step 3: Press Create
W7T will then merge all of the images together, it will also try the best it can to resolve name conflicts however you may have to use the 'Edit' button and change some names to that NONE of them are the same, don't worry about descriptions, they won't conflict.
WARNING: It is really important that none of the images have the same name, W7T will try for example add 'x64' or 'x86' to the names of the images to remove conflicts, however sometimes this is not enough.
Optional: Rebuild
You can choose to rebuild your newly created image so that it can produce a smaller ISO.
Optional: ISO Maker
Self-explanatory, make a new ISO with your new creation.
Options

Unlock All Editions

Usually an image is locked to one edition i.e. Ultimate, so when it comes to install you don't have the option of choosing. Unlocking them will ask you which version of Windows you wish to install after booting from the ISO/USB.
x64 Recovery Mode

This will copy the 64bit Recovery Mode files, so if something happens to your computer and it's 64bit, you can use this option.

I don’t like it. I think it is a mistake to install something that works perfectly without being installed.
This is especially true when it comes with a boat load of crap ware.
You tried to fix something that was not broken.

It's working but barely usable, it's REALLY annoying me. I didn't smoke any weed in Amsterdam, I tried it but smoking is not my thing. I did try some Space Cake though, very relaxing
 
I will attempt to do some work on Win Toolkit tonight, it's hard to reply to forum posts when the internet cuts out. It's wireless at the moment, we have an antennae on the roof pointing to a base station mounted on some high up building. The tiniest bit of rain, wind, or fart can make my internet go bye bye. Sometimes it's even 0.2Mbps downstream :-O
 
@ptd163,
Yeah I can't wait for it. 100Mbps down and 15Mbps up

Requirements: 7zip
I recommend using InstallWatch as it records what new registry entries there is and also which files have been modified.
Every .WA needs a tasks.txt file within it so W7T knows what to do with it, an example is below:
Make a folder i.e. D:\Addon
Step 1: Tasks.txt


Name=Mozilla Firefox
Creator=Legolash2o
Version=3.0.6
Arc=x86
Description=Open Source internet browser.

[CopyFolder]
Mozilla Firefox::Program Files

[CopyFile]
Mozilla Firefox.lnk::Users\Public\Desktop
Mozilla Firefox.lnk::ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

Name
This is the name of the program or addon
Creator
Your name or the maker of the addon
Version
The version of the program/addon you are making
Arc
Which version of the program you are making their are only 3 choices
x86 - These addon will work on both x86 and x64 images, if it is integrated into x64 it will put the files in folders like "Program Files (x86)" or "SysWOW64".
x86! - x86 only
x64 - x64 only
Build (Optional)
This will only let you install the addon on certain versions of windows i.e. 7068. This is useful for patches like Themes.
Build=7000! *Build 7000 only
Build=7000 *Build 7000 or newer
Website (Optional)
When the addon is double clicked in the list, it will open the website specified
Step 2: Copying Folders


[CopyFolder]
Mozilla Firefox::Program Files

This is easy...
name of folder::where to put it
Mozilla Firefox will be copied into Program Files folder.
Put Mozilla Firefox folder in your root addon folder (D:\Addon)
Step 3: Copying Files


[CopyFile]
Mozilla Firefox.lnk::Users\Public\Desktop
Mozilla Firefox.lnk::ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

Put Mozilla Firefox.lnk in your root addon folder (D:\Addon)
Also easy....
name of file including extension (.exe, .lnk, whatever):: folder to put it in
Firefox links will be copied to both Desktop and Start Menu
Step 3: Registry Entries
Just simply copy the exported .reg file into the root folder of the addon (D:\Addon)
Note: You may want to clean the registry file and remove entries like your name, serial codes, temp stuff like MuiCache and sometimes there is a really long entry and i mean long, remove that too!
Normal Registry File


Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\1]
"Example"="This is an example string"
"Example2"=dword:00000001

Delete Key (Note they hyphen (-) before HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\)



Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00


[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\1]
"Example"="This is an example string"
"Example2"=dword:00000001
Delete Value (Note the hyphen (-) after the equals sign(=))



Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\1]
"Example"="This is an example string"
"Example2"=-

Step 4: Creating the addon file (.WA)
Using the example above you should have something similar to...
D:\Addon
D:\Addon\Mozilla Firefox\ (with firefox files within it)
D:\Addon\Mozilla Firefox.lnk (shortcut)
D:\Addon\Tasks.txt
D:\Addon\Example.reg (optional)
Simply highlight all the files in the folder, right-click, 7zip > Add to Archive
Once its open change .7z to .WA make sure its on Ultra compression and click OK
Tasks.txt Example
7zip x64


Name=7-zip
Creator=Legolash2o
Version=4.65
Arc=x64
Description=7-Zip is an open source file archiver designed originally for Microsoft Windows. Blah.

[CopyFolder]
7-Zip::Program Files

[CopyFile]
7-Zip File Manager.lnk::ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

7zip x86 only


Name=7-zip
Creator=Legolash2o
Version=4.65
Arc=x86!
Description=7-Zip is an open source file archiver designed originally for Microsoft Windows. Blah.

[CopyFolder]
7-Zip::Program Files

[CopyFile]
7-Zip File Manager.lnk::ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

Crap Cleaner for both x64 and x86


Name=Crap Cleaner
Creator=Legolash2o
Version=2.18.878
Arc=x86
Description=Cleans all the crap on the computer

[CopyFolder]
CCleaner::Program Files

[CopyFile]
CCleaner.lnk::ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

Notes
When it comes to the "Description" in tasks.txt it can only be one line, it can not be multiple lines.
For example:
This program has the following features:
*blah
*blah
*blah
The Addon Integrator will only display "This program has the following features:"

This tool is coming soon.

Something simple then. I could add that tonight

You can have as many requests are you want in the 1st post but once i have replied you need to make a new thread with any new/different requests.
1. Once i have completed a request i will close the thread so i know that it has been done. If you want to add to your request and i have not replied yet then use the EDIT button.
2. If i have already replied then just make a new thread.
3. NEW RULE (16/12/2011): If you see your request moving close to the bottom of the forum page, feel free to "bump" it as i like to keep all the unfinished requests at the top of the forum.
4. NEW RULE (31/10/2012): If I have locked your thread and you have not made a request for it to be unlocked for further discussion after a week the thread will be removed. I will be 'pruning' the requests forum every week for topics which are locked and not replied in a week. They technically won't be deleted but moved to the 'Trash' forum which you guys can't see so they can be restored if necessary.
I hope this makes sense. I'm trying to be as organised as i can
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I aim to add everything i can in the requests forum, so be patient!

For those who want files in the user profile folders...
Use something like:
[CopyFolder]
Folder1::Users\Default
Folder1::Users\Default\AppData::
[CopyFile]
Folder2\1.exe::Users\Default
Folder2\1.exe::Users\Default\AppData
if you have any registry values or shortcuts (.lnk) then use
"%HomePath%\..." within those values/shortcut itself
Every user account created will have the folders/files by default

The new update downloader is here! Alphawave's Downloader lets you down the latest updates for Windows 7, 8.1 and Office 2013.
Initial
When first opening the downloader it will download the update lists. Each time after that it will only download them if the current ones are older than 24 hours. You can force an update within the tool itself though.
New

Any new updates will get listed here.
Downloaded

All the updates previously downloaded are listed here and grouped.
Old / Superseded

Any updates which are no longer in the update lists will be moved to an 'Old' folder and listed on this tab.
This is available in the latest test version.

Yeah I'm working on mine