running multiple versions of TP simultaneously

[PFSchaffner]

I would like to run both TP4 and TP6 on the same Win7 machines, and perhaps also TP7 (for testing). TP6 and TP7, so far as I can tell, cannot both be installed; TP4 and TP6 can be, but coexist uneasily when it comes to interaction with Windows. Has anyone been successful in running multiple versions of TextPad alongside each other?

-- on our staff workstations, we *do* run TP 4 and TP6 simultaneously, but only by running one or both as a virtualized app under App-V (Windows Application Virtualization Client, formerly SoftGrid). But this only works in an enterprise environment.

-- Failing that, all I can think of is: (1) running one in a virtual machine, e.g. in Windows 7 XP mode; or (2) hacking the registry to create separate identities for the two programs.

95% of our day's work is done in TextPad (probably 80% TP4 and 20% TP6.) with linked Perl scripts. A few have switched to oXygen.

pfs

[bbadmin]

TextPad 4 stores its configuration in the registry, whereas TextPad 6 & 7 stores theirs in XML files, except for file associations and shortcuts to the executables. That is unavoidable, because that's where Windows requires them. So, those should be the only potential conflicts.

Keith MacDonald
Helios Software Solutions

[PFSchaffner]

TextPad 4 stores its configuration in the registry, whereas TextPad 6 & 7 stores theirs in XML files, except for file associations and shortcuts to the executables. That is unavoidable, because that's where Windows requires them. So, those should be the only potential conflicts.

Keith MacDonald
Helios Software Solutions

Thank you Keith. I suspect that it's the shortcuts to the executables that cause the problem. Example, just now I copied a 'portable' copy of TP6 to a Win7 machine on which TP4 was installed, opened TP6 once and closed it. Immediately TP4 lost one of its file associations (*.txt) and fell off the open-with context menu. Apparently even running the portable version writes a clsId to the registry, where it is identified with "textpad.exe." If my muddled understanding is even roughly correct, the registry now has two IDs for 'textpad.exe' (one pointing to tp4/textpad.exe and one pointing to portable_tp6/textpad.exe), and as a result ceases to recognize either of them. At any rate, removing the tp6 ID and shortcut from the registry restored tp4 to full functionality. My conclusion is that (unless you somewhow insulate the program from the Windows registry altogether), though you can *run* two version, you cannot do so without destroying full integration into Windows. Hoping I'm wrong! pfs

[nvj1662]

I am clearly a little naive as I believed that a "portable" could be run without leaving muddy footprints on the host. I must reconsider.