This is the continuation of my previous post: No multiple instances anymore?

I did some further testing and it seems like I have found a way to stop Dropbox from entering the entire upgrade mechanism.

Please check out the new beta version and post in the comments if Dropbox starts updating itself or if it works flawlessly (please test this a few days, because the update routine does not start on every startup of Dropbox). You can check if Dropbox updates itself by looking at the tray icon. If it looks like Dropbox is syncing and the tooltip when hovering the icon says “upgrading Dropbox” then Dropbox is updating itself.

I ran multiple (10) Dropbox instances hundreds of times and the update routine never checked in. If this method works, then there will be no restrictions on the Dropbox status information, every instance should report it’s correct status.

Thanks for the votes, I didn’t thought that so many people would think about this issue.

This post is for explaining a few things I was talking about in my previous post.

The problem is that the current beta version uses a technique for retrieving the syncing status that works only for 1 instance, or more specifically, the first Dropbox instance that was started on the system. It doesn’t matter whether this is a standard Dropbox installation or one using DropboxPortableAHK.

It does work if there are two running instances and one of them gets shut down. Then, the other reports it’s current syncing status. So what are the options I have for future releases?

1. Allow only one running Dropbox instance

If there is only one Dropbox instance running at the same time, there would be no issues, everything works great. The downside is, you can only run one Dropbox at the same time. However, it works if you shut down the running instance and start a new instance afterwards. I can think about a ‘instance manager’ that let you start and stop different Dropboxes or run them after each other with SyncAndGo enabled.

Personally, I don’t use multiple running Dropboxes. I only fire up Dropbox if I changed something in the Dropbox folder and need the changes on other computers as well.

2. Use it for the first instance, but disable it for the next

This method would enable the accurate syncing status for the first running Dropbox, but doesn’t hide the icons of the next instances and let Dropbox doing it’s work. If Dropbox doesn’t attempt to update itself, everything should be displayed correctly. But if it does, you will only see “upgrading Dropbox” on it’s tray icon. Maybe I find a way to disable the update earlier in the process, so it doesn’t even get in the “upgrading Dropbox” status.

3. Retrieve the Dropbox status manually

This implementation could work by clicking an entry on the tray icon’s context menu. After that, all Dropbox instances except of the currently selected will be closed, the syncing status for the current one retrieved and the closed ones started again afterwards.

It is up to you now, what do you think is the best solution? Please help me finding a good way by answering the poll below.

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Many of you probably have seen something like this since a couple of days:

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The last days I spent all of my spare time to get the new site up and running flawlessly. During the work I looked at all pages again and saw that many of them were outdated or not very nice to read. Therefore, I have rewritten a few of them. Most noticeable is the Instructions page. I have added a complete guide to set up DropboxPortableAHK, with explanations of every checkbox and every edit field you come across during the installation.

I hope you like it as much as I do.

Feel free to post any comments about the site or the project in overhaul either in the comments or via the contact page.

I just pushed the update to version 1.3.7.0 onto the servers. This release contains mostly bug fixes and a few enhancements. Furthermore, a French language file was added – thanks to Erwan L.

With this release, the new homepage is official online and integrated into the application. You won’t have to struggle with the old website that caused some anti-virus application to ring. The own site however has a downside as well. The server fee needs to be paid. So please consider a donation if you like DropboxPortableAHK 😉

Read the complete changelog:

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