CandyLauncher

CandyLauncher is a lightweight Windows shortcut launcher written in C++, imitating Wox, and quickly launches the actions in each plug-in through search

Core goals of software

• Quickly display matching results
• Lower memory usage
• Support fuzzy search and pinyin matching
• Support Windows7+

Function introduction

• The main panel can be called out or hidden through custom hotkeys
• Quickly execute items in a list, run as administrator or open a folder
• Support reading config_folder_plugin.json and scanning directories
• Theme skin and window effects can be adjusted through configuration files
• Support loading various custom plugins

Download and run

CandyLauncher ships as a portable zip, no installer. Download CandyLauncher-vX.Y.Z-x64.zip from Releases, extract it anywhere and run CandyLauncher.exe.

Runtime requirements

• Windows 7 or later (64-bit)
• Microsoft Visual C++ 2015-2022 Redistributable (x64). If CandyLauncher.exe reports that MSVCP140.dll or VCRUNTIME140.dll is missing, install this package.
• Optional: Everything for instant file search in the Folder plugin
• Optional: Node.js for the Node.js plugin bridge (Wox / Flow Launcher JavaScript plugins)

Build method

Clone this project and then execute git submodule update --init

Visual Studio 2022

• Installation components: Desktop development using C++ (including Windows SDK, MSVC toolset, CMake integration)
• Open the warehouse root folder
• Select one of the configurations to generate (ninja-msvc is recommended)
• Select CandyLauncher.exe as the run item and click the Run button

CLions

• Open the warehouse root folder
• Do not use Cmake preset, use the default Debug configuration, and manually select the tool chain and generator (Visual Studio + Ninja recommended)
• Select CandyLauncher as the run item and click the run button

VsCode + Plugin (CMake Tools + C/C++)

• Open the warehouse root folder
• Shortcut key Ctrl+Shift+P, Cmake: select configuration preset
• Select one of the configurations to generate (ninja-msvc is recommended)
• Click to generate in the bottom status bar
• Click the run button and select CandyLauncher as the run item

Command line (Native Tools Command Prompt for VS 2022)

Open a terminal in the root directory of the repository

CMake + Ninja + MSVC

cmake -S . -B build -G "Ninja" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=cl -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=cl
cmake --build build --config Debug --target CandyLauncher
ctest -C Debug --test-dir build

CMake + MSVC

cmake -S . -B build -G "Visual Studio 17 2022"
cmake --build build --config Debug --target CandyLauncher
ctest -C Debug --test-dir build

Command line

Check MinGW using command

where gcc
where g++

CMake + Ninja + MinGW-w64

cmake -S . -B build -G "Ninja" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug -DCMAKE_MAKE_PROGRAM=C:\path_to\ninja.exe
cmake --build build --config Debug
ctest -C Debug --test-dir build

CMake + MinGW-w64

cmake -S . -B build -G "MinGW Makefiles"
cmake --build build --config Debug
ctest -C Debug --test-dir build

Release packaging

scripts
elease
un_package.cmd

Builds the Release configuration, runs the tests and writes dist\CandyLauncher-v<version>-<arch>.zip containing only runtime files. Use --no-build to package an existing Release build. See docs/DOC_APP_UPDATE.md for the release and update flow.