Caanoo Appstore

[SolarLune]

That looks very polished, u9i - you should definitely finish that application. It should have been finished and put into the Caanoo's firmware - it's a great piece of software. Even now, without the ratings and stuff, it's a great program - as I'm sure it has been mentioned before, re-distribution shouldn't be a problem if you plug into the openhandhelds archive (it's still coming from there, just over a different media).

 

[SiENcE]

Great!! I was also thinking about this. But no time.

So yes, please finalize it.

Please add an Info Page about the App when clicking onto the App-Icon. And than on this Page the 1-click install.

The only reason the info page is not there is because i hadn't made any text rendering code. Just before making the video i quickly hacked something together and put the labels under the icons. In the xml from the server, the description is included, as is links to screenshots etc. So the info page is definitely coming.

/Uni

Great!

 

[fettouhi]

Looks really great. The Caanoo should have had such an app from the very start. This could also be great for he pandora with its pnd files, not to take this thread off topic.

 

[u9i]

I agree. And I am making it "modular" in that way. But the Pandora website and browser already does that, right? One-click to install?

 

[kayuz]

Pandora already has a browser that can directly save the file to the sd, but I think a computer should be anyway ...

 

[fettouhi]

I agree. And I am making it "modular" in that way. But the Pandora website and browser already does that, right? One-click to install?

Yes the website does offer one-click installs if you set your browser up to it. Still, it would be easier and nicer to have a program on the panndora that lets you browse etc. games, programs and then lets you install them.

 

[torpor]

I am looking forward to running this on my own Caanoo!

 

[u9i]

Is anyone up for helping with the design? I mean GUI layout and look?

/Uni

 

[traylorpark]

Man, I just wanna jump in here and say that is freaking beautiful!
I would totally use this as well! There is so much potential here.

Could this app handle updates to the downloaded apps as well?

 

[u9i]

One of the design goals is to allow automatic updates, or at least automatic notification when there is a newer version of something available.

Another design goal is to use the system already in place on the Caanoo's for registering apps. So use the ini files and folder structure that works on the original menu as well. So that if you decide you would rather use the original menu, your installed games list will still be intact.

Because of these rather conflicting goals, i have thought out some clever ways how to know what app is currently installed, and compare that to the version of the app available from the store. The user will then be notified when an update is available. I even have some ideas of how to allow updates without loosing any savegames, highscores or settings. But all this is far away.

traylorpark, you are on the artistic side of this pond. Would you be interested in helping me with the GUI? If you are a busy man, I could even cut down your participation by laying out the elements how i want them, and send you a template to "beautify" Or we could discuss how it should look/function.

/Uni

 

[t money]

Yeah, i tried to look through the archives, and most of the games say nothing about redistribution. Which means i cannot. It is probably what will kill this project, because i have to manually contact every single person, many of which might have left the scene and whatnot.

well you have my permission to include "escape from zombie city" and "danger quest: monster night" for sure. great idea.

 

[EvilDragon]

Wow, that's awesome

Of course, if we need some server space or similar for it, I'm happy to help

 

[monstercameron]

while we are doing this why not integrate it as the UI as well...app store/manager/launcher...any way ma gui mock ups...

the first shows featured/popular/most favorited (aka the best s/w). the 2nd is the discription page...you have to hit the arrow that was black to access it. The 3rd is a list, to go back to the list you have to hit the arrow that was black.

 

[traylorpark]

One of the design goals is to allow automatic updates, or at least automatic notification when there is a newer version of something available.

Another design goal is to use the system already in place on the Caanoo's for registering apps. So use the ini files and folder structure that works on the original menu as well. So that if you decide you would rather use the original menu, your installed games list will still be intact.

Because of these rather conflicting goals, i have thought out some clever ways how to know what app is currently installed, and compare that to the version of the app available from the store. The user will then be notified when an update is available. I even have some ideas of how to allow updates without loosing any savegames, highscores or settings. But all this is far away.

traylorpark, you are on the artistic side of this pond. Would you be interested in helping me with the GUI? If you are a busy man, I could even cut down your participation by laying out the elements how i want them, and send you a template to "beautify" Or we could discuss how it should look/function.

/Uni

I am interested, but I'm packed a bit tight at the moment.
Starting next week I should have a bit more time.

If you wanna PM me some details, like elements features and elements and whatever you can think of ... I'll think about it over the weekend. I can't promise a whole lot, but I'll try to help. I consider this a fairly important project for the Caanoo community.

 

[u9i]

One of the design goals is to allow automatic updates, or at least automatic notification when there is a newer version of something available.

Another design goal is to use the system already in place on the Caanoo's for registering apps. So use the ini files and folder structure that works on the original menu as well. So that if you decide you would rather use the original menu, your installed games list will still be intact.

Because of these rather conflicting goals, i have thought out some clever ways how to know what app is currently installed, and compare that to the version of the app available from the store. The user will then be notified when an update is available. I even have some ideas of how to allow updates without loosing any savegames, highscores or settings. But all this is far away.

traylorpark, you are on the artistic side of this pond. Would you be interested in helping me with the GUI? If you are a busy man, I could even cut down your participation by laying out the elements how i want them, and send you a template to "beautify" Or we could discuss how it should look/function.

/Uni

I am interested, but I'm packed a bit tight at the moment.
Starting next week I should have a bit more time.

If you wanna PM me some details, like elements features and elements and whatever you can think of ... I'll think about it over the weekend. I can't promise a whole lot, but I'll try to help. I consider this a fairly important project for the Caanoo community.

That would be great. Any level of participation is appreciated. I'm also insanely busy with a course right now, as well as two separate applications to Nordic Game Program. But come april, i'll have time for my hobbies again

I'll pm you with my ideas, when i'm back on top.

/Uni

EDIT: Btw, thanks ED. I'll keep in touch

 

[u9i]

while we are doing this why not integrate it as the UI as well...app store/manager/launcher...any way ma gui mock ups...
[...]
the first shows featured/popular/most favorited (aka the best s/w). the 2nd is the discription page...you have to hit the arrow that was black to access it. The 3rd is a list, to go back to the list you have to hit the arrow that was black.

Thanks for the mockups, monstercameron. This is pretty much what i have so far. I'll make some sketches of how i think it should work, upload it, and people can discuss it from there.

/Uni

 

[milkshake]

u9i you should create your own website where people can upload their apps and have the web backend provide the xml files etc for your client

this is such a coincidence im going through a similar project myself for the pandora.
I created the website where people can upload files (all details about the pnd file are extracted on the server without the up-loader needing to type anything in it even extracts the games icon and preview pics from the archive all automatically).

once its on the server we have a repository spec that we stick so and this is output in json from my site which a package client would use to manage existing packages as well as update or install new ones.

tempel is working on such a package manager.

 

[u9i]

milkshake, I noticed you announced it shortly after i announced mine. It looks very cool. And it is brilliant to extract the info from the pnd. Unfortunately the Caanoo has no such awesome PND system. In that regard we are a little behind. But thanks for showing me the other links, like the specifications. I have a similar specification, although only documented in with "example code" and very much up for changing. Yours is much more detailed though. Like, i didn't think about making localizations and license. I might add those too.

Instead of categories i plan to use tags. With the idea that each game can fit into several categories. Also, i hope it will be easier to search for games as you can have a lot of keywords.

I also have a vision of users being able to influence the repository. With reviews and ratings, but also I am also toying with the idea of having clients being able to change tags on games. So if you search forever for a game, and when you finally find it, you can add the tags you thought should be on it. Or if you think a tag doesn't belong, you can remove it. If enough users remove it, it will be deleted officially, or maybe show up low on a search list. I haven't really thought that part through.

I have recently changed my protocol so that first you request a list of available software using some tags or search criteria, which provides minimal info to load faster. Link to icon, name, id... and that's about it. Then you can request the details on a software by id, or you can request reviews for a software by id.

But right now i am organizing a coding competition, also for the pandora, so all this is on hold right now.

I noticed in your specs it says: URI accepts the following protocols: ["http:", "https:", "ftp:", "data:", "file:"]

What are the data and file protocols? I'm guessing file is a local file on the device, but data i have no idea about.

 

[milkshake]

I noticed in your specs it says: URI accepts the following protocols: ["http:", "https:", "ftp:", "data:", "file:"]

What are the data and file protocols? I'm guessing file is a local file on the device, but data i have no idea about.

lol I do not know as I did not write the spec, the origial spec was wrote by dflemstr, and has since been updated by tempel (after discussions relating to any needed additions)

 

[sepulep]

This is a great idea!! Any progress over the last weeks?