Pandora Pandora Sync Suite

[streak]

Hopefully the tabs will not be hardcoded?

Why is there preceding underscores in your xml? (And was does it seem limited to 4 text characters?)

Tabs for now are hardcoded, because ive got few concepts about how it should work, and im testing one of few ideas.

and about underscores? Hmm why not? I could delete it in further development. I think it's no matter right now, because ill be using my own dedicated server for pandoras repo. I've spoke with EvilD recently, and he said he could be interested in adding an xml script to archive, but he didnt tell anything else [ when / what / xml or txt or csv ... ], so for now it will be using my own www.openpandora.pl for tests.

 

[BackAssward]

I'd also have named headers for each column in a section 's window. More of a grid style for the columns instead of a straight text string including the date and name. Of course the headers wouldn't move when you crolled the list of apps.

In that configuration, you'd also want a column for version, possibly one for local version and remote version numbers. Also, it would be nice to see the version and authors comments in the side. Also, I didn't do so in the version below, but breaking out style/type into a seperate column would make sence too (I didn't notice it was appended to the name when mocking this up).

Quick and dirty:



Edit: (I meant to add header names, and make the columns narrower, but ms paint is well, mspaint). You get the idea.

 

[Zenny]

Bringing this back up from the dead sort of,

One thing that none of you mentioned here is how exactly this program deals with inconsistent packaging of the files. From what I understand once the program downloads the updated file it unzips it and copies it over the to the sd card. But what if the archive structure is different from the last update? The program has no way of knowing if it is and therefore would just copy over and create a mess.

Another problem I see is how the copying takes place, do you delete the old files? or simply overwrite them? Deleting would probably wipe any settings files or saved games etc... And what if the settings file is different in the new update, but it doesn't exist so there's nothing to overwrite therefore creating a problem once the program runs and doesn't understand the file structure.

For me these kind of questions are far more important than the type of ui the program will have, I suppose in a way I'm trying to see the true purpose of an application like this. Because from the looks of things I would think that the apps/games/emulators would have to be packaged in agreed standards on the depository to make this kind of application viable.

Afcourse the most obvious solution would be to simplify this whole idea of a synch suite into just downloading the files if they are updated and manually configure the rest.

Or maybe I'm completely lost and my idea of what this application is intended for is completely wrong

Anyway some way of tracking updated software is needed, because with more than a dozen apps on an sd card it becomes a pain to check if there are updates released for them manually.

Oh and one last thing, while xml might have a more readable structure I don't think it would be as good as using csv for this purpose. It's not like anyone is going to manually update the file, or look at it for that matter csv just seems more sensible seeing as it will be smaller in filesize and therefore save more bandwidth when being downloaded, no? :rolleyes:

 

[Mithrildor]

Cant you make a Pandora Sync Suite that actually runs on the Pandora? Thats way easier downloading.

 

[Pseudonym]

uhhh... 2 <_info>s?

For the actual app, make it cross platform and it's perfect. I for one will switch between a Pandora and desktop. As for .XML, why not unarchive the file and find the standard .PXML file to gain all the information?

keep in mind this is only my $0.02 on the issue, for I may be catastrophically wrong on this.

 

[streak]

uhhh... 2 <_info>s?

For the actual app, make it cross platform and it's perfect. I for one will switch between a Pandora and desktop. As for .XML, why not unarchive the file and find the standard .PXML file to gain all the information?

keep in mind this is only my $0.02 on the issue, for I may be catastrophically wrong on this.

Now app is full-xml compatible. It uses standard XML markups.

Now , all i need to do is to ask EvilDragon to put RSS compatible code to each category in archive.openpandora.org

[ example: every category will have own rss [ xml ] file that points directly to file download
category emulators will have own xml -> archive.openpandora.org/emulation.xml
category games will have own xml -> archive.openpandora.org/games.xml
]

If we make things this way it will be easy to develop similiar tool / app for linux or even on Pandora.

Sample code of XML file in category
CODE

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
<!-- Copy and paste the url into your newsreader application" -->
<rss version="2.0"
xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" // optional xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/" // optional xmlns:admin="http://webns.net/mvcb/" // optional
xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"> // optional
<channel>
<title>Archive OpenPandora</title>
<link>http://archive.openpandora.org/emulation</link>
<description>OpenPandora :: Emulation</description>
<item>
<title>Program Name</title>
<link>Direct Link to file</link>
<image>Link to image</image>
<description>Short Description of program</description>
<guid isPermaLink="true"> </guid> // optional
<dc:subject></dc:subject> // optional
</item>
</channel>



Any suggestions?

 

[dflemstr]

My suggestion would be to make this cross-platform from the beginning...
Now that you have Win32-code, it will be very difficult to port the app to Qt or GTK the longer you wait.

For the XML side of things, ask EvilDragon to make a PHP script on the site that auto-generates a full XML file of all the downloads. Then you have all the metadata in one location and don't have to go through masses of nodes for each catergory.

PS: you can't use //-comments in XML, use <!--comments like this--> (I'm sure you know this; just for any others that might read this)

 

[streak]

1. My suggestion would be to make this cross-platform from the beginning...
Now that you have Win32-code, it will be very difficult to port the app to Qt or GTK the longer you wait.

2. For the XML side of things, ask EvilDragon to make a PHP script on the site that auto-generates a full XML file of all the downloads. Then you have all the metadata in one location and don't have to go through masses of nodes for each catergory.

3. PS: you can't use //-comments in XML, use <!--comments like this--> (I'm sure you know this; just for any others that might read this)

1. No can do , because im using only Windows. As far as i know kylix sucks and i dont wanna play with other IDE for now [ not enough time ] , Of course if ED implement this XML file into archive.openpandora.org, linux users could use almost all RSS feed readers to download files. If its not enough, somebody could develop special app to do this in linux.

2. I dont think its good idea to force reload all files info to XML after adding/accepting only one file. It will generates huge slowdown. Take a look into gp2x.de serwer , how many file it has got ? For my eye about 1500 files, its pointless to reload xml file with all the files. Better solution for me is to give each category one xml file eg.

applications
demos
dev
emu
firmware
games
magazines
skins
linux
win
macos
misc

it gives only 11 files with XML , and apart of that its easy to develop in many cases than putting it into one big xml file

3. "// optional" is used only to visualize it on forum.

 

[dflemstr]

1. Try Qt Creator (if you get time):
CODE

http://www.qtsoftware.com/products/developer-tools?currentflipperobject=821c7594d32e33932297b1e065a976b8


It is the best IDE for Qt apps, and many reviewers say that it's even better than Microsoft Visual Studio.

2. The problem that I see is this, then: What if they want to add a category? Then they need to tell you about it, there has to be a new version of the app etc.
So, let's say there's a 'master file' like this:
CODE

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<categories xmlns="something">
<category src="http://archive.openpandora.org/emulation.xml" />
<!-- etc etc -->
</categories>


..and then you use your format for the actual caetgories. What about that?

3. yeah, I know, just wanted to tell the other devs here that they can't copy and paste your XML and expect it to work
It was kinda redundant...

 

[streak]

2. The master XML is good idea. That will solve some problems like you said.

 

[Dead1nside]

Delphi being ugly and Windows only turns me off. However I applaud your efforts.

 

[Username]

It looks great, what are you talking about?

 

[lulzfish]

Maybe he means Delphi is poorly designed. I think it's the database backend, not the GUI he's talking about.

The Windows-only thing is annoying, but considering how well-designed the Pandora is, I don't think anybody who can run Linux will have any trouble finding another way to synchronize their files.
And anybody running FreeBSD is even more technical enough.
... And nobody runs ReactOS, so I think that covers all the bases, right?

 

[streak]

The program is finished, but wont be released until XML / RSS feeds will be added to each folder of archive.openpandora.org.

@Lulzfish
I assure you that, if we add XML/RSS like extensions to each openpandora archive folder, all rss readers on linux could use it, almost like Pandora Sync Suite. Of course PSS is created to add some very interesting options.

 

[CCmachined]

no because WINDOWS IS SHIT.

Lets not get into an OS argument here. Some people prefer Linux, some prefer Windows. Lets leave it at that. There's no need for such comments.

I think the implied point was obvious enough:

Make a Linux Version!

Seriously, I got tired of Windows-only GP2X tools. The 2X itself (and Pandora) runs Linux. Have some respect.

 

[Mattz]

This would be better if it ran on the pandora.

 

[borgqueenx]

shit man this looks good! i really want this for my pandora
a syncing suite

 

[dflemstr]

I don't see the REASON WHY you didn't use Qt for the GUI, but instead HAD to go with Win32... WHY??

Qt is easier, MUCH easier to use than Win32, has a better structure, built-in XML support, and you would have the syncsuite usable on both platforms... (And if you need a good IDE for Qt on Windows, use QtCreator)

StreaK, you have just alienated half of the community so that they won't use the suite, congrats

EDIT: I guess I'll make a syncsuite for Qt once yours is finished, we can see the code, and have the various online XML formats finished, because only having one for Windows is riddiculous.

 

[bencoder]

I don't see the REASON WHY you didn't use Qt for the GUI, but instead HAD to go with Win32... WHY??

Because it's done in delphi, which uses win32, and it's just drag and drop(like VB, except with a far superior language behind it)


Which means: Why not convert it over to Lazarus? It'll be almost the same and you can compile it for any platform with Lazarus(Win, Lin, Mac)

 

[dflemstr]

Because it's done in delphi, which uses win32, and it's just drag and drop(like VB, except with a far superior language behind it)

Look at QtCreator. Drag and drop, and you have C++ as the backing language. Come on, it can't become easier than that. (And Delphi > VB? yeah ok I can agree on that but it's a very small difference)

EDIT: Screenshot: