Release PNDTools


in windows 7 it didnt seem to append the icon, it appended the PXML fine but then when i tried to upload it to the repo it complained it was missing so i did:



Code:
copy /b pndfile.pnd+icon.png


then it works
 
in windows 7 it didnt seem to append the icon, it appended the PXML fine but then when i tried to upload it to the repo it complained it was missing so i did:



Code:
copy /b pndfile.pnd+icon.png


then it works
Strange... it worked fine for me so far, do you have the log output?


Also if it appended the PXML fine the only way the icon could not have been appended if it was missing or access to it was denied, as it is completely the same operation (which does not even care which type of file it is appending, just like the copy command).
 
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well im at work now, ill do it again when I get home and post the log, i could be using an old version of PNDtools
 
I think I figured out the error while on the go, sadly had not the time to look into it yet.


I might have switched the order in which icon and PXML are appended in one of my rewrites, will look into that, expect an update in a few minutes or tomorrow.


EDIT: Uploaded fixed version and patch to the GIT, sorry about that :(
 
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PNDTools (in the lack of a better name)

Great. How about PNDInspector?


v0.1.3.built 1.6.11. GUI opens with Windows 98SE (yes, retro...), dragging PND into the upper field shows up the pnd file only. Rightclicking it and leftclicking on open popped up the following message box: <Für diesen Vorgang ist keine Anwendung mit der angegebenen Datei verknüpft. Erstellen Sie eine Verknüpfung, indem Sie unter "Arbeitsplatz" zuerst auf "Ansicht" und dann auf "Ordneroptionen" klicken.>


With the pulldown menu - file - openpnd i got output on the lower box, it looks like it's getting the metadata, but stops before extracting.

Code:
Welcome to the PNDTools

To get started just drop some files in the top-most area or load an existing PND

Deleting old temporary files

Looking for PXML data...

PXML data found, writing to file N:\PANDORA\TEST\PNDTOOLS\meta\PXML.xml

Icon data found, writing to file N:\PANDORA\TEST\PNDTOOLS\meta\icon.png

Calling program: N:\PANDORA\TEST\PNDTOOLS\tools\unsquashfs.exe -f -d "temp2" "cygdrive/N/openpandora/active.test/pandora/desktop/abiword.pnd"

Extracting PND... this might take a while

PND metadata successfully extracted

After that a message with errorcode 1155 pops up.
 
This is a really neat program. I tried to update the Pandorawiki to bring things up to date, although I'm not sure if I did it correctly since this isn't really my area. Here are the edits I made to various pages that I thought PNDTools should be mentioned in:


PND:FAQ


Introduction to PNDs


PND quickstart


There might be more pages that need to be edited... please don't hesitate to do it if you find any. The wiki is the community's long-term memory and it should be kept as up-to-date as possible.
 
PNDTools (in the lack of a better name)

Great. How about PNDInspector?
Nice, like it, although it suggests the program is only for opening files, hmm...

v0.1.3.built 1.6.11. GUI opens with Windows 98SE (yes, retro...), dragging PND into the upper field shows up the pnd file only. Rightclicking it and leftclicking on open popped up the following message box: <Für diesen Vorgang ist keine Anwendung mit der angegebenen Datei verknüpft. Erstellen Sie eine Verknüpfung, indem Sie unter "Arbeitsplatz" zuerst auf "Ansicht" und dann auf "Ordneroptionen" klicken.>
Yep, that currently is the expected (from a code point of view) behaviour. Using "open" in the popup-menu simply tries to open the file with the program associated with that type of file (aka the same when you open a file via the explorer).


But you are giving me an idea, I could check for dropped files and if it is a *.pnd, the program pops up a message box asking whether to add or open it, when the user drops a PXML.xml file the program asks to put it in the right spot (same for the image), that should make things easier, thanks :)

With the pulldown menu - file - openpnd i got output on the lower box, it looks like it's getting the metadata, but stops before extracting.

Code:
Welcome to the PNDTools

To get started just drop some files in the top-most area or load an existing PND

Deleting old temporary files

Looking for PXML data...

PXML data found, writing to file N:\PANDORA\TEST\PNDTOOLS\meta\PXML.xml

Icon data found, writing to file N:\PANDORA\TEST\PNDTOOLS\meta\icon.png

Calling program: N:\PANDORA\TEST\PNDTOOLS\tools\unsquashfs.exe -f -d "temp2" "cygdrive/N/openpandora/active.test/pandora/desktop/abiword.pnd"

Extracting PND... this might take a while

PND metadata successfully extracted
After that a message with errorcode 1155 pops up.
Hmm that error code means "No application is associated with the specified file for this operation." which is weird as the program was trying to open a .exe file.


Now this can either result from a piece of code I am using to call the exe (which in the doku has the remark "[Now Supported on Windows NT]", which I might mean "not for DOS anymore") or simply could result from an error while opening the actual squashFS.exe or one of the cygwin dlls as they maybe are not supported on Win98.


Actually I am surprised to see the Program start at all ;)


Now here is something you can try to help me find the error:


1) Start cmd.exe and cd to the folder PNDTools.exe is in


2) run the following: tools\unsquashfs.exe -f -d "temp2" "cygdrive/N/openpandora/active.test/pandora/desktop/abiword.pnd"


Normally this should unsquash the pnd to a folder called temp2 inside the current directory (the PNDTools dir after step 1), so you should see a text-progress bar and maybe some status messages.


If that pops an error, it means either the squashtools or cygwin do not support Win98 and we will have to see what we can do about that, either way, please tell me exactly what the output is in case of an error. Thanks.

This is a really neat program. I tried to update the Pandorawiki to bring things up to date, although I'm not sure if I did it correctly since this isn't really my area. Here are the edits I made to various pages that I thought PNDTools should be mentioned in:
Thanks :)
 
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Updated version available, changes include:

  • Options menu, you can customize the path to the tools (in case you have them installed somewhere) and the parameters as well as some general options
  • You can disable the file-specific icons to make adding files a lot faster (enabled by default)
  • Added "smart" file adding mode, which detects pnd, PXML and icons files and asks for more appropriate actions (open PND, append PXML and icon), can be disabled
Download


The source package has been updated, too


This is all based on the "master" branch of the GIT, if you are feeling crazy you can checkout the "PXMLtools" branch for some experimental changes (GIT only).


@milkshake: Did you try an updated version, was the problem you were having fixed?


@double7: Any updates from your end? Did you try running the tools from command-line (btw this is not supposed to be a workaround, just a way for me to see whether my program or Cygwin is the source of the error).


foxblock out
 
Beta version of the PXML editor is now available





Get it here


Open a PXML file in the main window, then click the new "Edit PXML" button to be shown a new window, which displays the content in a tree structure.


Clicking on a node will show the linked value and attributes on the right hand side, where you can also edit them (changes will be saved automatically).


When you click OK, the edited PXML file will be saved to disk (overwriting the old file), when you click Cancel all changes you made in this window are discarded.


This is a BETA release (from the PXMLtools branch of the GIT), so be aware that there are bugs!


Also adding and removing elements is not supported yet as well as the description (which will show a short help text to each element in the future).


Saved PXML files however should be compliant to the scheme as long as you did not make any erroneous changes (to the categories for example).


I am putting this out here for you to comment on features you would like to see, report bugs and propose layout changes, etc.


foxblock out
 
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When you try and modify licenses in the PXML, it gives me an error (access violation or something), then I can't edit any other entry, or even close the PXML window. I CAN close the main one, though. Windows XP here.
 
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When you try and modify licenses in the PXML, it gives me an error (access violation or something), then I can't edit any other entry, or even close the PXML window. I CAN close the main one, though. Windows XP here.

Not having that problem here, could you please attach the PXML file you are having this problem with (or tell me out of which PND it is if any) I will need to take a look at it.
 
New update to the beta version:

  • Still no functionality to add or remove elements
  • Drastically improved reading and editing functionality, now creates a special panel depending on value type and does some input checks
  • Displays documentation for each element (loaded from local rtf files, containing the official description from the wiki)
  • Loads and displays optional elements
  • Fixed some runtime errors (maybe those BlueProtoman was having, but I can't be sure)
Get it here
 
When I try to open a PND, I get a pop-up saying "you may not have the necessary permissions to use all the features of the program you are about to run", and gives me an option to log in as a different user. Which is a bit odd, since I'm already logged in as Administrator. It does seem to work alright so far, but I get that popup every time. (Win2000)
 
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When I try to open a PND, I get a pop-up saying "you may not have the necessary permissions to use all the features of the program you are about to run", and gives me an option to log in as a different user. Which is a bit odd, since I'm already logged in as Administrator. It does seem to work alright so far, but I get that popup every time. (Win2000)
Well, that is definitely strange. On Windows Vista and newer, even if you are logged in as Admin you still have to authorize every process requiring special rights (unless you deactivate that service), maybe it is similar on Windows 2000, check whether the right-click context-menu on the .exe has an entry "Run as administrator..." or the properties dialog has some flag you can check.


I sadly don't have Windows 2000 here to test and honestly also never used it (made the jump directly from 98 to XP).


Please report if you find anything :) I am glad the program seems to run on a variety of even older versions of Windows, so thanks for testing.


You also gave me an idea for a future workaround.


Currently metadata is simply extracted to the program's folder, because I was lazy to implement a dialogue asking for a location to extract the files to (even though that is fairly easy ;) ), I will do that as well as add options to let the user chose the temporary folder (used for creating the PND) as well as default folders for extraction (with options, use program's folder, use user specified folder, ask every time for location).


That way the user can move away all file actions to a non-critical folder (well except for the settings file, which should remain next to the exe I guess).
 
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New update for the beta version available:

  • Fully featured PXML editor/creator
It's not very user-friendly at the moment, but I wanted to focus on getting all the functionality in there and the next step will be creating a proper interface (especially for adding elements). I plan to make most of it context sensitive.


For the moment just open an existing PXML file or create a new one from scratch, select elements to add from the drop-down box (those saying package will be added to the package element, those saying application...) and click "add".


Multiple application elements are supported as well as every other part of the specification (HF6) - to add elements to a specific application element, just select it or a child node.


In order to add multiple categories and sub-categories you will have to create the category first, select it (which should happen automatically) and then add the sub-category.


There are HF5 compatibility elements (the second title and description elements in the list), but they are slightly buggy as they won't be added to the list if there already is a HF6 title/description element present - you have got to add the compatibility element first, then the HF6 elements.


To edit an element just select it from the tree-view, all attributes will be displayed on the right.


Attributes with a grey name text (startdir= for example) or the ones saying (optional) are optional and can be left blank, the rest should be filled in order for the PXML to work.


There currently is no proper validation part, except for the edit fields only allowing certain chars and a maximum number of elements can be created.


Required attributes, elements or faulty ones won't be reported.


To remove elements right click on them and select "delete".


The description part displays help and information about the currently selected element, it also has some information about the attributes, allowed data, recommended data, etc. So read that if you don't know what to do.





Get it here





What I plan to add is a PXML creation "wizard", which will guide new users through the process with some explanation and will create a simple PXML suitable for most basic cases (1 application element, same name and id for package and application, basic elements - no association, osversion, etc.).


Also as I said the interface will improve, I want to replace the drop-down box with some context-sensitive buttons each one for creating a specific element depending on the current selection.


The context-menu should also get a "add" part so you can add elements through that, too.


Also validation.


This still is BETA, so expect bugs. I also did not test the resulting PXMLs with a validator yet, they might be broken.


Please report and comment on anything you find and propose ideas for improving the interface.
 
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Update to the beta version have been released:


Version 0.3.6b changes:

  • Fixed edit boxes for language and mime input types not accepting valid characters
  • Fixed last open edit not being saved when pressing OK button
  • Changed default PXML file to include all necessary elements and attributes for validation (this is the file which you start to work with when creating a new PXML - so the tree won't be empty be default now, you obviously still can add or remove elements, although the latter is not recommended as it will make the PXML invalid)
Especially the last change should improve PXML creation process for new users as all necessary elements are already there, you just can add icon,previewpics, etc. and obviously change the default data!


DOWNLOAD
 
I'm new to this PND business and I think I've tried all of the existing GUI tools out there, but I can't seem to get my games working with either. So now I'm trying this one and can't seem to get this working either. I've copied the example PXML from the wiki and edited. When I try to run the PND nothing happens, and the app ends up in "Other" instead of "Games" like specified in the PXML. Maybe it fails to append the PXML to the PND?
 
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