[sinsizer]

Hey, right now I´m working on a new tool. I think it´s mess that everything is spread up to different forums, homepages, github repositories etc. Also a lot of great tools and devs gets to less attention. So my thought was to build a tool which brings everything together.

Here some impressions how this will look like:

Click here to see full text

Don´t worry if you were named or not named, it´s only an example

User Information

Not much to say here. The screens are selfexplaining i think.
The tool will have an autoupdate feature similar to psnstuff.
If a new dev joins, the tool will be updated.
There will be to major categorys: Console and PC.

Developer Information

IMPORTANT!

It´s necessary that you have your own Server or Webspace! If you don´t already have one, you can use some free webspace hoster. In most cases thats more than enough.

How does this work?

In short, I´m building an empty tab and it´s up to you to fill it.
You have full control over your content, cause everything is located at your server/webspace. You are adding new stuff by yourself, as well as updating and deleting stuff.

You will have a small db file which contains all necessary urls to pictures, infos, the file itself etc.
If your tab gets clicked, the last-modified header from the db file will be requested. If it is newer than the local one it gets downloaded and the data will be written to the listview. That ensures that your files are always up to date if your tab gets clicked.

I want my own tab

I´m building every tab individually. This requires some information.

Send me an pm with the following informations:

- Your tab name
- Donatelogo or only logo URL | if you want some
- Donate URL | if you have one
- Homepage | if you have one
- voice.txt URL | if you want a voicebox
- encryption yes/no + key | if you want your db encrypted, more details via pm

You also can send me a mockup or scribble, to visualize how the elements in your tab should be arranged.
If your tab is ready I send you the version for testing. If everything is OK, the tool will be updated.

You can reach me here on http://www.ps3hax.net
or
http://www.ps3crunch.net
or
http://www.boerse.bz
or
IRC
Server: irc.german-elite.net
Channel: #ps3boerse
Port: 6665-6669
SSL: 6670 oder 9999

How to build the db file

The database file is a simple csv seperated by semicolon (
That makes it easy to edit with an simple editor or excel.
Every entry has its own line.
Example with 2 entries:

name;category;downurl;versionurl;picurl,infourl;
name2;category;downurl2;versionurl2;;;

The second entry doesn´t have a picture and info.
Very simple

I´ve built this small app to create and append your db file.

Click here to see full text

Download: http://temp-share.com/show/f3YguOcBn

IMPORTANT!
Don´t use the following characters in the name:

:?*/\<>|"

The name will be used as name for the downloaded file and these chars can´t be used for file names.
I´m building the filename with name+version+extension

How to arange the files on the server

This is at least up to you.
Here an example how it could look like on the server/webspace:

Click here to see full text

What files can be added?

Everything you want as long as it has to do with Playstation, PSP, PSVita etc.


==============================================================================
Let me know what you think about this.

Public release is planed for April. It takes some time to build all the tabs individually.

The Tool doesn´t have a logo right now, and I´m not very good with photoshop.
Perhaps someone can create one and post it here. The one with the most likes wins
extension: png
resolution: 256x256

[mrc1978]

Sounds and looks like a good idea, nice one.

[<GEEK>]

Not to rain on your parade, but a tabbed dialog is a VERY poor design choice... An app like this would need to be as dynamic as possible, hardly anything should be hard coded. You know how many times this will need updated? There are so many different ways you could make this as dynamic as possible...

Utilize a database containing the info the devs supply you with perhaps? SQLite, etc. Host a database server and have your app display information from that server? Have devs create custom files containing the details on their releases (could even just use XML or something similar). Devs could submit the url to their file in which you create a tool to read this info into your database.

Another idea, have a section in your app where devs could submit their work with all the details directly into your database (even better yet). Then nothing ever needs to be managed by you, it is all community driven, requires no tabs since you would be displaying dynamic data depending on the list of items in the database... just seems more logical to me. It would be A LOT easier to design, develop, and maintain this way as well. An alpha/beta build with a moderately clean GUI could be built in a matter of hours, after that you could dedicate your time all towards functionality and eye candy versus hard coding all the different info into your app making it nothing more than a bloated piece of software.

Just my two cents, don't take it the wrong way as I am just giving you some pointers that will save you a massive headache in the end.

[sinsizer]

@<GEEK>

I already thought about submits in the beginning. But at least this means more work for me and its less "dynamic" as you think.
To give the devs full access, for example sql database, I have to setup an account system etc. How should the UI look like? What happens if the sql database is nor reachable? etc..
In my opinion it looks much cleaner with tabs. It´s not that much work to setting them up. The hardcoded information will contain at least the db URL. I don´t want to build an centralized database.
I have to setup the tabs only once. Every other information will be added by the devs themself. I my opinion this is dynamic.
Lets guess. Maybe 10 devs were in till April, for release, and 10 others were joining after. This means there will be 10 updates. That´s not that much
I know what you mean, but I'm going to build it this way.

[<GEEK>]

Originally Posted by sinsizer @<GEEK> I already thought about submits in the beginning. But at least this means more work for me and its less "dynamic" as you think. To give the devs full access, for example sql database, I have to setup an account system etc. How should the UI look like? In my opinion it looks much cleaner with tabs. It´s not that much work to setting them up. The hardcoded information will contain at least the db URL. I don´t want to build an centralized database. I have to setup the tabs only once. Every other information will be added by the devs themself. I my opinion this is dynamic. Lets guess. Maybe 10 devs were in till April, for release, and 10 others were joining after. This means there will be 10 updates. That´s not that much I know what you mean, but I'm going to build it this way.

10 devs in until April, 10 others joining afterwards... 20 tabs, each with their own picture box/image/listview control, and every other control each tab has... this is NOT dynamic. A truly dynamic app would require 1 of each control, and the information would be dynamically displayed and utilized by that one set of controls. This means less to maintain within the GUI, software would be less bloated (no overabundance of controls), much easier to keep updated and maintained... I could go on all day.

Why would you need to give each dev database access? This makes no sense what so ever... They don't get access to the database, your app does... any access beyond that (to the data) would/could be controlled from within your application. I am not going to tell you how to design or code your app, I was simply trying to say that this seems like a real novice way of going about it. If you are somewhat new to software development, then let this app be a learning experience for you, if you stick with it, down the road you will see why I made these suggestions to you. Good luck on the app, it will certainly make things easier for users to find the things dev's release (that is, if they take advantage of using your tool as a method of release).

Edit: What happens when a tool is updated? They need to send you a new csv file containing the details, correct? Or are you downloading it (is this being compared on every instance of the click event of the tab)? How is your program reading these csv files? Are you placing them in one large file and reading from there? Reading them all individually? Are they distributed with your application (meaning each csv update = application update)?

[sinsizer]

@<GEEK>
You are welcome joining and helping to build this app if you want.
The reason I choose this way is to give every dev his own "site". Of cause i could make only one listview and add an combobox with their names for filtering. Load everything from one database etc.
Hardcoding sql credentials to an .NET app seems not very clever to me. I also have to ensure that nobody can manipulate the database. I think it´s the safest and easiest to build it this way.
In your online scenario if the db is not reachable nothing can be loaded. In my solution there is only one dev not reachable. I also can build an "ALL" tab where everything can be found.
I know it looks very novice to you but it is in fact simple. There is no need for sql, xml and so on.

[<GEEK>]

Originally Posted by sinsizer @<GEEK> You are welcome joining and helping to build this app if you want. The reason I choose this way is to give every dev his own "site". Of cause i could make only one listview and add an combobox with their names for filtering. Load everything from one database etc. Hardcoding sql credentials to an .NET app seems not very clever to me. I also have to ensure that nobody can manipulate the database. I think it´s the safest and easiest to build it this way. In your online scenario if the db is not reachable nothing can be loaded. In my solution there is only one dev not reachable. I also can build an "ALL" tab were everything can be found. I know it looks very novice to you but it is in fact simple. There is no need for sql, xml and so on.

I don't really have the time to take on any projects right now. If you are worried about unauthorized users gaining access to the database, or even hard coding database credentials into an app then database support isn't for you. There are ways to do this correctly, but it sounds like you might be new to this approach so it may be better off kept out of the app. You ever think of utilizing a local db engine such as SQLite? Then if something got manipulated by an end user it only affects them (which would be pointless on their part). App could still be very lightweight and dynamic this way. Only difference is, devs would need a way to submit their changes/updates/additions to you to include in the database, then you would push the update to the end users.

Like I said, there are far better alternatives to developing this, and you may want to research some of them prior to hard coding everything in.

[sinsizer]

@<GEEK>
As far as I know credentials should never been hardcoded to an app.
So I would need an account system in someway.
The db files are already used locally. They will be downloaded and loaded locally to listview. For a simple format like csv i don´t need an local db engine and csv files are easy to edit. As I said I´m not going to setup a centralized database.
I can make an "ALL" tab. This would lead to a much better overview. And eliminate the sense of the single tabs.
In worst case the app will be about 2-3mb. I wouldn´t call that bloated.
I don´t have to deal with submitted changes/updates/additions if I do it my way and I´m not Hardcoding everything. Too bad that you have no time.