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[plugin] [ORPHAN] rss_pluginstaller - automatic plugin installer
The rss_pluginstaller plugin is a new way to install and update all of the Textpattern plugins available at wilshire|one. Once you download and install the PlugInstaller, you will never have to download another wilshire|one plugin again! Yes, its a plugin that installs plugins.
All wilshire|one plugins can be downloaded and installed or updated right inside your Textpattern installation from the Extensions > PlugInstaller tab. The PlugInstaller will also notify you when new plugin versions have been released.
Features Include
- Install new wilshire|one plugins.
- Update plugins to newer versions.
- Provide notifications when new plugin versions are available.
- Activate and deactivate plugins.
- Uninstall plugins.
- View plugin help.
- Skip plugin preview on install.
- Automatically activate plugins on install.
Please note, aside from installing the plugin, you’ll also have to upload a few files to your site. Follow the link below for full installation instructions and a screen shot of the plugin.
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Re: [plugin] [ORPHAN] rss_pluginstaller - automatic plugin installer
Incredible Rob, will give it a spin, thanks.
We Love TXP . TXP Themes . TXP Tags . TXP Planet . TXP Make
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#3 2007-01-10 20:32:07
- marios
- Archived Plugin Author
- Registered: 2005-03-12
- Posts: 1,253
Re: [plugin] [ORPHAN] rss_pluginstaller - automatic plugin installer
Yes, impressive. Tried this locally and works well.
( The whole Idea is nice as well, using the Magpie libraries to get at the feeds and make them available in the extensions tab )
regards, marios
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Re: [plugin] [ORPHAN] rss_pluginstaller - automatic plugin installer
Rob, thanks for this one, it will be a really helpful approach not only for your own plugins’ users but also as an inspiration to the whole developer crowd here.
Btw, the “view discussion” on your site links to the article itself, rather than to this thread.
Last edited by wet (2007-01-10 20:34:18)
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Re: [plugin] [ORPHAN] rss_pluginstaller - automatic plugin installer
This is great.
What would be awesome-er is to get a variant of the server end of this working on textpattern.org. No? That way you’d be able to at least automate updates to plugins.
Oh, yeah, I just remembered that the plugins are actually stored on each individual developer’s site.
I’d volunteer time to maintain a plugin repository that relies on voluntary inclusion by plugin developers. I know this idea has been sumerily poo-pooed in the past, but, I really think it’s time to start thinking of reliability, convenience and access for the plugin end user.
Anyway this discussion probably belongs somewhere else
What do you think Rob?
…And thanks once again for your excellent library of plugins.
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Re: [plugin] [ORPHAN] rss_pluginstaller - automatic plugin installer
Thanks all. And I posted on my site but forgot to mention here, thanks to Robert (wet) for testing the plugin out before it was released.
Btw, the “view discussion” on your site links to the article itself, rather than to this thread.
And thanks for that too. Its a chicken before the egg thing. Its fixed now.
What would be awesome-er is to get a variant of the server end of this working on textpattern.org. No? That way you’d be able to at least automate updates to plugins.
Oh, yeah, I just remembered that the plugins are actually stored on each individual developer’s site.
Actually, I had an earlier version of the plugin running on the old version of txp.org. It worked fine even though plugins are stored on each author’s site because the download URL is stored on txp.org. The biggest issue was dealing with differing download formats. At the time I was able to handle plain text and zip files successfully but there were still some variables out of my control. Since this plugin only deals with my work, obviously everything is under my control so I was able to get it to work. Getting this running on TRV2 will take some more work.
As for a central repository, I will again poo-poo it. I don’t want to have to maintain my plugin downloads in more than 1 location. But I think the functionality that this plugin offers is a good middle ground because it allows me to easily “deliver” plugins to people rather than making them come to my site to check for updates.
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Re: [plugin] [ORPHAN] rss_pluginstaller - automatic plugin installer
wilshire wrote:
As for a central repository, I will again poo-poo it.
Aw, crap :)
But I think the functionality that this plugin offers is a good middle ground because it allows me to easily “deliver” plugins to people rather than making them come to my site to check for updates.
Yep, it’s great. How about the idea of setting this up as a kind of standard and allowing plug in devs to voluntarily use it as a deployment method.
Functionally then, the dev would format plugins in a standard way, and a variant of your plugin would check all the sites that have signed up. maybe the user specifies in a field, a list of plugin developer sites to watch. Maybe, some who sign up get included by default. Heck, the developer list could also be an update able item
I really don’t mean to complicate things or create extra work. I’m just thinking of it from a user perspective, and making plugins a snap to administer like this, could really bring more users to the TXP base. It would be killer if a user could install a variant of your plugin and have the same function with non wilshire|one plugins.
From a “dare to dream perspective”, I could see a tippable js list of plugin authors, revealing the info you already have.
Anyway. Just thoughts.
Last edited by mrdale (2007-01-10 21:36:45)
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Re: [plugin] [ORPHAN] rss_pluginstaller - automatic plugin installer
This is sweet since I use so many of your plugins on installs anyway. It will definitely cut down on my checking on updates.
—Al “Zarabadoo” Steffen
http://www.zarabadoo.com
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Re: [plugin] [ORPHAN] rss_pluginstaller - automatic plugin installer
Any thoughts on documenting the server side requirements so other plugins can enable similar functionality? Or better yet some code (rubs hands greedily).
Rockin’ job as usual.
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Re: [plugin] [ORPHAN] rss_pluginstaller - automatic plugin installer
mrdale wrote:
How about the idea of setting this up as a kind of standard and allowing plug in devs to voluntarily use it as a deployment method.
hakjoon wrote:
Any thoughts on documenting the server side requirements so other plugins can enable similar functionality? Or better yet some code (rubs hands greedily).
Certainly. The code on my end is pretty simple. I’ll need to add the ability to customize the output and then I can release the code. All I do is query the textpattern table to get an article listing from the Textpattern Plugins section on my site. Then I grab some meta data from the txp_plugin table and publish an RSS feed. The PlugInstaller builds its plugin listing based on that feed.
Assuming plugin developers are using zem’s plugin template and allowing people to download the encoded plugin file from their site, anyone should be able to publish a feed. The only difference will be how to generate it.
hakjoon wrote:
Thanks. This one was pretty useful for me so I imagine it would be for anyone to publish their plugins.
mrdale wrote:
Functionally then, the dev would format plugins in a standard way, and a variant of your plugin would check all the sites that have signed up. maybe the user specifies in a field, a list of plugin developer sites to watch. Maybe, some who sign up get included by default. Heck, the developer list could also be an update able item
I think the ability to list any and all plugins and allow for them to be installed in this way would be great. I’m just not sure what the easiest way to fit all the pieces together would be yet.
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Re: [plugin] [ORPHAN] rss_pluginstaller - automatic plugin installer
Awesome man, Thanks! I just talking to a friend of mine the other day about how great this very type of thing would be! I will certainly give it a go!
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Re: [plugin] [ORPHAN] rss_pluginstaller - automatic plugin installer
Really great work Rob.
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