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Re: asv_plugin_installer (based off of rss_pluginstaller)
The initial plans never materialized, but I’m playing around with a few ideas.
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#14 2007-12-29 01:12:32
- net-carver
- Archived Plugin Author
- Registered: 2006-03-08
- Posts: 1,648
Re: asv_plugin_installer (based off of rss_pluginstaller)
If plugins were to advertise their dependencies, this tool could possibly grab some of them automatically.
— Steve
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Re: asv_plugin_installer (based off of rss_pluginstaller)
I apologize if this is OT. I’ll move it to its own thread if it is.
I’ve been working with some folks who are trying to wrap their minds around sections, pages, forms, etc. It has me thinking, so I guess I’m thinking aloud at this point.
I really like the concept of the plugin, and would like to see it developed more. Even better from an admin stand point would be if something similar ended up in Textpattern itself – even if it wasn’t until crockery.
A tangent:
Does anyone recall Rob’s “White and Wild” Theme? It was a theme he created that could be installed like a plugin. It is probably the easiest, slickest method I’ve seen to-date. (mcw & hcg templates are nice too). Rob created it using a plugin that I don’t think he released publicly called rss_theme_packager.
While I liked how easy it was to install, at the time I thought it seemed organizationally wrong to have a theme in the plugin list. It still feels odd. That aside, this plugin got me wondering about Rob’s approach again. Would it be possible and advantageous to expand this plugin or create something similar to manage both traditional plugins and themes that can install like plugins?
With the feed plugin that goes with it, designers could easily advertise their templates, and even provide updates for them. Plus, if a template requires various plugins, it would be easy to include the relevant feeds so they could be installed as well.
Combined with mcw_templates and tools like Textmate w/ the Textpattern bundle, this might make Txp even more attractive and create an even “easier to use” entry point. Perhaps we even might gain ground on WordPress’s reputation for lots of easy to install templates. :)
Perhaps ied_plugin_composer could be tweaked to edit the template plugins as well, if that would be useful.
I know various templating solutions have been proposed. But since it keeps running through my mind, I thought I’d throw the question out there and see if folks more knowledge than me thought it might have merit.
Thanks
Mike
Last edited by maverick (2007-12-29 04:28:59)
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Re: asv_plugin_installer (based off of rss_pluginstaller)
ok guys – this went dead for a while, but I finally got around to finishing up a working version. There are still several areas that need to completed (i.e. caching) but I’ve been able to successfully run the plugin against Rob Sable’s pluginfeed and my own. I’ve created two plugins (distributor and the installer).
I was almost ready to distribute when I realized I was still using Rob’s old magppie code still. Everything will be ready to go by this weekend.
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Re: asv_plugin_installer (based off of rss_pluginstaller)
variaas wrote:
Everything will be ready to go by this weekend.
Nice one variaas. Forgive me for not knowing more about this, but does this plugin have to use specific feeds? Have you been following the thread on the textpattern.org redesign? I went off on a tangent but wet put me back on track with a simple solution for telling when a plugin has an update available. Something like that — or a feed or simple SOAP request — would be mighty handy for telling when new plugin versions are available.
Does this plugin have that sort of thing bult-in, or could it be extended to pull that info from a repo/database such as textpattern.org and offer a link to the author’s site/plugin itself if the versions differ? Or have I got the wrong end of the stick and that sort of thing is better as a separate plugin?
Last edited by Bloke (2008-08-29 09:55:47)
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Re: asv_plugin_installer (based off of rss_pluginstaller)
bloke – I’ve talked to Alicson about txp.org before and we’d have to write a custom distributor plugin for txp.org. Essentially developers can write their own distributor plugin as long as the output is a feed with a certain layout. The distributor plugin I wrote creates a new tab under extensions, where the developer just pastes the plugin code (serialized) into a textbox. That code is then added to a table, and a file called “plugins.rss” is updated and made available. Once I release the plugins, I’ll include the structure of the plugin feed or you can look at Rob’s pluginfeed to get an idea.
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Re: asv_plugin_installer (based off of rss_pluginstaller)
ok there are testing versions available:
asv_pluginstaller – this will connect to plugin feeds and display plugins. Once installed through the plugin tab, go to the “Help” and click “install” to install the tables and prefs.
asv_plugin_distributor – this will let you create a plugin repository and a plugin feed. Once installed through the plugin tab, go to the “Help” and click “install” to install the tables and prefs.
These are early versions, so there may still be issues, but so far things are looking good in my tests.
Requirements:- cURL enabled
- SimplePie
You can use my feed for testing purposes.
Last edited by variaas (2008-08-30 23:55:12)
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Re: asv_plugin_installer (based off of rss_pluginstaller)
asv_pluginstaller – “badly formed plugin”
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