Could use some help!!!

Hello everyone,

I think this is the right board to post this in. I recently created a user interface for an application that would manage and store EV, EVO, and EVN plugins; OSX style!! I built this interface using Apple's xCodes Interface Builder, a free application by the way! Anyways; I do have future plans/upgrades I will want to make to this application down the road, so don't think I won't have some great surprises for you guys. Here is the description and some pics of how this program will act and run.

Here is the jist:

1- There is a brief setup process for EV(CON) Plugin Manager. The user will be asked to locate three files; EV folder, EVO folder, and the EVN folder. If you only have one of the games you will obviously only need to browse and find the one you have. Once that is done, EV(CON) Plugin Manager will be ready to start organizing your plugins for all three EV games. The user need only fill out the "Game Finder" preference. The "Plugin Storage" preference doesn't need to be changed or edited by the user to make EV(CON) Plugin Manager work.

http://www.ambrosiasw.com/forums/index.php...pe=post&id;=1563

2- User acquires a Nova Plugin. He/she selects the "EV Nova" tab at the top right hand corner of the main window. He/she drags and drops the EVN plugin into the organizing box that is inside the EV Nova tab. EV(CON) Plugin Manager will then create a read-only copy of the plugin and put it into the "~/Library/Application Support/EV(CON) Plugin Manager/EVN Plugins" folder. It will then show up in the box to be enabled or disabled. He/she decides to enable the plugin. EV(CON) Plugin Manager will then copy the corresponding file in the Application Support folder into the EVN plugin folder. He/she decides to test the plugin out; so he/she selects "EV Nova" in the "Select Game" box in the upper left hand corner of the main window. He/she then presses "Start Game" and it will start the EVN game. He/she does not like the program and decides to disable it. When he/she disables the plugin, EV(CON) Plugin Manager will erase the corresponding plugin in the EV Nova plugins folder. Note that it will not delete that same plugin in the "~/Library/Application Support/EV(CON) Plugin Manager/EVN Plugins" folder. That way if the user ever wanted to play it again; he/she could.

http://www.ambrosias...pe=post&id=1562

3- User acquires a Override Plugin. He/she selects the "EV Override" tab at the top right hand corner of the main window. He/she drags and drops the EVO plugin into the organizing box that is inside the EV Override tab. EV(CON) Plugin Manager will then create a read-only copy of the plugin and put it into the "~/Library/Application Support/EV(CON) Plugin Manager/EVO Plugins" folder. It will then show up in the box to be enabled or disabled. He/she decides to enable the plugin. EV(CON) Plugin Manager will then copy the corresponding file in the Application Support folder into the EVN plugin folder. He/she decides to test the plugin out; so he/she selects "EV Override" in the "Select Game" box in the upper left hand corner of the main window. He/she then presses "Start Game" and it will start the EVO game. He/she does not like the program and decides to disable it. When he/she disables the plugin, EV(CON) Plugin Manager will erase the corresponding plugin in the EV Override plugins folder. Note that it will not delete that same plugin in the "~/Library/Application Support/EV(CON) Plugin Manager/EVO Plugins" folder. That way if the user ever wanted to play it again; he/she could.

4- User acquires a EV classic Plugin. He/she selects the "EV Classic" tab at the top right hand corner of the main window. He/she drags and drops the EV plugin into the organizing box that is inside the EV Classic tab. EV(CON) Plugin Manager will then create a read-only copy of the plugin and put it into the "~/Library/Application Support/EV(CON) Plugin Manager/EV Plugins" folder. It will then show up in the box to be enabled or disabled. He/she decides to enable the plugin. EV(CON) Plugin Manager will then copy the corresponding file in the Application Support folder into the EV plugin folder. He/she decides to test the plugin out; so he/she selects "EV Classic" in the "Select Game" box in the upper left hand corner of the main window. He/she then presses "Start Game" and it will start the EV game. He/she does not like the program and decides to disable it. When he/she disables the plugin, EV(CON) Plugin Manager will erase the corresponding plugin in the EV plugins folder. Note that it will not delete that same plugin in the "~/Library/Application Support/EV(CON) Plugin Manager/EV Plugins" folder. That way if the user ever wanted to play it again; he/she could.

5- The reason EV(CON) Plugin Manager creates a read-only copy of the plugin and places it in the Application Support folder is because if anything happened to the plugin in the EV plugins folder, got corrupted or anything, it wouldn't want to re-copy the bad version into the Application Support Folder. If you were a developer; you could go to the preference menu in EV(CON) Plugin Manager and select "Plugin Storage." This would allow you to pick a different folder other than Application Support to copy and organize the files.

http://www.ambrosiasw.com/forums/index.php...pe=post&id;=1564

6- When a newer version of a plugin comes out. All the user has to do is download it, and just do the normal instal procedure into EV(CON) Plugin Manager. EV(CON) Plugin Manager will automatically replace the older buggy version of the plugin in the Application Support folder.

Btw - the Preference windows now are called "Preferences" instead of "Window" as displayed in the two pics.

*Please note I estimate it would only take a day for someone to fill in the blanks (code) to get all my fancy buttons to work. Mostly; it is just copy pasting of files. If anyone is interested in filling in the code; please contact me.
- I am also registered as a beta tester on these forums.
Contact Info:
E-mail: trinix@sbcglobal.net or minitrin@aim.com
AIM: unixpro4
Dot Mac: minitrin@mac.com
Skype: minitrin

(EDIT) Oh; feel free to post away. Tell me what you think. What would you guys like in future updates. But keep in mind, I have to first get this app up and running.

This post has been edited by Trinix : 12 April 2006 - 10:40 PM

I just think that while EV/EVO support may be easy to do, it's fairly pointless and serves only to complicate the interface and confuse the user. I don't imagine anyone actually using it for EV/EVO. Plus, "EVN Plugin Manager" would be a much nicer name than "EV(CON) Plugin Manager".
Like I said before OS X utilities shouldn't really be made for OS 9 programs, especially as some of us are on Intel now and can't make use of this ability even if we wanted to.

This post has been edited by Guy : 12 April 2006 - 11:50 PM

@guy, on Apr 12 2006, 11:49 PM, said in EV, EVO, EVN plugin manager:

I just think that while EV/EVO support may be easy to do, it's fairly pointless and serves only to complicate the interface and confuse the user. I don't imagine anyone actually using it for EV/EVO. Plus, "EVN Plugin Manager" would be a much nicer name than "EV(CON) Plugin Manager".
Like I said before OS X utilities shouldn't really be made for OS 9 programs, especially as some of us are on Intel now and can't make use of this ability even if we wanted to.

As strange as this may sound; I really enjoy making plugins for EVO. Not EVN, not EV Classic. Just EVO. Plus, as I have seen in a brilliant quote once; "It is hard to make something foolproof because fools are so ingenious." Therefore I have a need for it. The interface makes a lot of sense; that doesn't mean someone can't easily go screw it up. I also have a plan. Remember your previous feature requests to me in the other forum? Well, I got a pretty ingenius way for all of this to be coming together. When this app has reached it's final version, it will be "wow." lol.

Now all I need is for someone who knows xCodes to take a day off; fill in the gaps of my program, and it will be ready.

Well okay, but could you at least call it simply "EV Plugin Manager"?

@trinix, on Apr 13 2006, 05:03 PM, said in EV, EVO, EVN plugin manager:

Now all I need is for someone who knows xCodes to take a day off; fill in the gaps of my program, and it will be ready.

Right... you mean someone to actually make the program. An interface doesn't count as a program - if someone else were to actually make it I'm sure they'd use their own interface, though feel free to give them suggestions on how it should look. I almost thought you were actually doing something constructive here but now I'm not so sure. And btw, it's "Xcode" not "xCode".

This post has been edited by Guy : 13 April 2006 - 12:49 AM

@guy, on Apr 13 2006, 12:48 AM, said in EV, EVO, EVN plugin manager:

Well okay, but could you at least call it simply "EV Plugin Manager"?

Right... you mean someone to actually make the program. An interface doesn't count as a program - if someone else were to actually make it I'm sure they'd use their own interface, though feel free to give them suggestions on how it should look. And btw, it's "Xcode" not "xCode".

It's half and half. Can't have a program without a UI and a UI by itself is virtually useless.

His point is right, though; it takes far more work to actually write the program than to design the user interface. I could create a user interface in ten minutes, but spend the next few hours programming, especially in the case of something with a user interface this dynamic. File management is fairly easy. It's the user-end concept of "organizing" the plug-ins that would take a lot of work. Right now you're kind of acting as if they were just adding the holes in a program you created; in reality, what would be happening is that they would be creating a program that you did a little work on.

@orcaloverbri9, on Apr 13 2006, 01:10 AM, said in EV, EVO, EVN plugin manager:

His point is right, though; it takes far more work to actually write the program than to design the user interface. I could create a user interface in ten minutes, but spend the next few hours programming, especially in the case of something with a user interface this dynamic. File management is fairly easy. It's the user-end concept of "organizing" the plug-ins that would take a lot of work. Right now you're kind of acting as if they were just adding the holes in a program you created; in reality, what would be happening is that they would be creating a program that you did a little work on.

I did say a day did I not? I didn't say a few hours.