Plugin Archiver 2.1

Well I finally got around to making Plugin Archiver 2.1: The StuffIt Killer. I call it this because of a cool new feature which eliminates any advantages .sit may have previously had over .bin.zip :ninja:
I'm sure many people here weren't even aware of Plugin Archiver 2, as I rarely mentioned it anywhere, but now that the program is feature complete I'd like to ask for testing and feedback reports on it. So download it and give it a spin and let me know how it goes
In particular I'd like to know what people think of the interface - it's looking rather tall with the new options in 2.1 so I'm considering ways of making it shorter. Is the Archive Plugin button actually useful? Are all the options for spaces really necessary or could I just have checkbox for either leaving them or using underscores?

(edit) Plugin Archiver 2.1, final release now available on the addons

This post has been edited by Guy : 09 November 2007 - 08:27 PM

@guy, on Oct 17 2007, 01:12 PM, said in Beta Testers wanted:

Well I finally got around to making Plugin Archiver 2.1: The StuffIt Killer. I call it this because of a cool new feature which eliminates any advantages .sit may have previously had over .bin.zip :ninja:
I'm sure many people here weren't even aware of Plugin Archiver 2, as I rarely mentioned it anywhere, but now that the program is feature complete I'd like to ask for testing and feedback reports on it. So download it and give it a spin and let me know how it goes
In particular I'd like to know what people think of the interface - it's looking rather tall with the new options in 2.1 so I'm considering ways of making it shorter. Is the Archive Plugin button actually useful? Are all the options for spaces really necessary or could I just have checkbox for either leaving them or using underscores?

Plugin Archiver 2.1b1, for Mac OS 10.3 or higher

Great tool, Guy!

Just used it and it does what it says. Easy to use. Makes life a bit easier ^^

I really like what you've put in the Help menu -- now I'll just have to remember that it's there!

Is there still a hidden feature? If so, is there any reason for the Help not to explain why it's there and how to activate it? :unsure:

@terek-e-ban, on Oct 18 2007, 04:34 AM, said in Beta Testers wanted:

Great tool, Guy!

Just used it and it does what it says. Easy to use. Makes life a bit easier ^^

Ah, I was hoping you would drop by. With v2.1 you can do future releases of PlugPack in .bin.zip instead of .sit

@dr--trowel, on Oct 18 2007, 05:23 AM, said in Beta Testers wanted:

I really like what you've put in the Help menu -- now I'll just have to remember that it's there!

Is there still a hidden feature? If so, is there any reason for the Help not to explain why it's there and how to activate it? :unsure:

Heh, no that's a public feature now

I'd try this, but I don't often have plugins to archive, so sorry. I see you're getting good attention anyways.

I like the PluginArchiver. I'll need to grab the new version.

I think it works great. I downloaded it so I could archive my updates for Nebula D.O.A.

Heh, AppleScript Studio.

Nice job though. Now if only it wasn't AppleScript...:p

I'm debating whether to actually make the Obj-C one I've mentioned a few times. Mostly I can't come up with a name. But also, it may not even see any use with Plugin Archiver around.

On the other hand, it'd be a good excuse to learn more about resources in Carbon...some day, it'd be nice to make a Cocoa version of SpacePort.

Heh, yeah
If ever I can be bothered I'll rewrite it in Obj-C (which will also involve properly learning Obj-C) but hey, AppleScript Studio works fine

Where do resources in Carbon come into it? Say, um, how is SpacePort these days?

@guy, on Oct 21 2007, 05:52 PM, said in Beta Testers wanted:

Where do resources in Carbon come into it?

Cocoa, being NeXT-derived, doesn’t know about resources; that’s why my experimental Cocoa-based MissionComputer substitute only supported .rez files. For access to the Resource Manager, you need to use embedded Carbon code.

True, but resources are irrelevant for archiving purposes so I was wondering how making an archiver would be a good excuse to learn about them.

@guy, on Oct 21 2007, 09:03 PM, said in Beta Testers wanted:

...resources are irrelevant for archiving purposes...

Err... how can you usefully archive an Escape Velocity plug-in without access to the resource fork?

Reading individual resources is a bit different to just reading an entire fork, no?

@guy, on Oct 21 2007, 09:03 PM, said in Beta Testers wanted:

True, but resources are irrelevant for archiving purposes so I was wondering how making an archiver would be a good excuse to learn about them.

Because it would be a good excuse. I never said it would be part of the process.

Well since no one's made any comments for changes I guess I'll just do a final release at the end of the week. All I've done since b1 is changed some tooltips, I think.

This post has been edited by Guy : 29 October 2007 - 03:55 AM

And we're done. Built with Xcode 3, if that makes any difference

This post has been edited by Guy : 09 November 2007 - 08:28 PM