Shoutbox

    To patchou or any other Writers of MsgPlus


         in the Next Version or the one after that, i thought maybe if this can be done, is it possible to have a Plugin Updater within MsgPlus? like the Extension Updater Button within  Mozilla FireFox

MsgPlus! itself is updated already...but I don't think it will automatically be able to check for updates of plugins itself, after all it can't know the mirrors of Plugins made after the release...if the plugin itself automatically know the update, that may work...but it would have to access the internet itself, and most plugins wouldn't do that, unless there was some prewritten easy to mod openSource code

good plugins tho, good talk to patchou and maybe get "added" to a list somewhere on Patchou's server. Then when messenger plus accesses the net, it goes to one site and then there can find all the latest versions for all the plugins. This way it would be more efficient to keep your msgplus and plugins updated. I'm sure most plugin makers would want to be on this update site or whateva it may be , instead then of packaging each plugin with an update checker, msgplus could be set to check for updates once a week or day. sounds good to me
hopefully Patchou and plugin makers like it
Cheers
Chestah

There are so many plugins that maintaining such a database would prove both difficult and time-consuming. And, given a lot of plugins don't even make it to the Plugins Database anyway, there's no guarantee they would end up in the AutoUpdate thing as well.

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Originally posted by Demandred
like the Extension Updater Button within  Mozilla FireFox

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However, as you might have noticed... far from every Firefox extension supports this feature. Most of the Firefox extensions that don't do automatic update do it because of the bandwith it costs. The same thing will count for Messenger Plus! Automatic Plugin Update. Even when a update file is less then 1kb and updates are set to once every week... it will still put a big load on the server.

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Originally posted by Anubis
I don't think it will automatically be able to check for updates of plugins itself, after all it can't know the mirrors of Plugins made after the release

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Like Plus!'s own update mechanism does (or did?) is check a small file once every week, that files contains the latest version number and URL where it can be downloaded. So that should work.

quote:

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Originally posted by Chestah007
good talk to patchou and maybe get "added" to a list somewhere on Patchou's server. Then when messenger plus accesses the net, it goes to one site and then there can find all the latest versions for all the plugins. This way it would be more efficient

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That sounds like the best option to me, altough there a some problems you'll get which such a system, which you need a good solution for to make it work. Think at things like bandwith, who hosts the update files and who hosts the actual plugin installer itself, what happens when a links gets taken of the net (like bandwith exceeded/server load to high), how to keep tracks of all the latest versions, who decides who can be added to the automatic update list, how to intergrate this into Plus!.

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Originally posted by Chestah007
instead then of packaging each plugin with an update checker, msgplus could be set to check for updates once a week or day. sounds good to me

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I agree, having every plugin have it's own updater would be a bad thing. Also some users think that plugins are part of Plus! itself, and when they see their plugins make connection to they internet, they will held Patchou responsible for it and blame him his software contains a dodgy virus. I know this sounds crazy to a lot of people, but it is what happens wether you like it or not. Take a look at an example from download.com

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Originally posted by Download.com user review
"Gd funct. Bad Stability"
Msn plus provided veri good feature esp. the InkReDist. (Handwritting) which allows you yo draw pics while chatting but it will cause problems like unable to deliver msg to other users. THE WORST is, it will install spyware in to IE (Internet Explorer) and also add values to REGEDIT (some configurations takes places when u install programs) Those vaules add are harmful. One of the thing it will add is to run some spyware at the background of your windows. I have adaware to block it but will be unable to use msn plus unless i aloow them to add the values, but once you allow them to add values to it, there goes your IE. Good luck to users that are using it. I would recommand people to think twice before using it.

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Anyway, i think havind an automatic update checker for plugins would be a very good thing, however... is it possible? The biggest thing is bandwith, server load and most importantly, is Patchou even interested in this. So let him speak first. After that you could look into technical deatails.

well maybe not having Patchou having to moderate and approve the entries, the people that have plugins and are serious about them will want to have it in a position that more users can access it and update it. so of course not all of them will go into the database, just the people serious about their plugins, which i'm hoping most of the good ones will .
there could be a php script or sumthing where people can upload the details of their plugin. e.g latest version, upload the latest version to the central site (could link to their plugins but then might be unreliable for some downloads). then that would ease the amount of time other people have to spend in this databse.
plugin maker makes new plugin -> updates it in the database through a simple php script -> uploads file to the central server -> maybe specifies a date when auto-updating will be turned on? -> then author can release it on their site etc. Maybe even have a option to upload a patch file so u don't have to re-download the whole thing (this may be 2 complex tho).
A simple system wouldn't be bad, its only to notify of updates and to download. except of course i'm not completely sure how much effort it would take to do this and if its possible good in theory tho
Chestah

All nice ideas in theory... However, in practice: one big mess which doesn't work half of the time...

Like said before, it requires that the plugin developers are VERY serious about their work and not lazy at all. The plugins, sites and data must be maintained all the time. From all the plugins that are made, only a very very small handfull are actually maintained and updated if nessecairy. If you roam these forums you'll notice right away that many plugins are written and then forgotten about (even by their creators). Many creators also don't bother writting decent readme's, or at least give some very small explaination or even let it be listed in the official database.

Then there is indeed the fact that developers wont have access to the maintained "versioncheck-file" on the server and they need to contact someone whenever they want to change it. Again, prone to delays, mess and redundant things...

All things considered, a good theoretical idea, nothing more...

PS: it would be a good start if everyone who ever made a plugin and published it here on the forums, submitted his plugin to the official database including (including!!!) proper instructions, description of the plugin, link(s) to thread(s) (or site) for more info, etc... But since this isn't even happening, I realy don't see a point in making a central update thingie...

I was going to reply but Cookie said what I wanted to say: I could do it but I won't because I can't be sure of what would get installed on your computer. Plugins are extremely popular nowadays (500,000 downloaded each month from my site) and some people may want to take this opporunity to install some stuff you wouldn't want to see on your computer. However, plugins themselves could create an auto-update feature. That's really not a difficult thing to do.

i think its something best left down to the individual developers, then it's not Patchou's responsability if anything goes wrong etc and the developers will have easy access to the updates files.

I have an auto update in Screenshot Sender 3 and as Patchou says, its not difficult and only took me 10 minutes to add.