Plugin suggestions etc.

[gmx]

support for pictures... like when i'm installing winamp display a screenie of winamp [local source]

[Wraith]

Maybe I should rephrase - suggestions for non-graphics plugins.

As in functionality.

There will be a bunch of different displays available, both unattended and selectable. How they pan is is going to be decided in the coming weeks.

For now, I'm looking for functional plugsins - the ones to do certain functions like adding users or executing programs.

[Providence]

what do u mean? selectable .. i personally dont understand

just like a switch~~~

there is a main process that will execute autoinstallation after 30 seconds(just a example) if it does not detect any mouse click or keyboard input to its window which provides all the software prepared to autoinstall(of course it is a combo box,so user can unselect some software;errr.....just like components select,but has time limit or input interrupt intriger)

err... i mean a selectable window,just like the following:

before installation begin just popup a selectable window,then if no input autoinstallation will be executed in 30s,otherwise 30s will be canceled and user can make his choice

it is clear?sorry for my poor english

[buckeyeXP]

How about a multi-disk plug in...

i still havent sprung for a DVD-R.

[Providence]

what do u mean? selectable .. i personally dont understand

just like a switch~~~

there is a main process that will execute autoinstallation after 30 seconds(just a example) if it does not detect any mouse click or keyboard input to its window which provides all the software prepared to autoinstall(of course it is a combo box,so user can unselect some software;errr.....just like components select,but has time limit or input interrupt intriger)

err... i mean a selectable window,just like the following:

before installation begin just popup a selectable window,then if no input autoinstallation will be executed in 30s,otherwise 30s will be canceled and user can make his choice

it is clear?sorry for my poor english

also i have another idea:in selectable installation,there are some relative applications,for example:if you choose .netframe not to be installed,also .netframe sp1 will automatic unselect forcely(if you want to select it,it's no way unless .netframe is available)

in the script i mentioned last time,it uses a paramater "noselect" to achive this destination.

by the way,i don't know how to upload files to the forum so i can't give out the script i mentioned

[BAM]

Hi Wraith,

I see a lot of people making new archive's of programs or whatever.

Isn't it an idea to make a plugin for extraction possible?

[big_gie]

@Providence

A kind of dependency... That could be nice!

Actually I put all my related installation inside the same <item></item> so disabling it will disable all related...

@BAM

7zip could be nice, since its open source. But I'm not sure it will be really usefull. chaning:

            <execute display='Extraction'

                  program='%SOURCEDRIVE%\Programmes\7zip\7z.exe'

                  arguments='x -y -o%windir%\Temp\Install\dtools %SOURCEDRIVE%\Programmes\dtools\dtools.7z'

                  hide='true' />

to:

            <extract display='Extraction'

                  source='%SOURCEDRIVE%\Programmes\dtools\dtools.7z'

                  target='%windir%\Temp\Install\dtools' />

really needed? I'm not sure... 7zip do its thing perfectly, lets keep what other tools are meant to be.

[Providence]

@Providence

A kind of dependency... That could be nice!

Actually I put all my related installation inside the same <item></item> so disabling it will disable all related...

nice idea,but i don't like too many <item>s,so it happened to me

of coz,i will consider your advise in my next unattended project

just funny that i found the following by accident,just selectable installation,but i don't know xplode2 will have this feature

Planned additions:

Installation Selection

Planned for XPlode 1.2.0

Ability to add a setup script to allow selection of programs during running of XPlode.

strongly expecting this feature~~~

[BAM]

Okay, u are right on that one, but i don't want 7zip installed.

If its like "easy" (?) for Wraith to build it in, why not!

I know i would like it in one tool!

Think about it... there is *.rar *.zip etc etc etc.

And then you would have...uhhh.. *.xpl

[trainee]

I apologize if these small ideas have already been posted:

A method for continuing execution with an additional xml file

I like to run XPlode with an xml file that is located on a network share whenever possible. This allows me to tweak my XPlode installation as neccesary without having to burn a new CD. I have 1 CD for each of my different computers which are hardcoded to access their specific XML file. Now that conditionals are being integrated it would be great if I could have 1 CD for all of the computers. The idea being that a generic XML file could be run, conditions compared (like computer name), and then have additional xml files executed without leaving XPlode. I realize that this may be a very difficult addition/plugin for very little additional functionality and in all likelyhood could be similarily executed via a batch file *but*, it would be cleaner and more versitile if it were integrated directly into XPlode.

Installation weights

I often install combinations of large and small programs. Some like dot net framework or registry tweaks are small and install quickly. Others like Visual Studio take a very long time to install. Trying to have XPlode guess how long something will take to install is pretty much impossible, but it would be nice if I could arbitrarily assign each item a relative weight so that the progress/completion bar will better reflect the current install point. This seems like a functionality thing to me, but please ignore if its too graphics related.

Error/Problem invoked interactivity

I like Providence's suggestion about a delay-timer scenario for attended/unattended installations. Adding to that, it would be nice to have a Retry/Skip style error handling. Maybe a file specified in the xml can't be found (like I was dumb and forgot to copy the file to the correct location on the network share), then XPlode could halt and ask if I would like to retry the file copy or skip it. Again this is a lot of work for very little payoff, but IMHO it would make XPlode even more robust and allow for better salvaging of some bad installs.

I'm sorry that these suggestions are so minor, but I'm also happy that XPlode is already so complete that I couldn't think of anything more significant. Thank you for all of your hard work and dedication Wraith.

[orson_pl]

hi ...

i was wondering ... is it possible to do plugin that will be fill info in setup forms ??

like this:

<filler> <-- nicename;)-->
  <window title="setup - instaling blah blah"> <-- title of main window -->
     <form title="step 1 - cole..... blah blah">
        <input value="takenFromRegPluginFromWindows">
        <input value="CompanyFromRegAlso">
        <input value="serial">
        <input value="path">
        <input press title="next"> <-- autoclick -->
     </form>
     <form title="step 2 - components">
        <input checked> <-- for radio/bool types-->
        <input unchecked> <-- for radio/bool types-->
        <input checked> <-- for radio/bool types-->
        <input checked> <-- for radio/bool types-->
        <input press title="ok"> <-- autoclick -->
     </form>
  <window>
</filler>

i don't know it is possible but this could be great !!

regars

[trainee]

Okay here's another: a module to download files from http and/or ftp locations.

my shortest post ever!

[Providence]

maybe xplode can use page sheets(columns) to seperate apps in using way

just like:hotfixs/popular tools/media tools and so on

after selected,also can still use the old style

[Rico.JohnnY]

my recommendation is..

why not add some fuction like the username & password to install apps for different PCs according to the current computer name?

i.e.

if the argument "TargetPC"(like the username and password) is specified, the current job will be done for that PC. Otherwise,will be done by default (for any pc)..

thus...i can use just one xml file to do the job for multiple PCs according to purpose intead of wasting time creating each xml file one by one....

what do you think?

[Wraith]

You could create a plugin to ask for one, which could set an environment variable if used.

Then, with the basic checks I'm adding for conditional statements, you could get it to check that variable, and hence select which things to use.

If I get time, I'll try and implement a simple thing for that.