Tuesday January 31, 2006
Tuesday January 31, 2006
Struts -- The Scenic Route
Different users have different needs and one of those needs is to get up and running as quickly as possible when they are new to some technology. Hence, quick start guides. NetBeans IDE has a whole slew (wait a second while I check that spelling, yup I was right) of these. For details, see the docs page for the NetBeans 5.0 Release. However, one ongoing internal discussion is: "How quick should a quick start be (to be done quickly)." Well, some are of the persuasion that a quick start guide should be really quick, the user should probably take an absolutely minimum number of steps and then -- whammo -- see something magical on their screen. I can see that argument (but then, I wonder, if a user wants to see something quickly, why not just open a sample and run it).
But, whether or not a quick start guide should be "really really quick", or "really quick", or just "quick", I'm of the persuasion that believes that a quick start guide should also teach something meaningful, and not just rush someone through something without pausing for breath. So, this is a slow build up to... the long awaited (well, by me, anyway, but I've only had myself to blame since I've been the one writing it) "NetBeans IDE 5.0 Quick Start Guide for the Struts Web Framework". Now, in the annals (quick, another spellcheck, yes, I got it right) of quick start guides, even those that are just "quick", I realize that this "quick start guide" is probably as quick as molasses (i.e., not quick at all). Still, at the end of it you should basically have a pretty good grasp of what Struts is all about. Throughout the tutorial (contrary to anyone's definition of "quick start"), you'll find definitions of concepts such as "action class" and "actionform bean class" that lie at the heart of the Struts paradigm. (And for which I should thank Chris Webster.)
So, anyway, if anyone out there feels passionately about the meaning of the term "quick start", please leave a message so that docs writers everywhere (but principally here at NetBeans) can add real user opinions to the decision-making process when defining quick start guides for future NetBeans releases.
And, in the meantime... why not take the scenic route through Struts by reading the brand-new-but-not-so-quick NetBeans IDE 5.0 Quick Start Guide for the Struts Web Framework. It is written for the absolute beginner (based on a few blog entries of mine from some months ago and, prior to that, based on an application built by the great NetBeans QE guy Karel Zikmund who now works for Microsoft in Seattle), who is interested in not only how Struts works in the IDE, but also how it works conceptually, and who has a little bit of time on their hands...
Jan 31 2006, 11:15:20 AM PST Permalink
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Monday January 30, 2006
Another Useless NetBeans IDE Tutorial
Imagine you're me. You spend quite a bit of time writing tutorials for plug-in module development in NetBeans IDE 5.0. For example, you write the NetBeans Help System Plug-in Tutorial. Step by step, the reader is shown how to create all the twiddly little files that are needed before you can start writing help files for your helpsystem. (And, at the end, the reader has fallen into a cunning trap—ignorance can no longer be an excuse for not including a helpsystem with their plug-in module.) But, then, you look in the latest builds, that are available from the download page on http://www.netbeans.org. What do you see in the New File wizard!? Well, take look at this picture:
Now, if you're me (and probably, only if you're me), you're thinking: "Doh! Now my &%$#@$%$# tutorial is obsolete!" However, if you're the rest of the world, it's great news—setting up a helpsystem is as simple as selecting a template from the New File wizard. And then you get all the basic files you need, including a sample HTML file (which has a small tribute to the tutorial—the sample text you'll find in this template is "This is the greatest plug-in in the world!"). All you then need to do is create a property called "jhall.jar" in the nbproject/private.properties file (so that you can compile the helpsystem) and then you can just start adding HTML files and linking them together (don't forget to register each topic in the map file, table of contents file, and index file).
By the way, if you look at the screenshot above, you'll see two additional brand new templates: "Module Installer" and "Update Center". Now, I'm not sure what that Module Installer template is all about, but that Update Center template looks pretty interesting, hmmm... let's take it for a spin...
Jan 30 2006, 03:58:31 AM PST Permalink
Saturday January 28, 2006
Further Search Facilities for NetBeans IDE 5.0
In Send Text from the Editor to Google, I wrote about an extension to Ludo's Google Toolbar that lets you send lines of text to Google, straight from the Source Editor (i.e., no typing needed in the textfield in the toolbar). I've taken it a step further—now the user can select a search engine (Google, WebCrawler, Altavista, and DogPile):
When the user clicks the button in the toolbar, the default browser is opened, the selected search engine is found, and the current line in the Source Editor is sent to it. Eventually the NetBeans Progress API should be incorporated, but, until then, the following dialog box is displayed instead:
One thing I'm going to need to learn (probably from one of Sandip's great modules) is how to select a single word, instead of a line, from the Source Editor. And then I'll add a second button to the toolbar—the user won't only be able to select search engines but also whether the current word or the current line should be sent to the browser.
Jan 28 2006, 10:25:11 AM PST Permalink
Friday January 27, 2006
Module Dependencies and Managing NetBeans Platforms
I've now got Iván's Execution Profile module working for both NetBeans IDE 5.0 RC2 and for the post-5.0 development builds. So if you register my Update Center (which is here), you'll find the module here:
To get the module working for both 5.0 (or, at least, the RC2 release) and the post-5.0 dev builds, I played around a lot with the NetBeans Platform Manager (you can find it under the Tools menu):
If you use the NetBeans Platform Manager, you can use the features of the very latest dev builds while still making sure that the end result is compatible with an earlier version of the IDE. For example, every few days I get a new dev build, because I want to keep up with ongoing developments and play around with the latest stuff, such as the "Rename", "Move", "Copy" and "Delete", which is available for module projects in dev builds, but not in the 5.0 series. However, I want the plug-in modules that I end up with to be usable by people using 5.0 (but, I'm assuming everyone is on RC2, so am not going to test plug-in modules for earlier versions than that). So, to make this possible, I registered a different platform (which could be an IDE or the NetBeans Platform itself, which is just a subset of the IDE, or, better put, the NetBeans Platform is the basis of the IDE) in the NetBeans Platform Manager, and then used the "NetBeans Platform" drop-down list in my project's "Libraries" panel (in the Project Properties dialog box) to select it. Then, whenever I build the module project, it compiles against the modules that are in the selected platform. And, when compilation fails, I just remove and re-add a module in the Module Dependency list in the "Libraries" panel (doing this refreshes the project.xml file with the correct version of a module dependency). However, it would be nice (and much simpler) if I could just right-click the project.xml file and choose "Refresh". Maybe I'll create an RFE for that.
I fiddled around a bit, using the above strategy, and then somehow ended up with a version of Iván's module that works both in RC2 and the post-5.0 dev builds. I thought that was a bit odd. Maybe the module worked for both all along. Anyway, the module worked for me, both in my RC2 build and in a dev build that I downloaded yesterday. (It would be good if someone/s out there would try it out in their RC2 installation and would indicate whether it installs and works ok for them.)
This brings up another point—caveat emptor. The good thing about update centers is that the creator of plug-in modules can very easily make plug-in modules available to the world. The bad thing is that the user has no guarantee whatsoever that the module won't blow up the IDE and cause destruction and mayhem everywhere. That's why http://www.nbextras.org is a good deal. At least there you know that the plug-in module you're downloading has been through some sort of process—someone out there other than the creator of the plug-in module has not only tried it out, but found it non-destructive and even useful. But, while my plug-in modules are still in a very early test phase, and also while I'm putting samples together than aren't complete but that nonetheless demonstrate some intricate point, I'm going to continue making them available via my own update center. Once they're more mature (and useful), I'll contribute them to http://www.nbextras.org.
Finally, if you've been using someone's update center (such as the Beta or Dev Update Centers in the IDE, or my own update center, or Sandip's, or Masoud's, etc.), then here's a great opportunity to share your experiences and ensure that your issues and concerns are dealt with: Welcome to the AutoUpdate Survey. It won't take more than 5 minutes, but it might result in all your frustrations being resolved forever.
Jan 27 2006, 04:51:58 AM PST Permalink
Thursday January 26, 2006
Origami and NetBeans IDE 5.0
Origami is the ancient Japanese art of paper folding. You can do wonderful things with origami. The good thing is, you don't need to be Japanese. And, with NetBeans IDE 5.0, you don't even need paper. Look at the first screenshot below: you see something you'll only have seen in real life if you've worked through the NetBeans Manifest File Syntax Highlighting Module Tutorial. However, you also see... a really big brackety thing on the left side, between the left sidebar and the start of the lines of text:
Now, when I click on the "-" icon at the top of the big brackety thing (which is called a "code fold"), the text disappears inside the code fold and you only see its description ("Big Fat Manifest File Fold"):
Now, before you start thinking: "What's the point of this overly convoluted explanation of what is nothing more than a code fold?", look in the Projects window in the screenshots above. Highlighted, you see the files that you need to create to set up your own code folds. So, the point of this blog entry is not to tell you what a code fold is. The point of this blog entry is to tell you that soon you will be able to create plug-in modules that include code fold support. When, for example, you create an editor for a new file type, you'll not only be able to add syntax highlighting and multiview editors, but you'll also be able to add code folds (and, later, code completion). There are still a few kinks in the code, so I'm not making it available in my Update Center yet and I'm not working on a tutorial for this stuff yet either, but once the code has been smoothed out, you too will be able to practice the ancient Japanese art of paper folding in NetBeans IDE 5.0.
Thanks to Marek Fukala for working on the sample.
Jan 26 2006, 08:48:18 AM PST Permalink
Wednesday January 25, 2006
Manual Creation of Autoupdate Descriptors
Hurray, Masoud Kalali's Update Center is up and running! You can now get his great Gmail Checker very easily (and Masoud will be able to publish updates to his Gmail Checker even more easily). Register the URL to his Update Center in the IDE (as explained several times before in this blog):
http://www.solarisict.com/updates.xml
And then you too will see this in the Update Center wizard (I've successfully installed his module in NetBeans IDE 5.0 Beta 2 and also in a post-5.0 development build):
Masoud had a bit of trouble setting up his Update Center. He'd put his autoupdate descriptor and NBM files on the host, but when he (and I) tried to access the NBM files, we couldn't download them. Masoud wrote to say that this was because of a problem with the ".nbm" extension: "We had to add a new MIME extension to our host configuration, which is control panel dependent. I added a new MIME, with the 'nbm' extension and Zip file types. Now NBM files are treated as ZIP files, so the host controller allows the downloading of these files." So, anyway, maybe other people encountering this problem will now know what to do.
Next, a great tip I picked up from Sandip today. But, before going any further, be careful of this tip. It is a bit of a hack and not recommended. Still, if you're impatient and want to put your Update Center together without using a post-5.0 development build (which creates the autoupdate descriptor for you), take the following steps:
- In your filesystem (i.e., outside NetBeans IDE), right-click the NBM file.
- Open the file in WinZip (or some other utility that can open it, depending on your OS, etc).
- One of the files you'll find inside the NBM file is called info.xml.
- Paste the content of that file in an XML file, between the following tags:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?> <!DOCTYPE module_updates PUBLIC "-//NetBeans//DTD Autoupdate Catalog 2.3//EN" "http://www.netbeans.org/dtds/autoupdate-catalog-2_3.dtd"> <module_updates timestamp="00/00/15/24/01/2006"> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?> <!DOCTYPE module_updates PUBLIC "-//NetBeans//DTD Autoupdate Catalog 2.3//EN" "http://www.netbeans.org/dtds/autoupdate-catalog-2_3.dtd"> <module_updates timestamp="00/00/15/24/01/2006"> PASTE THE CONTENT OF INFO.XML HERE <license name="no-license.txt"><![CDATA[[NO LICENSE SPECIFIED] ]]></license> </module_updates>
- Right-click the NBM file in your filesystem and then look at the value for "Size on Disk". It should say something like "28,672". Remove the comma. Now put that number (i.e., "28672") as the value of the "downloadsize" element.
- Now look at the "distribution" element and make sure it points to the location and name of the NBM file. (By default, the "distribution" element has this value: "http://www.netbeans.org".) In my case, because the NBM file will be in the same directory as the autoupdate descriptor, I have this value: "./executionprofile_nb41.nbm".
And I think that's all! (Anyway, based on the notes I made, that's all I had to do.) You now have an autoupdate descriptor. (You can also add <module_group> tags around the <module> tags, if you like, to group the modules in your Update Center.)
So, finally, by going through the above process, I added the NetBeans IDE 4.1 version of Iván Rivera Rodríguez's Execution Profile plug-in module to my Update Center. Notice, though, that both modules have the same name (unfortunately, I don't think you can set the name via the autoupdate descriptor). The way you can tell the difference between them is by looking at the long description (slightly clunky solution to this problem, but it's a temporary fix):
So, if you're a NetBeans IDE 4.1 user who needs to set runtime arguments or JVM arguments per class, rather than per project, now you know where to go. (There's only one difference between the 4.1 version and the one mentioned yesterday: the 4.1 version doesn't include help files. But, the plug-in module is pretty self-explanatory and what are you doing using NetBeans IDE 4.1 anyway? Isn't it time you started playing around with NetBeans IDE 5.0 already?)
Jan 25 2006, 10:49:35 AM PST Permalink
Tuesday January 24, 2006
Set Runtime and JVM Arguments... Per Class!
Ever since writing Provide Runtime Arguments for Selected Class Files in NetBeans IDE 4.1, I've been in touch with Iván Rivera Rodríguez, from Spain. His first e-mail to me started:
This exact limitation has prompted nearly all of the co-workers to whom I pitched NB4.1 to reject it and go straight back to 3.6 --except for the Eclipse fanboys, of course ;-). Most of them aren't fond of writing Ant tasks to perform "such basic tasks, that NetBeans 3.6 performs without problems" (their words).
The e-mail continued:
Such was the humiliation (I love the new NetBeans) that I set out to learn the OpenAPIs (and anything else related) to create a module for them, providing this piece of lost functionality, the Set Arguments... command. If you are interested, I can provide sources for you to study; I am somewhat wary of publishing it as I am in no situation to handle its maintenance (you know, all work and no play...); however, it sort of works in its current form.
Since then, we've been corresponding off and on a bit now and then... until... the last week or so. We started corresponding more regularly, because he was putting the finishing touches to his module. It now works for NetBeans IDE 5.0 (except, currently it only works if you're using a post 5.0 development build that you can get from the Download page on www.netbeans.org). Once you've installed Iván's module (go to my Update Center, and you'll find a module called "Execution Profile"), all your main classes will have a new node:
You can then, for each main class, specify execution (i.e., runtime) arguments, JVM arguments, and the Java platform against which the file executes:
Not bad, right? Especially considering that this missing functionality is a stumbling block for many people—I've seen this come up over and over again on mailing lists. (By the way, there's also a NetBeans IDE 4.1 version of this module, but I haven't been able to work out how to create an autoupdate descriptor for it, so I couldn't put it in my Update Center. If you want it, please leave a message here. And, remember, the version in my Update Center will not work if you're using Beta 1, Beta 2, RC1 or RC2. You must get/have a post 5.0 development build from the Update Center.)
Finally, the module also contains a set of help files, so if you're stuck, lost, and confused, go here:
And, here's the exact spot where you'll find Iván's module:
Jan 24 2006, 07:59:09 AM PST Permalink
Monday January 23, 2006
Drag and Drop from Component Palette to Multiview Editor
Right now there are so many small, useful plug-ins coming in that it's a bit overwhelming (at least, from where I'm sitting). The main question I'd like to ask plug-in module authors is: What specific support would you like, in terms of advice or doc support or suggestions? In other words, what would make your life (even) better?
And, FYI, my favorite plug-in module for today (by the way, notice that word "today", and think about it, and then think about how a few weeks ago I would definitely have written "my favorite plug-in module for this month") is Martin Adamek's Autoupdate Descriptor Transformer. When you install this module, a loader is added for the autoupdate descriptor. (By the way, the autoupdate descriptor is the XML file that describes your NBM files and that your users need to register in the Options window in order to be able to access your NBM files from their Update Center wizard). Then, you can right-click the autoupdate descriptor and choose "Transform to HTML". When you do this, you get a beautiful HTML file that lists all your modules. (You can change the CSS of the module, so that a different result is produced.). For an example, click here to see mine. Wonderful, right? (If you want to check out another plug-in, one that was announced a few minutes ago, check out FindBugs Plug-in for NetBeans.)
Now, on to other things. For those who're interested in the Component Palette, here's a question from Dave Havrda (he's been mentioned once or twice in this blog): "Do you have any examples of drag and drop from the common palette to a multiview editor? When my source (text) view is up I dont have a problem. But when I want to drag to my diagram view I cant get anything to work."
I asked NetBeans developer Stanislav Aubrecht to provide a sample for this scenario. And here's the result, a textarea that lets you drag and drop items from the palette onto the text (you can also drag text from the textarea into the palette, and then you will have created a new item in the palette):
To inspect the sources of the above plug-in module, go to my Update Center:
http://blogs.sun.com/roller/resources/geertjan/updates_geertjan.xml
And there you'll find the plug-in module that will install the sample:
You'll then find the sample in the New Project wizard:
A tutorial on this will follow. In the meantime, happy drag and dropping!
Jan 23 2006, 10:53:30 AM PST Permalink
Sunday January 22, 2006
Send Text from the Editor to Google
One reason why I've been eagerly awaiting Sandip's plug-in module for line tools is that I wanted to explore the sources. When Ludo first blogged about his Google toolbar for NetBeans IDE, I thought: "Hmmm. I wonder if it would be possible to do the search straight from the editor, rather than from a textfield in the toolbar." But, unfortunately, I didn't know enough about the editor to work out how to do it. Then, recently, Sandip made the sources of his line tools available in Contrib (they're also downloadable from his blog, by the way). And so now I've been able to marry Ludo's work with Sandip's. Check out the new "Send Line to Google" toolbar button below:
When you click the toolbar button, the current line (or, if multiple lines are selected, the last line of the current selection) is sent to Google—if the default browser isn't open, it is opened, then the selection is sent to it, and Google returns the search results.
You too can play with this module (if you're using a post-5.0 development build, available from the download page on www.netbeans.org). Go to my Update Center, which is at the location below (see previous blog entries if you don't know how to register my Update Center):
http://blogs.sun.com/roller/resources/geertjan/updates_geertjan.xml
There, in my Update Center, select the brand new Text API Sample:
After installation, you will have a new sample, in the usual place:
After doing the above you will, in addition to installing the Google search extension, be able look at the sources and extend my plug-in module with additional line-manipulation functionality. (You'll notice I've reproduced Sandip's framework in this module, so that extending it is very easy—extend AbstractLineAction and then add your new line operation to the LineOperations class.)
Jan 22 2006, 06:54:29 AM PST Permalink
Friday January 20, 2006
Copy and Move Code in the NetBeans Source Editor
A few days ago I blogged that Sandip will "soon be announcing a few more plug-in modules... and making them available in his Update Center. I've had the chance of playing a bit with his new plug-in modules already and, honestly, I'm willing to bet that every single NetBeans user (in the universe) will find them useful..."
Well, check out his blog entry for today! If you go to his Update Center (as explained in his blog), you'll find the Line Tools plug-in module:
What it does is that it lets you copy or move selected text in the editor. To facilitate this, you get four new buttons in the toolbar. When you click "Copy Line Up" (as shown below), all the selected text is copied to a spot directly above the currently selected text. (Or, if you don't select text, only the current line is copied.)
Not bad, huh? There are dozens of times a day, when I'm working on someone else's code, that I'm manually copying a line or a section of code and then doing my work on the original. That way, I can easily revert back to the copy if I mess up the original. But now, thanks to Sandip, the process is automated! (Maybe an enhancement of his module would be for the copy up/down actions to provide commented-out copies, so that errors aren't generated right after the copy. By the way, Sandip also provides the sources to his module, so you can play around with them and adapt them for your own purposes.) Anyway, you can see the usefulness of this module, can't you. So hurry up and get it installed already!
Jan 20 2006, 09:01:54 AM PST Permalink
Thursday January 19, 2006
Matisse in Action!
There's been a lot of praise for Matisse, as well as for this tutorial, by technical writer Talley Mulligan. (What's especially cool about that tutorial are the great flash demos with crisp and concise explanations.) However, one thing I've seen on a few mailing lists is that people want the Matisse-related tutorials and samples to show something real done with the Matisse-designed application. In other words, people don't just want tutorials that show how to make a pretty user interface with Matisse. They also want to see how an application designed with Matisse interacts with, for example, a database. Of course, there's no difference between the end result of an application designed with Matisse and an application designed with any other layout manager—the only difference is during the design phase, where Matisse simplifies life a lot. But anyway, like others on the mailing lists, I'm also someone who prefers complete, functioning applications to a series of user interfaces that don't actually do anything.
So, I've built a very small application that interacts with a Derby database. In fact, it interacts with the MANUFACTURER table, which is in the SAMPLE database that you get when you install the Sun Java System Application Server 8.2, which bundles the Derby database server. (I'd first built the application to use PointBase, but then converted it to Derby, which was as simple as changing the database URL. Nothing more was needed.) Here is the application smoothly and simply designed in Matisse (it's a bit odd that you can't see the jTable, but only the jScrollPane, though):
And here it is in action:
And, if you register the URL to my Update Center (as described here)...
http://blogs.sun.com/roller/resources/geertjan/updates_geertjan.xml
...then you can install the sample in your own IDE:
Note that I used a NetBeans IDE post-5.0 dev build (available from the NetBeans.org download page) to create the plug-in module that installs the sample. Therefore, there might be problems if you install the sample in an earlier version of the IDE. However, I doubt that there'll be problems. Try it out and see for yourself how easily your Matisse-designed desktop applications can interact with a database.
By the way, see this tutorial by Miki Shimizu if you want to understand the database connection stuff used in the sample!
Jan 19 2006, 01:20:11 PM PST Permalink
Wednesday January 18, 2006
Publish Plug-ins Painlessly! (Part 3)
Another NetBeans Update Center has hit the airwaves! (Or should that be webwaves? Or maybe "has hit the airwaves" should be replaced by "has gone live".) Sandip Chitale's plug-in modules were first made available in the netbeans.org interview "Meet a NetBeans Module Writer: Sandip Chitale". However, now they are also available via his Update Center. All you need to do is register the following URL as described in "Publish Plug-ins Painlessly! (Part 1)":
http://blogs.sun.com/roller/resources/scblog/update-center.xml
Then, in the Update Center wizard, you'll be able to pull Sandip's plug-in modules from his Update Center:
What's even better is that Sandip has started blogging! And what's even better than that is that I happen to know that he'll soon be announcing a few more plug-in modules... and making them available in his Update Center. I've had the chance of playing a bit with his new plug-in modules already and, honestly, I'm willing to bet that every single NetBeans user (in the universe) will find them useful... So, keep checking his blog for an announcement in the next few days...
Jan 18 2006, 12:04:30 PM PST Permalink
Tuesday January 17, 2006
MultiView Editor Sample
If you go to my Update Center (http://blogs.sun.com/roller/resources/geertjan/updates_geertjan.xml), as described in Publish Plug-ins Painlessly! (Part 1), you will find a new plug-in module—"MultiView API Sample":
If you install this plug-in module, you'll find a new sample in the New Project wizard (look around in the "Samples" folder). So, you can open this sample and look at the sources (and learn from them and build your own multiview editor on top of it).
When you install the sample (in the current development IDE) and then expand the top package, you'll find a file called "abc.story". This is an example file. All files with the extension ".story" are handled by the loader that the "MultiView API Sample" plug-in sample provides. Here's the icon provided by the loader:
When you open the above file, you see this content in the XML view:
And, when you click the Design toggle button at the top of the Source Editor, you'll see this:
(By the way, the content that you see in the sample "abc.story" file is, coincidentally, about creating NetBeans plug-in modules...)
And, this implementation of multiview support uses a newer multiview support API, one that is made specifically for XML files. As with several other APIs, though, this API has not been finalized, so beware of assuming otherwise.
Jan 17 2006, 08:03:07 AM PST Permalink
Monday January 16, 2006
I'm in "Ashton Kutcher News"!
Another first for NetBeans! Today my blog got a referrer from Ashton Kutcher News! This is the site providing "news about Ashton Kutcher continually updated from thousands of sources around the net". So bookmark it, quick. At first I wondered what I'd done to get listed on that site. Then I remembered... Message-Level Web Service Security and Demi Moore.
Just for fun, here are some google search strings that found their way to my site today:
- eclipse palette manager xml
- com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.dv.util.Base64
- computer registers as localhost
- eclipse tomcat HTTP monitor
- wscompile with weblogic tutorial
- debug jrun with eclipse
- jboss show display-name in log
- struts error + invalid link path to jsp
- struts-for beginners
- javax.xml.parsers.FactoryConfigurationError websphere
- JBoss auto deploy datasource
- jboss user role management
- applet tutorial netbeans 5
Jan 16 2006, 09:30:41 AM PST Permalink
Sunday January 15, 2006
Publish Plug-ins Painlessly! (Part 2)
Don't know if you know about the Explore From Here module. What it does is that it adds a menu item to packages and folders:
When you choose the new menu item, the filesystem explorer opens and you can explore the contents of the selected package or folder:
It's quite handy. By the way, on the module's homepage it says: "By now all Win32 platforms and Linux with GNOME or KDE are automatically supported."
But the really cool part is that the module author has now also created an Update Center, specifically for this module:
http://efhnbm.sourceforge.net/efhnbm_autoupdate_center.xml
(Go here to see the announcement of the new Update Center and instructions on how to use it.)
So, if you have modules out there that you'd like to publish, why not do the same? Follow the instructions in "Publish Plug-ins Painlessly! (Part 1)" to understand everything you need. If you click the link above, the one pointing to the new Update Center, you'll have a very nice example of a simple Update Center (mine is a bit more confusing because multiple NBMs are registered in my autoupdate descriptor, so the above autoupdate descriptor is much better as an example, because it contains the minimal things an autoupdate descriptor should have).
And, of course, don't forget to try out the Explore From Here module!
Update: See Part 3 for another Update Center...
Jan 15 2006, 05:19:36 AM PST Permalink