Repository for custom UCIs, Themes, etc

[boofus]

HI:

As a new S9 owner, I've noticed how many roll-your-own (user created) UCI, Themes, widgets, etc are available for the S9. It's quite literally an "embarassment of riches"!!

I may have missed it, but if I didn't, what's needed (IMHO) is a single repository for EVERYTHING available. This should be in addition to (not replacing) all the current download locations.

If enough of you think this is a good idea, I am willing to put an FTP site for such a purpose and to publish the logon credentials here for everyone to use.

It it REALLY becomes popular, I could even set up a new webpage, where each item could be listed by name, has a description, list the version number, etc, etc, etc

I pretty much have unlimited resources (storage, bandwidth, etc) for this sort of thing.

Comments encouraged (especially if POSITIVE).

Boo

[CrowdAds]

[ultrauber]

That's an amazing idea! Five stars. You might want to check the iaudiophile.net s9 forum - I think there's a sticky with all of the uci's (on that site)
However, the designers may have copyrighted them, etc, so you'll probably have to get each to developer to upload his/her own.

[boofus]

Originally Posted by ultrauber

That's an amazing idea! Five stars. You might want to check the iaudiophile.net s9 forum - I think there's a sticky with all of the uci's (on that site)
However, the designers may have copyrighted them, etc, so you'll probably have to get each to developer to upload his/her own.

Thank you.... Looks like you are the only one that feels that way. 99 reads and one reply. I am underwhelmed!!!

I'm working on the web page anyhow. Forget the FTP stuff. Instead, anyone (if they want to) will be able to enter fields into a database record for their own stuff and everyone will be able view all the entrys. Fields I plan to capture:

Name of "Enhancement"
Author
Version
Download link
Description
Preview Picture(s)
Prerequisites (like wall paper requiring a certain UCI)
Type (wallpaper, custom UCI, game, widget, etc)
Rating

Anything else I can think of or is suggested here

Boo

[ultrauber]

Originally Posted by boofus

Thank you.... Looks like you are the only one that feels that way. 99 reads and one reply. I am underwhelmed!!!

I'm working on the web page anyhow. Forget the FTP stuff. Instead, anyone (if they want to) will be able to enter fields into a database record for their own stuff and everyone will be able view all the entrys. Fields I plan to capture:

Name of "Enhancement"
Author
Version
Download link
Description
Preview Picture(s)
Prerequisites (like wall paper requiring a certain UCI)
Type (wallpaper, custom UCI, game, widget, etc)
Rating

Anything else I can think of or is suggested here

Boo

Awesome, some of those should be optional though. Also, some people might not want to put their author name. I know I would just put ultrauber

[boofus]

Originally Posted by ultrauber

Awesome, some of those should be optional though. Also, some people might not want to put their author name. I know I would just put ultrauber

Certainly..... Many will be optional. I would welcome constructive critisizem/ideas from anyone. I have the input form (VERY primitive) up and running. By tomorrow night, I should have the review page up and running as well.

Since you are the only one so far that seems interested, I'll PM you with the web site address so you can be the FIRST to see my ideas.

After it's stable, I'll post the address publicly. Whether or not anyone wants to use it will make no difference to me.

Thanks for your interest, Ultra.....

Boo

[ultrauber]

I assume the index of themes is coming later, because that's just the submission form, right?
Otherwise, that's a great layout. My only suggestion would be to switch the background, or use a image editor to blacken it a bit and make the text pop out more.

Frankly, I'm surprised nobody else has seemed interested in it. Probably the skepticism is from the fact that it will be a trip to get all the developers to add it there. Considering that the dl link is to be on other sites anyways, though, anyone could just put up ones they didn't make. For completeness' sake.

[boofus]

Originally Posted by ultrauber

I assume the index of themes is coming later, because that's just the submission form, right?

Of course.... It wouldn't be a lot of use, if folks could only INPUT, but not be able to browse/search the whole database, now would it?

The browser part should be up and working (again primitive) before the day is over. Thanks for your interest. Refer back to the PM I sent your for how to access the browse side once I get it up later today.

Boo

[ultrauber]

Nice job. You might consider allowing one to click on the different categories to sort them (so that by clicking "type" I could sort by type). Also, the download links should link instead of just point. Or, even cooler, have it show the main domain (eg claw.wikidot.com) and then link that to the actually download (eg claw.wikidot.com/download). Then there's the whole subject of adding links to related websites, abi threads, having searchability, subcategories/folders, etc etc etc. However, you should wait and see if anyone shows more interest before you devote your life to it Usually threads don't get to more than 3 posts before there's more then 2 posters.

Keep up the good work!

[Claw]

From my perspective, I already update two web sites when I change my uci (IA and ABI) - adding a third site for updates doesn't appeal to me. It may be ok if the UCI is relatively static though.

[gebal]

Originally Posted by Claw

From my perspective, I already update two web sites when I change my uci (IA and ABI) - adding a third site for updates doesn't appeal to me. It may be ok if the UCI is relatively static though.

As long as you gave permission to the likes of Boofus (and I'm sure he could get together a team of moderators too), they could just lift the info off IA and put it on to the database for you.

I'd be happy to pass information across, given the blessing of the busier developers.

[ultrauber]

Originally Posted by gebal

they could just lift the info off IA and put it on to the database for you.

I'd be happy to help.

[boofus]

Originally Posted by gebal

As long as you gave permission to the likes of Boofus (and I'm sure he could get together a team of moderators too), they could just lift the info off IA and put it on to the database for you.

I'd be happy to pass information across, given the blessing of the busier developers.

Thanks to all respondents. You are getting the idea of what I envisioned. It is not to make more work for the devs. Claw, I know that you are pretty much the "top of the food chain" when it comes to enhancements. I figure this would be a co-opertive effort, however, and "volunteers" would do most of the work; devs themselves would only have to give permission for their links to be posted in this list.

Initially, EVERYONE would be given the links to ADD (only) items and of course VIEW items; only I would be able to delete records, modify records, etc. For those that would want to help, there could be additional links that would allow certain others (mods) these same priveleges. Obviously I will want to get these mods going ASAP to lighten MY workload (coding is ENOUGH for me).

Right, now the whole thing is in "proof of concept" stage. Actual implementation is VERY primitive and needs lots of work. Only Ultrauber has actually seen it. I will be sending PMs to Claw and Gebal shortly, should they want a "sneak peek".

I have seen an "master indexing" paradigm of this sort on other sites where many users were hacking away at some neato piece of electronics. For example, www.WDTVforum.com. which supports Western Digital's Hard Drive Media Player; those guys have actually replaced the entire firmware with a "home grown" version.

Finally, Ultrauber, I've made note of all your suggestions. All are good ones and some I'd already thought of myself. A big one for me will be the addition of Captcha to cut spamming to a minimum. Remember, I just gotten started on this thing and a Web programmer, I'm NOT.

Stay tuned.

Boo

[gebal]

the string length restriction on the fields is really impractical, specifically with image urls. Also, if this is to be official, you'd be doing yourself a favour if this was at least replicated onto IA. I'm still really interested in helping out with this though, so keep me in loop

[boofus]

Originally Posted by gebal

the string length restriction on the fields is really impractical, specifically with image urls. Also, if this is to be official, you'd be doing yourself a favour if this was at least replicated onto IA. I'm still really interested in helping out with this though, so keep me in loop

Strings can be about any length that WE decide is appropriate. The DL link should be a REAL link so you could just go straight to the DL site by clicking. I also need to figure out how to store images in a MySQL database. Other improvements as WE decide upon them.

This is NOT just about me. I'm trying to do something to "pay back" for all the help I've gotten here (and may get in the future).

Based upon you and Ultraber seeming interested in helping out (mods, maybe) I will proceed with more effort in the coming week.

Thank you both. (and yes once we publish to the world, a sticky both here as wel as IAudiophile might be in order. The mods of both sites will have to make that decision, however.

Thanks again.

Boo

[amit]

Originally Posted by boofus

Strings can be about any length that WE decide is appropriate. The DL link should be a REAL link so you could just go straight to the DL site by clicking. I also need to figure out how to store images in a MySQL database. Other improvements as WE decide upon them.

I would strongly advise against storing images in the database, just store them on the filesystem with the path of the images stored in the DB, so that access times would be minimal. To store long strings, like URLs, I hope you are not using char or varchar data type, use TEXT data type instead!

Also, best would be to lock down addition/modification/deletion of UCI listings behind a password locked interface so that only authorized people can do such operations. The listings can be available for viewing to anyone but such operations would be restricted to select people (you & other volunteers). And if you want to go a bit more advanced then you can put in roles for each user account as well so that you can control who will be able to edit/delete a listing besides being able to add them.

[boofus]

Originally Posted by amit

I would strongly advise against storing images in the database, just store them on the filesystem with the path of the images stored in the DB, so that access times would be minimal. To store long strings, like URLs, I hope you are not using char or varchar data type, use TEXT data type instead!

Also, best would be to lock down addition/modification/deletion of UCI listings behind a password locked interface so that only authorized people can do such operations. The listings can be available for viewing to anyone but such operations would be restricted to select people (you & other volunteers). And if you want to go a bit more advanced then you can put in roles for each user account as well so that you can control who will be able to edit/delete a listing besides being able to add them.

Thank you amit, for the advice. I am NOT a mySql expert and your points of text over varchars for longer stuff (description in particular; it needs to be long enough to make it understandable) will be implemented; as well as the image stuff. Actually all your ideas seem to be good ones.

Now, I just gotta find the time to work on it this week!!!

Boo

[amit]

@boofus
You don't need to be an expert, its just using a BLOB data type for storing stuff which can't fit in char or varchar (both of which have a limit of 255 chars). If you need help then do head over to MySQL Docs & view the manual online or you can download it as PDF or searchable CHM file. Whenever in doubt, no better place than manual to look at!

I checked out the links you sent me, I think it would be best if the forms etc were in plain xHTML styled with CSS, there really isn't any point using Flash here, just a suggestion.

[ultrauber]

Originally Posted by gebal

the string length restriction on the fields is really impractical, specifically with image urls.

Word. I vote either this or a system that automatically tinyurls stuff.

[Dr4g0nF1y]

@doofus & amit

I am a webdeveloper (it's how I make my living), and a S9 owner, and tbh, the idea of a repository did cross my mind on multiple occasions.

If you guys need help or even webspace, I'd be happy to help.

[amit]

Originally Posted by ultrauber

Word. I vote either this or a system that automatically tinyurls stuff.

Storing short URLs would be a bad idea. Suppose the short URL service that's chosen shuts down after sometime, then what happens? You'll be stuck with a bunch of invalid URLs & will have to fix all of them. So better to store full URLs to original source.