The Plugin Browser v2.0 (Jan 16, 2023)

[toe_head2001]

25 minutes ago, alexo said:

it would be nice to show which plugins are out out of date.

 

How would the Plugin Browser know that information? There's no centralized update manifest for plugins. Would you like to create and maintain one?

[alexo]

Doesn't the plugin download an index?  It must come from somewhere.

[toe_head2001]

4 minutes ago, alexo said:

Doesn't the plugin download an index?

 

Would you like add version information to the index?

[alexo]

I don't know what the index contains, or where it comes form.  I did not see that information in the thread.

 

[toe_head2001]

3 minutes ago, alexo said:

I don't know what the index contains, or where it comes form.

 

If you're willing to put in the work, I can give you a copy of the Index. If/when you've done the work, we make your changes official (as long as @Ego Eram Reputo is fine with that).

Updating the version number once a month is easy, but initially adding all of them is the difficult part.

[alexo]

I don't know if I have the time and knowledge to work on it.

If the index does not contain the upload timestamp and/or file hash then obviously it is going to be difficult to do something like this.

 

[Ego Eram Reputo]

1 hour ago, alexo said:

I don't know if I have the time and knowledge to work on it.

 

It takes a significant amount of time to maintain a resource of this quality.

 

1 hour ago, alexo said:

If the index does not contain the upload timestamp and/or file hash then obviously it is going to be difficult to do something like this.

 

It does not. The Index only has the original release date (or the last update for major plugins like CodeLab).

 

Releasing plugins into the wild is an ad-hoc system at best. Authors do it as they see fit. Almost none notify me of ongoing updates or versions, so maintaining the data would be a nightmare.

[alexo]

Thank you for the explanation, EER.

 

I'm just going to brainstorm a little...

 

I assume (and please correct me if I am wrong) that the plugin uses the data from the plugin index, which tracks the posts in the forum, either automatically or manually.

The most effective way of doing it IMHO would be to scrape the data directly from the DB.  Even if some manual massaging would be needed, it would still be a good starting point.

I do not have access to the Invision DB schema so I cannot say whether it tracks the modification time of edited posts, but I know that most (all?) other BBS systems do, and if that information is available, then it could indicate that a new version may have become available.

Just a thought.

[toe_head2001]

14 minutes ago, alexo said:

I assume (and please correct me if I am wrong) that the plugin uses the data from the plugin index

 

Correct.

 

14 minutes ago, alexo said:

either automatically or manually.

 

The index is manually updated with new plugins. None of it is automatic.

 

12 minutes ago, alexo said:

I do not have access to the Invision DB schema so I cannot say whether it tracks the modification time of edited posts, but I know that most (all?) other BBS systems do, and if that information is available, then it could indicate that a new version may have become available.

 

That's not an accurate/reliable way to track plugin updates. There are plenty of reasons to edit a post besides uploading a new plugin version. For example, fixing broken links and images, fixing typos, ect.

[alexo]

2 hours ago, toe_head2001 said:

That's not an accurate/reliable way to track plugin updates. There are plenty of reasons to edit a post besides uploading a new plugin version. For example, fixing broken links and images, fixing typos, ect.

 

That is correct of course, and it's the reason I said "may have" above.  It could serve as a flag to look at the post, since the process is manual.  A diff from the previous version would make it easier to distinguish between an actual update and fix.  Still not a good solution but it could work.

 

A better approach would be to look for a distinctive pattern within the message body (Such as "~~version=1.2.3.4~~" for example) and let plugin authors know that if they include it and keep it updated, an automated system could track the versioning.  The ones that want to take advantage of the feature will do it.

 

[BoltBait]

Why not just download any zip files and scrape the included DLL files for the version information?

 

Well... I, for one, have several versions of my plugin pack available (one for 3.5.11, etc.) and the DLL versions would be all over the place.

[darrenvox]

On 4/24/2020 at 11:11 PM, visionary said:

Obviously I have more than just the default plugins, or else I wouldn't be saying that. My issue here is that the plugin index file wasn't downloaded

it should show only the default plugins, maybe it also finds add ones but it looks' like it only just does those...

it did a good job of finding the plugins i was looking for,,, the most important one is the search function...

 

i would in the future find a way to download plugins from the site like VLC or others do... or is there already a plugin for that 

[toe_head2001]

Here's an updated test release for .NET 5.

<removed>

 

 

This will only work with paint.net v4.3+.

Your bookmarks within the Plugin Browser will also be lost, and you'll need to recreate them.

Edited October 3, 2021 by toe_head2001

[Ego Eram Reputo]

On 7/31/2021 at 4:15 PM, toe_head2001 said:

This will only work with paint.net v4.3+.

 

Plugin Browser now appears well down the menu. It used to appear at the top - immediately under the last submenu. Did you remove the tilde (or whatever trick we used to force it to the top)?

[toe_head2001]

19 minutes ago, Ego Eram Reputo said:

Did you remove the tilde (or whatever trick we used to force it to the top)?

 

I removed the dash a long time ago, and replaced it with a much better trick to make Plugin Browser appear at the top.

Unfortunately, string sorting/comparison in .NET 5 is ignoring my trick. 😞

I have a backlog of things to investigate and fix, and this is one of those things.

[toe_head2001]

Version 1.4 has been posted.

 

This version has compatibility with Paint.NET v4.3.

 

Your bookmarks within the Plugin Browser will also be lost, and you'll need to recreate them.

[PaintOnBrush]

45 built-ins/ 0 plugins

how to update plugin index catalog?

installed in program files.

 

Edited March 26, 2022 by PaintOnBrush

[toe_head2001]

2 minutes ago, PaintOnBrush said:

45 built-ins/ 0 plugins

how to update plugin index catalog?

 

This is not a plugin catalog.

It's reporting that you have 0 plugins installed. After you've installed some plugins, that number will increase.

[PaintOnBrush]

it

21 minutes ago, toe_head2001 said:

 

This is not a plugin catalog.

It's reporting that you have 0 plugins installed. After you've installed some plugins, that number will increase.

It only shows the plugins that are built-in. there was not a prompt to download index. I even tried 'running as admin' to make sure there wasnt a permission error with the 'program files' folder

Edited March 26, 2022 by PaintOnBrush

[toe_head2001]

15 minutes ago, PaintOnBrush said:

there was not a prompt to download index.

 

And there will never be a prompt to download the index.  The index automatically downloads whether you like it or not.

[PaintOnBrush]

Then why am I only seeing built in plugins?

[toe_head2001]

As I mentioned before, this is not a plugin catalog. It will only display plugins you already have installed.

 

However, if you perform a search, a list of suggested plugins (with download links) will appear.

[toe_head2001]

Here's a pre-release of the Plugin Browser for the Paint.NET 5.0 beta.

 

In addition to the compatibility with Paint.NET 5.0, it has these changes:

• You can now apply multiple filters
• When you find the Effect you want in the list, you can now run it by double-clicking on the list item.  No need to move your mouse over to the "Run Effect" button.
• Minor theme improvements.

 

Let me know if you find any issues.

 

 

[AlexDolmatov]

Only visual notes.

1. Long names do not fit, i.e. there is no wrapping or tooltip.

2. Overlaying icons on top of text, i.e. in addition to the first point.

3. There are options to think about the UI of an empty field with alternative search filters (alphabet, author). For example, add sorting items alphabetically and in reverse order, or write "all". Ideally, change the layout of the elements.

4. It is interesting to search for a single character. Does it make sense or limit the minimum number of characters? It might be worth dividing it into heading searches and description searches.

5. In addition to the previous point. We see descriptions without localization (at least filter names), and viewing these descriptions is not displayed in the standard view (without search). Surprise - hidden text.

6. Find a description. Select a filter. Search again. For the duration of the search, we see the icon of the selected filter, the rest disappears.

7. Something seems to break when displaying a large amount of text in the right margin. Look at the strange text for the last item "Invert around primary color". When searching for "Invert around primary color" or searching for "Maximilian" we don't see this glitch.

8. Sorry. I did not immediately understand that the search works immediately with the catalog on the site. The information above may be slightly inaccurate. Here somehow it is necessary to designate the place of the search or do the search filter for local plugins separately.

9. If possible, then from the description found in the directory, determine installed plugins. For example, to show the plugin icon to the left of the name (in the description). Clicking on the icon highlights (framed/colored) the installed plugin in the left column.

10. "Question" (?) in the window title refers to the main topic. I do not know if it is necessary to change the link to the code for the test version.

 

Edited December 7, 2022 by AlexDolmatov
10

[AlexDolmatov]

paint.net 5.0 beta (build 8376) & Plugin Browser 1.4.9.2 beta.

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