paint.net is now available on the Windows Store!

[Rick Brewster]

9 hours ago, TrevorOutlaw said:

Question for you Rick...is that a one time payment for the right to use PDN through the Store or will I have to make recurrent payment whenever PDN has a new update released?

 

I ask this because some software makers charge for even having updated version.

 

BoltBait answered this, but just to confirm: one-time payment. If I were going to charge for updates, I would need to make that very clear up front.

[Rick Brewster]

1 hour ago, sue in vermont said:

Hi Rick, I tried to get your program through Microsoft, but it says my Windows 7 Ultimate is not supported and it will only work on Windows 10.  Found the free download and will try it out. (I assume it is the same version?) Will donate the same amount when I find that it is working. 

 

That's correct -- the Windows Store is only for Windows 10. (Which I highly recommend you upgrade to, but that's another discussion entirely...)

 

And yes, they are the same functionality. The Store version has the benefits that I outline at the top of this post, namely fully automatic/background updating (that's the big one ), easier installation (esp. when setting up a new PC), and better reliability for updates. We'll see if I can get additional benefits in there, but for now that's what we've got

[DrewDale]

1 hour ago, welshblue said:

 

Good question.  

Having both versions on my PC now, and intending to buy the Store one when the trial is up, is it ok to delete the one (and there's only one) in the add/remove programme window.

 

 

I would keep both, but after updating the 'classic' version and encountering this phenomenon ; opening a pdn file by double clicking opens up the classic version, which I've got to shut and manually open the Store one

 

I uninstalled the one in Add/Remove programs and the store version is working OK. Just remember to copy/paste your effects, file types and shapes to the self made folder mentioned in the first post Rick made.  

[Rick Brewster]

Yup, just uninstall whichever one you don't want to keep.

 

If you uninstall the Classic one, it shouldn't delete your plugins. They'll still be there in C:\Program Files\paint.net\{Effects, FileTypes, Shapes}. You will have to manually migrate them to the new location, however. And as we get more people using this stuff, maybe we'll even get some kind of automation for it. We're stillon the frontier right now  

[TrevorOutlaw]

4 hours ago, Rick Brewster said:

 

BoltBait answered this, but just to confirm: one-time payment. If I were going to charge for updates, I would need to make that very clear up front.

 

I appreciate the clarification.

[duble0]

 

On ‎30‎/‎09‎/‎2017 at 2:50 AM, Rick Brewster said:

… Well, I’m not gonna pay for it.

That’s fine. Just use the “Classic” version like you always have. It’s worth checking out what the Store release has to offer though. Maybe you’ll change your mind, but if not … ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Rick why you don't consider the possibility to publish on the Store two apps: one with advertising that will be display during the start up of Paint.NET and another one with payment but without advertising?...you can redirect also your internet users to the Store, in this way, who don't want pay can "give his substain" anyway

[Rick Brewster]

2 hours ago, welshblue said:

Out of curiosity ... will every update take time to propagate ?  I purchased it from the Store after reading this: 

 

The Classic release checks about once every 10 days for updates, so if you move to the Store release then you’ll probably have updates several days sooner than usual (on average).

 

Then reading this in the 4.019 update thread:

 

 I expect the Store version will be “behind” the Classic version by a day or so, pending Microsoft’s certification and server propagation.

 

I know it's nothing new for me, but must admit to feeling slightly confused.  It might be better to omit the first quote if the Store version is always going to be behind the 'classic' ?

I'm not moaning.  But you know down the line someone will ...

It really makes no difference to me, £4 is nothing for the years of fun/ learning I've had with PDN

 

Yeah it's not going as fast as I want. This is a big change to the release process, so growing pains are inevitable. Hopefully the latency between these two releases will drop significantly, and soon.

 

For most releases it should be easy to get closer to a synchronized release by just slightly delaying the Classic version's announcement and release. The 4.0.19 update was a hotfix, though, and needed to get out the door ASAP, so I wasn't willing to wait. I'm keeping in touch with someone at Microsoft and hopefully we can make sure that hotfixes get quicker attention, at least.

[Rick Brewster]

No worries, I didn't see it as a gripe

[Rick Brewster]

3 hours ago, duble0 said:

 

Rick why you don't consider the possibility to publish on the Store two apps: one with advertising that will be display during the start up of Paint.NET and another one with payment but without advertising?...you can redirect also your internet users to the Store, in this way, who don't want pay can "give his substain" anyway

 

I did evaluate many possibilities, including something similar to that. There's no technical limitation preventing that. I just chose not to do it that way.

 

Honestly I just don't like and don't want ads or nags inside the app. That's a terrible experience; I want the app to have 1 authentic experience. The "please donate!" tip jar during the updater is pretty much the best experience: users don't get nagged a lot and they can just use and enjoy Paint.NET, and I still get to say "please donate" with high visibility and without imposing. "Oh yeah, I've been using Paint.NET and getting a lot of value out of it, I suppose I will donate!"

 

Charging for the Store version allows you to get fully automatic updates, which is really awesome, while also directly supporting the development of the project. You get something, I get something, and you still have choices.

[nitenurse79]

Any idea when the store version of PDN is going to available for update ?  Almost three days since it was available in it's classic version.

[StephanP]

And counting...

I guess this is where the upside of the Store app has its downside.

Automatic updates, be it at a couple of days delay.

I'm experiencing the same with other apps. It's another factor to count in in choosing the Store App or the installer version.

[Rick Brewster]

There are bound to be hiccups and problems in any big change to the release model and process.

 

Over the next few updates I expect this time to decrease through a combination of Microsoft getting faster, and of myself getting accustomed to the new process.

 

This update is a bit of an outlier because it's a hotfix ... I wasn't expecting to have to push something out so soon after the initial release!

[Rick Brewster]

Good news -- 4.0.19 has passed certification for the Store. It's all automatic from here ("server propagation"), and shouldn't take more than 24 hours now.

[Rick Brewster]

I was able to get 4.0.19 updated on 2 of my machines just now.

 

To speed it up:

 

1) open the Store app (for example: click on the Start menu, type "store", then press Enter or click on the Store app that should show up)

2) at the top right of the Store app, click on the "..."

3) in the drop down, click "Downloads and updates"

4) at the top right, click "Get updates"

 

[trparky]

On one system I forced it to get the update via the Store, as for my other two systems they eventually pulled the update down automatically.

[BoltBait]

2 minutes ago, welshblue said:

I guess this is more of a plugin question but it does concern the Store version.

 

Now that the plugin packs that contain installers don't work with the Store version is there a likelihood that they'll become available as a purchasable add-on,  or are there plans afoot that they will work ?

 

Yes, eventually this will happen.

 

In fact, I've already rewritten my plugin installer to work with the store version.  I'm working with Microsoft to get it into the Windows Store.

 

Once I've done it, I will be sharing my code with the other plugin authors so they can do the same thing.

 

Just be aware, this is going to take a while.  Microsoft isn't known for moving quickly on anything.

[TrevorOutlaw]

Question for Rick or anyone who can help out.

 

Tonight, I was downloading a stock photo, and I had always instructed Firefox to open the image in Paint.NET, however, tonight was the first time I could not find the executable file to tell Firefox to open the image in Paint.NET.

 

I tried to run a search on my C drive.  For clarification, I have the Store version as I saw $4.99 as a great deal for a one time purchase. 

 

Edit: BoltBait, could you also tell me how to add Paint.NET resources to be used as a reference in Visual Studio with the Store version as well?

Edited October 9, 2017 by TrevorOutlaw

[toe_head2001]

5 minutes ago, TrevorOutlaw said:

I could not find the executable file...  I tried to run a search on my C drive.

That's not how Store Apps work. They work like a sandbox or a container. In short, they are isolated away.

 

Anyway, this seems like a Firefox issue in relation to all Store Apps. You'll have to save the file to disk, and then open it.

[TrevorOutlaw]

3 minutes ago, toe_head2001 said:

That's not how Store Apps work. They work like a sandbox or a container. In short, they are isolated away.

 

That's not good!  Especially if I'm trying to write a plug-in and I need to be able to tell Visual Studio to references the four Paint.NET files.

 

3 minutes ago, toe_head2001 said:

 You'll have to save the file to disk, and then open it.

 

Yeah, that's what I did.

[toe_head2001]

5 hours ago, TrevorOutlaw said:

... I need to be able to tell Visual Studio to references the four Paint.NET files.

Meh, just keep a copy of them somewhere on your computer.  I know a few plugin authors use the v3.5x DLLs, but have v4.0.x installed.

 

It would be cool if we had Nuget repo/server (like a private one; not on nuget.org) for the paint.net DLLs, but that would just be more work for Rick on every release.  Just keep the DLLs files around.

[BoltBait]

1 hour ago, TrevorOutlaw said:

Edit: BoltBait, could you also tell me how to add Paint.NET resources to be used as a reference in Visual Studio with the Store version as well?

 

 I don't think you  can.  For software development, I recommend the classic version. 

[TrevorOutlaw]

@toe_head2001 and @BoltBait Thanks for your advices.

[Ego Eram Reputo]

Another slight hiccup, some plugins which depend on external resources can't be installed due to the Store version installation folder not being available.

 

A lot of @Martin Osieka's plugins use the OptionBased library. We used to put this in the PDN installation folder.

 

Quote

Installation

- Copy the two files OptionBasedLibrary vX.X.dll/.dlc to the Paint.NET\ folder (NOT to Paint.NET\Effects\ !!!)

 

Looks like I'll have to flag these in the Plugin Index.

[toe_head2001]

3 hours ago, Ego Eram Reputo said:

A lot of @Martin Osieka's plugins use the OptionBased library. We used to put this in the PDN installation folder.

You can put the OptionBasedLibrary DLL files in the Effects folder, and his plugins will work just fine.  The CLR knows to look a few different places to find dependencies.

[Rick Brewster]

DLLs should never be placed into the main Paint.NET installation directory. Why did this become the established protocol for that library?