Plugin/behaviour/effect manager

hi guys,

i'm finally starting the development of my construct 2 plugin manager. i've had some designs, prototypes and such like a few months ago but since i was busy with 10 things at once i had no time to develop this beauty. So what's the point of plugin manager, actually - features?

I've noticed that we have a forum thread on completed plugins / behaviours / effects and they are mostly aggregated in one thread. Finding / checking / installing / using each needs a lot of time and i'm about to reduce that for you in a nice program that will "have it all".

So here are the features i've thought out for development (functional requests):

• uploading / downloading plugins (plugins from here on means - plugins + behavs + effects, but i will write plugins meaning all 3 of them)
• installing / uninstalling plugins (automatic check if they are correct, list of all installed / downloaded etc..)
• split role - developer / user - once registered you can only use as that kind of user (or i could sell as split licence, but that seems bad to me)
• plugins preview (a big screen that shows a html page provided that
• plugins links (direct download link, direct link to forum topic, etc.)
• comments (like on forum, maybe not needed since link to forum will be provided)
• bug reports (each plugin would have a bug report section where you could post a bug report, and developer in charge for that plugin would receive it through system), you could also see if bugs are fixed, marked as not a bug / not fixed and so on...
• version history - developer accounts would have control on what they have uploaded and they could comment and add descriptions to each version / updates / etc., and players could download any version available
• deprecated / unsupported / etc plugins....

add your extra ideas here and i'll take them into consideration...

i'm going to build the program using WPF C# .net framework 4.6 and mssql server (microsoft gives 10gB free space, should be enough )

tell me what you think and what would you like to see.. any ideas are good..

also Ashley i'd like your opinion and requests aswell.. (i had an idea where i would add "breaking change" version where you could add a tick to a plugin if it breaks from new construct versions, though i don't know how i would check that)...

wow, not a single reply...

I'll admit that I'm intrigued by this! Will it work with Rex's repository control?

no, this application is a new one, independent of any other plugin/effect/behaviour developer.

rex made that program for himself and his own plugins, it's a good one i'd say aswell. but he can always open an account on mine (once it's released) and upload everything there, and have much more options and control. i'm starting development tommorow, by the end of month i will have alpha version working probably. and by the end of november probably a full release.

Might want to list this in the Plugins section so people can find it easier.

I know it is far more important than other people's plugins, but people will be looking there as they are shopping for plugins. Maybe you can talk to a moderator or Sciarra to get a sticky thread, or some sort of elevated status so it stands out more than the others.

Nice work, I might try it later today.

This will be very useful. I'm just annoyed that Scirra/C2 has gone the way of Clickteam/Fusion in regard to plugins and such. This should've been made 4 years ago

i agree..

though, do you have any ideas / thoughts what else should be added / contained in this application?

Looks like you've got it all covered as far as I'm concerned. I was thinking of a ratings system to call out busted / unsupported plugins but I suppose the comments will accomplish that.

oh yeah, i had that on my mind too, but forget to write it down. added to first post.

i was thinking about something like - if last upload older then 1 year and at least 10 discontinued buttons pressed (will add that button to appear only after 1 year) - mod becomes discontinued and warning message will appear for those who still want to download it as such.

i was thinking about compatibility list aswell (example r210 - some plugin - compatible, r216 - some plugin - incompatible, but i don't know how i would check/controll that)

Wouldn't be better to just make a place in scirra store where all plugins (free or paid) could be listed, so everyone at anytime could find what he/she needs. Without using any other 3rd party stuff to download other 3rd party stuff

shinkan - actually the best thing would be if construct 2/3 had plugin manager installed in itself (where you would automatically download and install them..)

i hope you are joking when you said "place in scirra store"? i think there is only a few plugins which are paid (q3d and some phonegaps). also to find what you need you'd have to browse, open page, open next page, change "show per page" and such stuff - which is a lot of clicks. my plan is to make it all simple and fast.

yes you will have to download and install the program but it will at least ease the workflow - developers can upload their rar directly to the server, no need to fiddle with dropbox and get links and paste them, they will recieve bug reports in the program, and so on... good workflow for devs.

and users are just 1-2 clicks from finding what they want. also filtering - way faster then searching nonfiltered web page.. and so on..

stay tuned you'll see

I was not Scirra Store should have a place for free stuff as well not just paid only.

Anyways, there were few people here already who tried to make plugin repository for everyone to use and have easy access to, so let's see what you will come up with.

yes i've seen some of them, and rex's is the closest one to what i want to achieve, but on a much larger scale..

though i will need to get plugin developers support once it's done, because it won't be a easy job to get them to upload their work through my system. but once they do, it will be a relief for everyone

kinda ran into an obstacle.. there is no free mssql servers for hosting.

anyone got any ideas where can i get a free (at least 5GB) database server ? (mysql, mssql, anything like that..?)

Ashley - can you help? can scirra host a small mssql? (maybe for a small one time fee?)

i'm looking for some testers that are willing to use my system for plugins once it's done... for feedback.

— are you up for it?

also i'd like to invite everyone else who uses plugins to try the non developer mode (downloading and installing, commenting, bug reporting etc..)

(p.s. it's not done yet, just want to know if there's someone who would help testing) ? estimated time to completion - cca 2 weeks