Zugg Software :: View topic

Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2006 9:48 pm

By popular demand, here are some screen shots of the new Shared Package Library in CMUD.

In the first screen shot you see the main default package view:

In this second screen, we have turned off the "Show Description" option so that each package is listed on a single line. And we have turned on the "Group by MUD" option (notice the button to the right of the MUD box in the Filter panel on the left is depressed):

In this third screen, we have double-clicked on one of the packages to see a full description. This also allows us to view all of the comments that have been posted for the package. You can add a single comment per user to a package. Double-clicking your comment allows you to edit it. Gurus or other people with special privileges can actually double-click *any* comment to edit it or remove it.

Of course, all of the normal expected stuff works: You can click various column headers to sort by that field. For example, in the 2nd screen when it was grouped by MUD we could have clicked the Author field to sort it within author by still grouped by MUD. The filter boxes on the left give you drop-down choices of MUD names, Categories, and Authors so that you can filter the list and only display packages that match your criterion. In the Name filter field you can enter a partial name and only packages containing the partial name will be displayed.

Finally, notice that on each package line it displays the average rating for the package (based upon all posted comments), and also a hyperlink to either Install the package (download it to your hard disk), or to Update the package if the version on the server is newer than the one on your hard disk.

One of the filter boxes on the left called "Status" allows you to filter or group by the Installed, Updated, or Not Installed status. So you can easily get a list of packages that your have installed which have updates available.

The Get Updates button in the main toolbar contacts the server to download all of the latest updates to the package library. To reduce server bandwidth, there is not any automatic update feature. So every time you want to see what new packages are available you have to click this button.

Anyone can browse the package library. But only registered users can download packages or submit comments. Downloading and submitting comments also requires a "forum account" on zuggsoft.com and uses your normal forum username and password. So the "author" field of the package is the same as the forum name of the person who posted it.

Those are the highlights. It works pretty well at this point, and what you see is probably what you'll get in the first CMUD beta. Comments and suggestions are welcome, but major changes or additions will probably wait until during the beta period when people have had a chance to really play with it.

Of course, the packages that are listed in these screen shots are all made-up examples that I have posted just to test the interface. They will be deleted before release and I'll be relying on other people to start uploading interesting packages.

Hope you find this cool![/img]

GURU Joined: 24 Sep 2000 Posts: 1237 Location: USA

Woot! Look at that!! I *still* get credit for stuff. :)

Btw... is that a zMUD icon on the app's titlebar?

Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2006 11:46 pm

Yeah, it's amazing isn't it! I'm sure people will be wondering how you managed to submit something to the library already :)

(yeah guys, we are joking...I use Darker's name all of the time in my test stuff...he really doesn't have a special copy or anything)

And yes, it's the zMUD icon as a placeholder. I don't want to show the new CMUD graphics yet. And yes, the graphics are done, and they are *really* cool. But you have to wait until the release to see them. Twisted Evil

Magician Joined: 09 Oct 2003 Posts: 459 Location: USA

looks niiiiiiiice...

Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2006 3:16 am

All those colors remind me of gummi candy. Yuuuummmmy!

Now I want to see more screenshots! I can't wait until beta testing starts. :)

Wizard Joined: 25 Mar 2003 Posts: 1113 Location: USA

Very nice work, Zugg! Now I can't wait to get started on developing CMUD packages. There should be a beta developer's kit, like with a console gaming system or something. ;)

Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2006 4:44 pm

Anything to get your hands on CMUD a little earlier, huh Larkin. Don't worry I share you enthusiasm. And since the first beta is set to release around my b'day, I'll just consider it Zugg's gift to me. Very Happy

Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2006 6:50 pm

Glad you like the colors. That is the new "default" theme in zMUD. It's the Office11 theme from zApp. As with zApp, you will be able to load a different theme and change the color scheme. I still have some work to do with the theming...most of it works but certain components, such as the explorer-like navigation panel on the left, are not yet themed.

Apprentice Joined: 12 Mar 2005 Posts: 195

wow! that is really really nice! more screenshots please *beg*

Beginner Joined: 09 Aug 2005 Posts: 17

The interface looks nice. I like the group by feature.

Is the MUD filter based on mud type or particular muds (from the screenshot, it looks to be particular muds)? It seems like the list might get very large very quickly and become difficult to navigate through. Also, rather than being able to search on name, I'd think searching on text might be better so that I can search the name, description, etc.

Also, it might be nice to be able to view a list of only installed packages.

Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 2:47 am

The MUD Filter is based on the name of the MUD, not the type. So yes, the list will get large. That's why the Group By feature is more useful (I think) than actually filtering.

Search on text would take a lot longer than search on name. I will probably add a more comprehensive "search" function at a later time. The current Name filter box is for quickly filtering based upon name. It's not intended to be a search that might take a while (the list of packages actually updates as you enter text in the filter box, so it's very quick).

To list only installed packages you use the Status filter that I mentioned before.

GURU Joined: 26 Jul 2001 Posts: 1958 Location: Canada

How are you going to work with Private/Guild packages?

Have it based on a "Private/Guild" login for Admin and noe for User?

Posted: Fri Mar 24, 2006 8:16 pm

Currently the system doesn't handle "private/guild" packages. I'll consider something like this in the future, but it might be an "enhanced service" that you have to pay extra for. Right now I'm focusing more on the features that everyone can use.

Wanderer Joined: 02 Jul 2002 Posts: 74 Location: USA

Don't know if this is something you would want to do, but you could release the package server portion as its own product for people to purchase and then they could set up private package sites if they wanted.

Posted: Sat Mar 25, 2006 10:14 pm

That's a possibility, although it will have to be something I do a bit later since it requires adding the ability to the client to support multiple servers. It would be hard to charge for this, however, since it's just a bunch of PHP scripts that people might just copy.

Also, I'd like to maintain more control over shared packages. With the zuggsoft site there will be review and the ability to police anything bad that is posted, ban people who post malicious code, etc. So it will always be safer for someone to download a package from our site. Setting up private areas on our site isn't a problem either, but it's just not something I've done yet.

Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 2:04 am

Just a curious question.
For those that might like to submit but not make it known that it was them will there be an Anonymous part?

Posted: Mon Mar 27, 2006 3:36 am

No. All packages will be identified with your forum name. Anonymous posts just invite too much possibility for malicious code. I also expect authors of public packages to be available to answer questions on the forums and support the packages that they write. I really see nothing positive for the community in allowing anonymous posts. Same reason we don't allow anonymous posting in these forums.

GURU Joined: 10 Oct 2000 Posts: 4379 Location: USA

I just thought of something.

Will there be any support for specifying that a Package X requires Package Y to be installed in order to work? Or will this have to be done strictly by mentioning it in the package's description? This way, people could create "library packages" providing some useful functionality that other package authors may then use in their packages. It's would also help make the event model for the packages easier for the end user since a package that relies on some event being raised can just require that some other package is installed in order to work properly, and CMUD can enforce this instead of relying on the user to make sure it is installed.

Also, it might be a good idea to provide a standard way of allowing packages to run some code when they are first installed. Another possibility is also each time the package is loaded and each time it is unloaded. Might be useful in case some initialization work needs to be done either when the package is installed or when it is loaded, or for some cleanup work.

Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2006 8:08 pm

I'll consider adding a way to store required packages. For the beginning we'll just need to make note of it in the package description.

There will be events that fire when a package is loaded. Packages don't really get "unloaded" so I'm not sure what to do there. Packages can be enabled and disabled and perhaps an event for that will be good enough. Packages get unloaded when CMUD exits, and that's a bad time to be calling scripting stuff since Windows is notorious for freeing up scripting resources while a script is still running, causing access violations.

Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 2:44 pm

Zugg, I posted this to you in a PM, but I decided that it would best be asked in a public way:

GURU Joined: 24 Sep 2000 Posts: 1237 Location: USA

Anonymous posting could always be achieved (not that anyone should DO this) by using an anonymizer proxy for visiting the forum to register, a disposal email address service to handle the required email validation, and the same anonymizer proxy for sending your package to the server.

This assumes cMUD will use either its own, or your browser's proxy settings for sending packages to the server via http.

Your package could still be removed from the server, but your identity is safe. And to reiterate, I don't recommend doing this - I'm just pointing out it's theoretically possible.

Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 6:25 pm

It's always up to the MUD admins to decide what is and isn't allowed on *their* game. If they decide that a bot is illegal, then yes, it's going to get removed from the library. And yes, someone who consistently posts unallowed scripts to the script library might get banned.

It's always important to understand the exact rules of the MUD you are playing and what they allow. Just because zMUD (and CMUD) allows you to do something doesn't mean that it's going to be allowed. MUDs often have published player agreements that state what they allow and what they don't. If they state that bots are not allowed, then yes they can ban your character for using them, or for posting them here or anywhere else on the Internet. Anonymous posting should not be used to try and circumvent MUD rules.

I want to stress that it's up to the MUD admin to decide what to allow. If I get a message from a verified MUD admin telling me that someone has broken their user agreement, then yes, I pay attention and cooperate with the MUD.

If you disagree with the rules on the MUD that you play, you should find a different MUD. There are plenty of MUDs that allow bots and will have no problem with the shared script library. There are also MUDs that have huge problems with bots and will probably ban any postings to the shared script library for their MUD. That is their right...it's their game.

However, I do not share IP addresses and never have. I don't know who told you that I gave them your IP information...that is false. When a MUD admin tells me to delete a post that violates their terms, I comply and delete the post. They are welcome to try and use your forum ID to determine your MUD character, but I don't give them any IP information. All I will do is delete posts, or delete scripts in the script library at the request of MUD admins, and if someone continues to violate MUD rules, then they might get banned from posting to the script library using that forum account. But there really should be no way to identify your MUD character from your post unless you have used the same forum handle as your MUD character or something.

Magician Joined: 09 Oct 2003 Posts: 459 Location: USA

Just as a little bit of a lure to those perusing the CMud forum, you could always post screenshots into the 'What is CMud' sticky thread.

That way the appropriate screenshots are under their respective headings of the new/advanced features.

Posted: Sat May 13, 2006 12:36 am

Don't worry, once the beta is released then I'll be posting a lot of screen shots and putting up some web pages that go into details on the features.

Right now I don't feel the need to over-hype it here in the forum before the beta is even released. I've done too much of that in the past.