Advanced STVi Importing Techniques

[tmiranda]

Is there a way to detect if another import has been imported before yours? I am trying to figure out how to handle two different scenarios:

1. An import is dependent on another import being installed first. In this case I want to abort the whole import process if the dependency is not met.

2. An import needs to modify certain portions of the STV only if another import has been imported first. In this case I want to apply updates to the STV code that I know is there (i.e. included in SageTV3.xml) and apply updates to other code only if it is there (i.e. was installed by another STVi)

I have been using the STV UID File Difference tool to create my STVi's and up until now it has worked just fine. I am wondering if Greg's tools handle the cases I've outlined above?

Thanks,

Tom

[GKusnick]

Case #2 should just fall out. If the widgets you're inserting under don't exist, then obviously the insertion won't happen and the code that would have been inserted will be unreachable and therefore inactive. But I haven't actually tried it so I can't swear there aren't any bad side effects.

Case #1 is doable but requires some extra work on your part no matter how you do it. You'd need to write some code to inspect the widget tree to see if the target code is present and either proceed or not on that basis. Using my tools, you can put this code in a hook before exporting the STVI. Using the built-in STVI generator, you'd need to open up the generated STVI and insert the extra code manually.

[razrsharpe]

Originally Posted by GKusnick

Case #2 should just fall out. If the widgets you're inserting under don't exist, then obviously the insertion won't happen and the code that would have been inserted will be unreachable and therefore inactive. But I haven't actually tried it so I can't swear there aren't any bad side effects.

the only side effect i have seen is if you are linking to a UIComponent (like a button or the contents of a button) is you will see a <<<REFBlahblah>>> where the button should be... i think perhaps in studio you will also see something similar but i havent gone looking for it in studio... this is with your tools not sure what happens with the built in stvi generator...

[tmiranda]

With the built in STVi generator Widgets that can't be placed properly are left as orphans at the same level of the Widget hierarchy as the Menu widgets. So strictly speaking they do not do any harm, but it is really ugly to see all of those widgets scattered in the STV.

I'd love to see one of the gurus make a proper installer so we could check for dependencies and do other things necessary to make sure the install process is easier for the users and more fool proof.

Tom

[Tiki]

Greg's tools will not automatically check for the existence of other imports, but they make it possible for you to manually do so...

The built in STVi generator is very easy to use, and for simple imports (or even moderately complex ones), it basically takes just two clicks to create a functioning import. The downside is that it is very difficult to do anything fancy like checking for imports. Also, the STVi that is generated is not really human-readable. It is just a big flat file with most of the tree structure of your code no longer visible.

When using Greg's tools to create an import, it is no simple 2-click process. You have to do a lot of manual work to get a functioning import. But, you have a lot of control over how the import process will work. The STVi you create can be opened on its own in Studio and viewed and edited in a logical manner.

One nice thing about STVi's generated with Greg's tools is that if you have created an STVi and then realize there is a minor bug that you can fix by just changing 1 or 2 lines of code, you can open the STVi directly and just edit those two lines and you are done. If you created your STVi using the built-in Studio tools, you probably need to start by setting up your original creation environment (usually the default STV with all other imports removed and just your custom code added), make your changes, and re-generate the STVi.

Anyway, it may be worthwhile for you to go through the process of creating a simple import using Greg's tools just so you have a feel for what is possible and whether or not it is worth the extra effort for your particular import.

[Fuzzy]

I'd like to start compiling a list of features the 'guru's and others would WANT in an installer. After some brainstroming, it probably wouldn't end up being THAT hard to pre-check for dependencies and such, and even auto-download those dependencies. I'd build it myself, but since I've never really gotten into any significant imports, I'm not really sure what is really required by the dev community. That, and I'm most happy coding in .net, which I'm sure other's would complain about (everyone here is so Java centric it seems).