When I looked at supporting it in AndAppStore one of the first things that hit me was the inability to provide device and/or functionality support information.
There may be devices in the future that don't support a keyboard,touch screen,GPS, and/or some other feature, and without the ability to specify a feature set of supported device list it could be a frustrating user experience when more devices are available. I'm not ruling out PAD support, and I'll happily arrange for it to be added in to AndAppStore if it becomes popular, but I think that at the moment it's not ideally suited to android apps. Al. P.S. Where is their DTD/XML Schema?, I've seen their propriatary XML-based spec description language, the web page with the spec in it, and the on-line validator, but it seems there isn't an DTD or schema to help people construct PADs. blindfold wrote: > Hi All, > > I inquired on the asp.pad_support newsgroup about extending PADGen > support for PAD files to include Android and its .apk files, because > it becomes increasingly painful for developers (including me) to keep > their application listings up to date on all Android download/ > distribution websites. Appended are two reply messages from the > asp.pad_support newsgroup. Could developers indicate their interest in > using PAD files to have their own websites automatically regularly > polled for any release updates rather than having to "push" through a > diversity of web interfaces? > > Thanks > > === > > Are there examples of mobile phone app sites which accept PAD files? > > PAD does not cover every type of software that can be written (e.g. > video > game cartridge, embedded, mainframe, supercomputer, OSS projects) and > PAD > would appear to be behind the curve in mobile (no Android, no iPhone, > no > BlackBerry). Before leaping to address this area, it would be good to > know > what sites could/would use an improved mobile phone PAD. > > Is Android the name of the hardware spec or the name of the OS? I > think > this issue comes up with iPhone as well. The apps for iPhone are > basically > Safari web pages. The platform choices in PAD are meant to reflect > the OS. > > -- > Dennis Reinhardt > http://www.dair.com > > === > > Thanks Dennis. > > >> Are there examples of mobile phone app sites which accept PAD files? >> > > This is in part a chicken-and-egg question. The owners of the Android > distribution websites AndAppStore ( http://andappstore.com ) and > SlideME > ( http://www.slideme.org ) appeared open-minded with respect to PADGen > when I asked them some time ago, but of course it only makes sense to > them to support PAD files if it is going to be widely used for Android > applications. For application developers, however, it is definitely a > pain already today to manually keep listings up to date on say five or > more Android websites, each with its own web interface for updating > with > new releases. > > Apart from this, there is the myriad of websites that implicitly > support, > through their use of PAD files in submitting applications, any > operating > system covered by PADGen. This is for instance how The vOICe MIDlet > (for > Java ME) amd The vOICe for Android gets listed on download sites like > http://www.download3k.com > > >> PAD does not cover every type of software that can be written >> > > I understand that one has to draw the line somewhere. > > >> Is Android the name of the hardware spec or the name of the OS? >> > > The OS. Android is the new open-source mobile phone operating system > developed and promoted by Google together with over 30 other companies > in the Open Handset Alliance. See http://code.google.com/android/ > > >> no iPhone >> > > The iPhone is closed: applications are exclusively available through > Apple's > App Store, so iPhone seems irrelevant for PAD. I don't know about > BlackBerry, > but I think its downloads run exclusively via the phone's service > provider, > thus limiting distribution channels. Moreover, RIM (maker of the > BlackBerry) > *is* already in PADGen's checkbox list for supported operating > systems! I > really cannot see why Palm is (still) in the list, along with Windows > Mobile > and Symbian, while Android would not be added soon? > > The effort seems really minor to me: just add a checkbox for > "Android", and > remove the restriction for the Web Info tab that currently blocks > files with > .apk extension in the download URLs (.apk files currently fail in > PADGen's > "Verify entries"). > > I may also post your legitimate questions as a probe on one of the > Google > Android forums. > > Best regards, > > Peter Meijer > > > > -- ====== Funky Android Limited is registered in England & Wales with the company number 6741909. The registered head office is Kemp House, 152-160 City Road, London, EC1V 2NX, UK. 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