I looked at joining the PAD committee in order to feed some info in, but it appeared to require a fee of $100, which I saw as little excessive as I would providing help for the ASP to expand the appeal of PADs.
If Dennis or anyone wants to contact me directly I'd be happy to talk over what I see as the needs for AndAppStore.com. Al. blindfold wrote: > Appended is an update of the discussion on the asp.ask_the_asp > newsgroup (news.asp-shareware.org). > > Regards > > === > > >> 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 am Chair of the PAD Specification Committee. What is *not* minor is > understanding both the constraints inherent in the infrastructure > *and* the requirements of the market. I am aware of the former and > not the latter. Thank you for filling me in on the latter. > > Let me address the former. The first step is to update the PAD spec. > I have done that at http://www.asp-shareware.org/pad/spec/spec.php. > Next comes updating PADGen, which adheres to the spec. I may also add > that there are many PAD editing program and these changes would have > to ripple through all of these as well. Download sites may well want > to take advantage of changes but each of those is independently owned > and operated (laugh). > > You may immediately hand edit your PAD file. The authoritative PAD > file validator is located at > http://www.asp-shareware.org/pad/spec/validate.php. > > May I suggest you consider joining the ASP where one of the many > benefits is you can join the PAD Spec Committee to participate in > committee deliberations about the future of PAD. Thank you for your > help. > > -- Dennis Reinhardt http://www.dair.com [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > === > > Thanks again, Dennis! I was unaware of your key role in PAD > specification. Your feedback is therefore all the more appreciated. > Indeed I was unaware of several of the (non-minor) issues involved in > extending PAD, so your insights in this process are very useful for me > and others to learn about. > > >> The first step is to update the PAD spec. I have done that at >> http://www.asp-shareware.org/pad/spec/spec.php. >> > > Excellent! Found it, both the new Android entry and the apk extension > in the RegEx. Thank you for this first but essential step! > > >> Next comes updating PADGen, which adheres to the spec. I may also add >> that there are many PAD editing program and these changes would have to >> ripple through all of these as well. >> > > I didn't know of these other editors, but I'd expect these to make up > only a tiny non-significant minority, if only because of developer > fear of spyware/malware with software from any other sources - but > this is just my guess. I understand that there will also be some lag > before a new version of PADGen gets released that incorporates the > spec changes. > > >> Download sites may well want to take advantage of changes but each >> of those is independently owned and operated (laugh). >> > > Again I am not familiar with that side of PAD file processing, but I > would expect most of these download sites to be "lazy"/efficient and > basically just use your PAD SDK as available from > > http://www.asp-shareware.org/pad/webmasters.php > > Indeed it may take much time before existing download sites update > their use of these materials, although I'd expect the main download > sites to be more keen on staying up to date - if only in case your > updates would cover some security holes. In this case it seems that > only their use of pad_spec.xml in the PAD SDK would have to ripple > through to prevent validation errors with the changes for Android. > > BTW, I noticed that your PAD spec update for Android is not yet part > of the corresponding pad_spec.xml in the current PAD SDK. Is further > decision making required before your Android spec updates also land in > the pad_spec.xml of the PAD SDK? I.e., in > > http://www.asp-shareware.org/pad/downloads/padsdk.zip > > or is it just a matter of, say, weekly updates that need to ripple > through within ASP PAD Support to take effect? > > >> You may immediately hand edit your PAD file. The authoritative PAD file >> validator is located at http://www.asp-shareware.org/pad/spec/validate.php. >> > > If I understand correctly, doing so would cause validation errors for > my PAD file on initially all download sites, because they still use > the old pad_spec.xml. Only once the main download sites have updated > their copy of pad_spec.xml it starts to make sense to adapt PAD files > for Android support, either through manual editing or by using an > updated PADGen release once available. In other words, doing it too > soon would kill visibility of my Android application (which is already > listed on a number of download sites through the non-matching PAD > spec), whereas still using the old format with "Java" and .zip instead > of .apk would not suffer from this and for now leave inconveniences at > the user end (the user first having to download the zip file to their > PC, unzip it, and next send the resulting .apk to the Android phone to > install it). > > Still, despite these practical issues, it seems that the sooner > support for Android gets added to PAD, the sooner things will ripple > through to the extent needed to make it worthwhile for developers (and > download sites) to make use of Android support in PAD. > > Please correct me where I may have misunderstood some of the issues. > > Note that I am not a formal representative for Google Android nor its > developer base, but in this context "just" a developer (who happens to > use PAD and PADGen for Microsoft Windows and Java ME applications), > who observes a gap between the new market of Google Android OS based > phones and what PAD currently covers, so I try to do both sides a > favor by indicating timely steps that I see as beneficial to both > sides in the longer run. I have no ambition to join the PAD Spec > Committee and for that purpose pay the required $100 membership fee > out of my own pocket - my input is free. :-) > > Thank you and best regards, > > Peter Meijer > > > The vOICe Android for Android Phones > http://www.seeingwithsound.com/android.htm > > > > -- ====== 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. The views expressed in this email are those of the author and not necessarily those of Funky Android Limited, it's associates, or it's subsidiaries. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Discuss" group. 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