On Sun, Mar 18, 2012 at 1:55 AM, Matthew Gates <[email protected]> wrote: >> https://blueprints.launchpad.net/stellarium/+spec/add-on-manager >> Could you provide me with some more information about it ? > > If you know about the firefox add-on manager, that's the basic > concept. An in-application tool for searching for, downloading, > installing and uninstalling plugins, langscapes, scripts and so on. > >> what prerequisites would you like from a developer tackling this project ? > > Stellarium is written in C++, so you have to be ok with the language. > I feel like one of the major challenges in implementing this blueprint > is the design of the user interface. We use QT for our UI elements, > so some familiarity with QT in general, and forms-based GUI creation > in particular would be very helpful.
There is also the fact that it will probably require some server-side infrastructure, a repository of the "add-ons". At the moment, the closest thing to this we have is the list of landscapes in the Stellarium Wiki, and the much shorter similar list of scripts. Without a repository, such a plug-in is useless. I also think that the task/blueprint is really vague. "Build me a Firefox-like ecosystem" is a wish, not a blueprint. (Did I just use a marketing buzzword? Ewww....) The GSoC task list really should have undergone more work, but as usual, communication within the project is really bad. > Some parts of this blueprint have been written already (e.g. solar > system editor plugin), but are spread around the app a little. Bogdan > might have some useful input about that and how it might be integrated > into a unified extension manager. Actually, no, I don't see the Solar System Editor as a part of this at all. There is quite a lot of work that can be done on it, but unless we split it as a separate GSOC project, it is not a related issue. What could be seen as "already written code" is my "add/remove landscapes" feature. An add-on manager should include the same functionality for scripts and sky-cultures at the very least. There is also a partially implemented feature for displaying various sets of nebulae/sky images. Parts of its interface are (were?) still hidden here and there, revealing them may require reverting some code to previous revisions. There are two problems with it, though: - as far as I know, the development of this feature (custom nebula image sets) was abandoned because it was superseded by Fabien's all-sky mosaics (the DSS, etc.), which is another GSOC task. - as far as I know, we don't have any alternative image sets, except perhaps those on Barry Gerdes' website. Creating image sets is hard and requires quite some effort. >> How difficult do you think it will be to implement > > Depends on your skill level :) Depends also on what are the actual design and objectives. Creating a basic feature will require only learning a bit of Qt, but I don't think we should waste GSOC's resources on a glorified "open file" dialog window... > Please set yourself up with a working build environment and have a > poke around with the app, and data sets for it. I would recommend > starting with landscapes. Yes, this is a good idea. Following the discussion here to find out what do we want exactly is also a good idea. (I think we need a wiki page to serve as a more detailed specification/whiteboard. Launchpad's blueprints are not very good for this one, and none of the team appears to know how to use them correctly.) Regards, Bogdan Marinov ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This SF email is sponsosred by: Try Windows Azure free for 90 days Click Here http://p.sf.net/sfu/sfd2d-msazure _______________________________________________ Stellarium-pubdevel mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/stellarium-pubdevel
